Threads is losing momentum among influencers, and TikTok still dominates when it comes to causing viral beauty products to sell out. These were a few of the takeaways from a panel discussion on social strategies at Glossy’s Beauty Pop event on Tuesday.
Celebrity makeup artist and beauty brand founder Patrick Ta, Being Frensche founder Ashley Tisdale, influencer and Naturium founder Susan Yara, and TikTok beauty influencer Stephanie Valentine, known to her followers as Glamzilla, talked about the latest beauty social trends on-stage at the Pendry Hotel in Los Angeles.
When it comes to Instagram’s new Twitter competitor Threads, participants were less than thrilled.
“I don’t think I even started” posting on Threads yet, said Ta.
“Is Threads still around?” said Yara. “The excitement died. It’s completely done. We can move on, guys.”
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There was little enthusiasm over the format of text-based social media, with Yara also stating that she is not on the platform formerly known as Twitter, X.
Several speakers said TikTok is now their top-priority social platform. These included Glamzilla, who saw her big break on TikTok, and Ta, who saw big success on Instagram over the course of his celebrity makeup artist career but now focuses on TikTok.
“I started on Instagram and nothing ever worked until I got on TikTok,” said Glamzilla. “I’ve been creating content for 15 years, but it took me only a little during Covid for me to finally pop off” on TikTok.
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“For me, I am a working makeup artist. Being a makeup is first and foremost my career, and social media just came along with the job,” said Ta.
“I’ve been doing Instagram now for over 10 years, and I feel like I was very stagnant with the content that I was creating. This past January, I started TikTok and really kind of just dove deep into it,” said Ta, noting that TikTok has been immensely beneficial for brand awareness. “When I walk around, people say, ‘I know you from TikTok,’ rather than Instagram now.”
TikTok has also been the source of big sales for viral beauty products, with several brand founders on the panel discussing how it had caused their products to sell out.
Tisdale shared the story of how TikTok virality drove her beauty brand Being Frenshe’s magnesium body serum stick to sell out.
“I remember sitting in the room with my buyer at Target and telling her about the soothing body serum stick that has magnesium in it,” she said. “She was like, ‘You’re really going to have to explain this one to people.’” On TikTok, “that’s actually the one [product] that’s gone viral, and it completely sold out for months.”
Patrick Ta Beauty, meanwhile, saw a viral moment thanks to ‘it’ girl and TikTok influencer Alix Earle.
“With Alix, it’s been so crazy for us,” he said. “She posted our all-over glow balm at the end of a three-minute video, and she sold it out. This product was one of my favorite products from our entire collection. We launched it over two years ago; it wasn’t really moving, and we were about to take it off the shelves, even though this is something that I use every single day. She posts about it, and I’m like ‘What the hell happened? Who is she, and how does she have so much power?’ She’s just so honest and relatable, and it’s honestly been the most amazing partnership, being able to work with her.”
