Social Listening- ELF Cosmetics

       by Emma Confer

The brand I chose is E.L.F. Cosmetics, standing for eyes, lips, and face. They have recently been gaining social media attention because of the recent product drop of the Glow Reviver Lip Oil. The reason being for this spike of interest for the brand is that it is a duplicate product (referred to on social media as dupes) for a popular and expensive product, Dior Lip Glow Oil. I was initially interested in this because Elf Cosmetics has made a name for themselves by producing cheap makeup products that very closely resemble more high-end makeup brands. 

Their value proposition is that their customers should have access to clean beauty that is never tested on animals. They have garnered the Leaping Bunny stamp of approval, the only internationally recognized label guaranteeing customers that no animals were tested on in the development of the product. 

Overall, this product launch as well as the ones before it has rendered great success and positive publicity from their buyers. The release of their Glow Reviver Lip Oil has made customers very satisfied. Because of the low price point compared to their competitor, when this new product dropped, people were buying them by the collection (7 shades), not just the individual shade. One beauty blogger said "If you're seeking nicely priced stocking fillers or girlfriend gifts, e.l.f. Glow Reviver Lip Oil comes with 100% recommend from me. It's 8 pounds and yet it behaves as though it's three times the price." Overall, reviews on social media have been overwhelmingly positive. Many have been saying it is an exact replica for their competition, Dior Lip Glow Oil. One Tik Tok review (@citycouponmom) noted that this product was "affordable, applies smoothly and smells good". A lot of reviews have also commented on the minty flavor of these, a signature factor to the popular Dior Lip Oil. While I have not used this product myself, the product reviews have been immensely positive and buyers are not mad about getting a very similar product for $32 cheaper than the competitor, Dior. 

Other noteworthy product launches have consisted of the Elf Halo Glow Liquid Filter, a dupe for Charlotte Tilbury's Hollywood Flawless Filter that went extremely viral. Elf is alluding to the launch of their new lip oil by doing a play on their own Instagram account, changing their profile picture to l.e.f., and changing their social media biography to "we're in our lips-first era (lips.eyes.face.)". A lot of their recent product launches have gained traction from making a copycat version of expensive cosmetic products. While this is never directly addressed, the names of the duplicate products are noticeably similar, some of the more noteworthy ones being "Glow Reviver Lip Oil" vs "Lip Glow Oil", and "Halo Glow Liquid Filter" vs "Hollywood Flawless Filter". Needless to say it is a widely unspoken practice that these products are a copycat of high-end products, but with the formula being nearly identical and a fraction of the price, absolutely none of their fanbase is complaining. 

This brand, but more specifically product launch, has been very positive for their company and marketing team, gaining a lot of social media attention. I believe this brand is remarkable for their efforts to provide affordable cosmetic products to those who do not have the desire or means to spend an excessive amount on high-end brand names.  I think their product launches is a version of newsjacking, where they really are able to get their take on a newly released product when they spend so much time in a lab recreating them! These tactics are incredibly engaging to customers. I have personally seen the launch of many high-end makeup products and the initial reactions of a lot of social media users are asking when the Elf version is going to drop! Even on cosmetic reviews that have been released for a while, it is common to see social media users comment that they are waiting for Elf to drop a similar product so they can "finally try the product." Although these products are not the exact same, Elf is widely considered to be known as the equivalent, and sometimes better version of some of thee products for a considerable amount cheaper. 

Elf is widely known to not respond to these copycat allegations they receive, but conveniently there is an absence of hateful comments about creating a more affordable option for customers. I think it is in their best interest to not respond to these comments because what their current marketing team is doing now is really working, which wouldn't typically be the case in these situations. Because their customer communication otherwise is always very helpful and quickly responsive, customers are not upset at the fact that they can have access to these affordable and environmentally friendly products. 

If I were put in the position to manage this company, I would have alluded to the drop of this product more, rather than launch out of nowhere. Giving a customer base time to speculate what could be dropping is a great way to produce attention from news outlets and social media influencers, especially in the beauty genre, which is increasingly popular in today's world. While I do think having customers do a lot of publicity for the company by spreading the product by word of mouth, I think it would have also been in Elf's best interest to promote themselves more with the use of their social media platforms. When they launched, they made a post on their Instagram account with very zoomed in shots of the product, making it difficult to see what the product actually was. While I think this is a great way to promote a product, I think they could have posted this before the news of the unreleased product was out there for the public. I would have made that post public a week or so before the drop, so customers had time to speculate amongst themselves and provide free publicity for the product before it even became available in stores. 

Completing this assignment taught me that while a product or service may not be new, it can certainly still be remarkable and innovative, as Elf has shown us time and time again. Providing cruelty free products is increasingly important in today's social media climate and is a vital factor in order to be as successful as possible. While a lot of Elf's releases have been copycat version of other products, this brand is remarkable because of their mission to create accessible cosmetic products for everyday people that are not willing or able to spend excessive amounts of money on a singular product that will eventually run out and be repurchased. Elf is taking a step in the right direction with each product launch, giving makeup users a chance to be involved in their journey.

Beauty Blogger review-

https://britishbeautyblogger.com/makeup/e-l-f-glow-reviver-lip-oil-review/