Michelle Phan, star YouTuber turned beauty business empress, knows how important content is. After all, she’s built her personal brand off of it, and now she’s running an already multi-million dollar business, ipsy, a subscription beauty box company. Nowadays, that emphasis has not changed, but has become an integral part of scaling ipsy to what it has become so quickly.
When we were developing ipsy, we knew how important content was,” she said to the audience at [a]list Video summit. To a room full of marketers looking for ways to leverage video content in the way that Michelle has, this was particularly resonant.
When you think about makeup and when you learn about makeup, it s very visual,” she went on to say, relating to how things have changed from the necessity of visiting a department store beauty counter, for example, to learn how to apply makeup and which products to buy. Now beauty content makes up a significant portion of what YouTube is. The vertical is huge on the platform, and also hugely influential.
Now Michelle has grown not just a community, but a great business, she feels a duty to give back to other beauty content creators. At [a]list Video summit, Michelle gave some insights into how she is going about this, with ipsy Open Studios.
To Michelle, there is a sense of frustration right now with creators in what has become a community that is increasingly pitted against each other for views and brand partnerships. With ipsy Open Studios, Michelle is looking to change that.
They need support and they need help, she says. “They don t feel like they can collaborate, share ideas and cross-pollinate.”
What ipsy Open Studios will be providing these creators are crucial resources like access to a studio and camera and production tools they may not otherwise have. Most importantly, they will maintain 100 percent control over their content, something that is of great importance to Michelle.
We sat down with Michelle Phan for an exclusive interview to talk about ipsy and building a brand with content.
How is your personal brand separate from ipsy Where do they overlap
My personal brand has always been the same since I started uploading content, when I was 15 years old, really through just pure experimentation, self-expression and finding different platforms to help me express my ideas and vision. In terms of ipsy, part of my branding had a lot to do with beauty, and Ipsy really helps facilitate the beauty part of my business because I m only one person. I can t answer to all of my millions of subscribers. With ipsy, we have a program and a system where we can really help facilitate people who have very specific needs for beauty. So whether it s for skin care, make-up, I can t answer it. But with ipsy, we can help facilitate it and send them product that are really curated for them. So that s really how it meshes.
And also, when I m experimenting and something works on the social media platform, I actually help bridge it together with ipsy. I help them with their social media and video strategy and also help bring in future stylists and beauty influencers that I believe are gonna be like at the forefront of really innovating in the beauty space.
You have ipsy Open Studios now. Was that all inspired by the YouTube experience, and what kind of content have you had coming out of it
Well, Ipsy was originally created by my experience as a creator myself, and how hard it was to really do everything. At one point, when I was literally doing everything myself, I was shooting myself, I was producing everything and starring in it, it became a lot of work and when I wanted certain types of videos at a certain quality, you have to have a team. You have to have a certain type of camera that can really capture that quality. As a creator, I needed these resources, and it took me a while to really build up to that. Learning from those experiences, I decided to apply that to open studios, because as a creator myself, I knew how hard it was to make all this content. And so, if we were to create some sort of studio where creators can come in and utilize all the tools and resources and equipment, along with a team that can help them with their content, I felt that that s a way for me to get back and also help future creators build their brand too, because since day one, since the first video I posted, I ve always been a teacher, someone who shares. And I wanted…that s part of my branding too, because I want to continue that aspect of my branding, to give back, to share and to educate.
With your ipsy marketing campaign, you get a lot of social outreach, along with a heavy wait list (outside of the 1.5 million subscribers). How did you use what you learned to become more of a social influence to guide that marketing campaign
Well, a lot of it had to do with me listening to the consumers, the audience, the customers, whatever you want to call them. Really, just listening to them and hearing what they want, and giving them that. I mean, it s as simple as that. The reason why we decided to have a wait list is because when people subscribe to Ipsy for the glam bag, they really want quality beauty products, not just samples that you can find in a beauty department for free. Real, substantial products that are either full size or deluxe size that are very exclusive. The only way to really do all that it was really just listening to them, and having an amazing customer experience there to help facilitate all their questions and needs. That s really how we were able to tap such an amazing community to really help support Ipsy. Really, it boils down to just maintaining that conversation with them in that relationship, and knowing that s how we were able to grow our wait list. Because people wanted quality products we want to give them all the products, so we have to plan the sample six months in advance. The brands, they need to let them know ahead of time on the products. So, yeah, the reason we have a waiting list is because we can t really fulfill the demand and quality that people are wanting.
So building our wait list, was it similar to how you built your own fan base
No. With me, there s no wait list. Like if you want to watch my videos, you can go and subscribe. But how I merged the two together was exactly what you mentioned, it s really just engaging with them, talking to them and just being real and authentic. That s what Ipsy really is it s not the brand, it s the relationship. The relationship with beauty platform.
You ve come a long way over the years from making YouTube videos. Do you have any advice for those creators and brands that would be interested in growing their viewership or fanbase
Yeah, my best recommendation is really just having consistent content that s being uploaded on a regular basis. It doesn t necessarily have to be YouTube. A lot of people believe that, well, if I want to become big online, I have to start a YouTube channel. You don t necessarily have to start on YouTube. You can start on Twitter if you re a really good writer, and build your Twitter following, and then like coincide that with Instagram, which is very visual. So if you write poetry, you can take pictures of your poems that you pen write and just start building a beautiful feed where you can start inspiring people and just grow a following. And if you want to launch a book, and boom! You have another stream of revenue right there. It doesn t have to be YouTube.
However, if you want to start on YouTube, you should, because it s very visual, you re a storyteller, you have audio and visual elements. YouTube is an amazing platform. I built my business that tied into my following, so I m definitely an example of someone who utilizes that platform, but that doesn t necessarily mean you have to start there. So, my best recommendation is any creator who wants to get started, just dip your toe into different social platforms. And there s so many new ones now, like Periscope and Meerkat, YouNow, and it s gonna keep evolving like that. So that s my recommendation, just don t be scared. If you have the Internet, if you have a camera on your phone, you can really start an amazing online journey just by hosting an idea.
