In 2022, $3.6 billion of goods were sold by influencers, according to an article recently published by Forbes. This stat proves influencer marketing is something brands should continue to invest in to expand distribution. While the number of brands that enlist influencers to sell their products are endless, only a few do it well. 
 
Enter Ipsy, the beauty subscription service and influencer brand. Created by an “OG influencer” Michelle Phan in 2010, the company continues to take a page out of its founder’s playbook and heavily invests in an influencer marketing strategy. It recently took over BoxyCharm, as reported in Happi.

Tina Shim, senior vice president of marketing at Ipsy, Culver City, CA, took time to chat with Happi.com about the beauty brand’s influencer collaborations and social media outreach with its consumers.
 
Happi: What is your brand’s ever-evolving influencer strategy?
 
TS: At Ipsy, we’ve always had a long-term view of our relationship with creators and influencers – they are true partners in telling our story. We know how important authenticity is to both creators and their communities. We trust our creators’ expertise in their own channels and that they know best how to connect with their audience. We love brainstorming with our creator partners because their creativity leads to content that connects. Since we partner together over many campaigns, we also provide transparent performance data feedback to help them optimize future content.

Our Ipsy Creator Incubator program also features over 3,000 emerging creators who provide monthly UGC content for our subscriptions. We provide them with access to new brand partner launches, educational content, partnership opportunities both within and outside of Ipsy, and amplification through our social channels. Many of our longer-term creator partners have come from this incubator program over the years. 
 
Amplifying voices of our focus communities (Black, LatinX and LGBTQ+) is also a key priority as we identify partners throughout the year.

 
Happi: How has Ipsy become one of the most engaged-with brands on TikTok?
 
TS: To begin with, we know what our community is interested in so we make sure that our content is always relevant with beauty education and accessible hacks. We’re obsessed with the platform and love picking up on trends. 
 
We’ve seen a lot of success in small variations on the same trends over time—our community can’t get enough of the many ways we clean our beauty blenders and makeup brushes—or leverage the same trending sounds over different video content. 
 
Our team is incredibly passionate and we all probably spend way too much time enjoying and researching content on TikTok. In the end, it means we’ve been able to drive 1 or 2 viral posts (>1M views) every week. 
 
Our brand mission has always been based in democratizing beauty so it’s a key aspect of our social content – to help make beauty accessible to everyone.
 
Happi: What are the brand’s future influencer marketing plans for the year?
 
TS: It’s a priority for us to stay at the forefront of new and emerging trends and features on key social platforms. We’ve also begun working together more closely across our Ipsy and BoxyCharm brands – connecting creator partners for each brand and enabling them to amplify each other to help everyone’s platforms grow together.
 
In 2023, we’re shifting more creator deliverables into TikTok and as always, working with creators who feel most native and authentic to each platform.