In today’s society, beauty and makeup have become a part of our every day lives. As a makeup guru myself, I look to makeup tutorials on YouTube to help me out when I buy a new product; as I am sure many of you do as well. Some of the most famous beauty bloggers on the Internet today include Jaclyn Hill, Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota, and Zoella. All of these women have 5 things in common, they create content that is:

1. Useful
2. Builds Community
3. Helpful
4. Entertaining
5. Inspiring

Not only do these women put out content their viewers love and adore, but they emphasize that we all have flaws we want to cover up, and but we must embrace them and the beauty underneath all the makeup. When becoming a beauty vlogger it is important you take full advantage of all forms of social media, but your two main sources should be: YouTube and Instagram. The visual aspects of these two channels make them a central hub for beauty hacks and advice.

Many celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Ashley Tisdale, and many more use Instagram to promote their beauty products, which makes it a great stepping-stone to get noticed. As a beauty vlogger is important to understand and address all of your wants and needs. Every girl is different from skin tone to hair color to skin type and they all have different needs when it comes to makeup. When watching these beauty vloggers you notice they affectively address these needs and recommend products for viewers with different skin tones and types than them. These vloggers have a loyal following and create videos that are esthetically pleasing and entertaining to watch. Many vlogs can last from 7 to 15 minutes and you want to engage your viewer for every second of that video.

Being a beauty guru is not enough to become a beauty vlogger, you must have the ability to influence, entertain and understand others. With that you also need to be up to data on all the beauty trends to keep your content relevant. One way to do this is through social and online listening. You can learn a lot about your viewer just from their comments on your social media posts, their social media posts, the products they buy, their loyalty to brands, and even the stores they shop in. Gaining an insightful and overall understanding of WHO you consumer is the main key to success as a beauty vlogger. Some other helpful places a vlogger can go to gain insight on customers and products are:

1. Opinion leaders & Influencers (other fashion blogs, celebrity trends, etc.)
2. Comments on influencers (readers/followers)
3. Other user produced videos
4. Google trends

The final key to becoming a successful beauty vlogger is having the ability to discern a fad from a trend. A fad is when a product or idea has high sales for a short period of time, and will eventually fade before a new product or idea can be created. Conversely, a trend is enduring and has to answer these 4 questions:

1. Is it compatible with a change in consumer lifestyle?
2. Does the innovation provide benefits?
3. Is the innovation compatible with other changes in the marketplace?
4. Who is adopting this trend?

If you are able to answer these questions without a single doubt there is a high possibility that you have identified a trend and subject for your next beauty vlog. Knowing and loving makeup is easy, but becoming a beauty vlogger takes several things.

1. You must be passionate and dedicated.
2. Understand your viewer’s wants and needs.
3. Create content that is entertaining and helpful.
4. Stay up to data with the trends.
5. Become prominent on all social platforms.
6. And most importantly BE YOU.

Sabrina Miceli is currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is majoring in marketing with an emphasis in events management. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Instagram.