Creating a community guarantees success that goes beyond retention, making it a resourceful investment for the beauty and wellness industry
The consumer has always been the king in theory. Today, however, it is more true than ever, in practice. From lucrative discounts and modestly-priced kits to informative events, masterclasses and a whole nexus of digital communication through social media channels, there’s a plethora of efforts undertaken by brands to make them relevant, relatable, and reliable. How do brands manage to do all of this successfully? Through a community. This is why, it doesn’t come as a surprise that brands, especially beauty brands that rely heavily on experiential marketing, invest prolifically in community-building.
While the Instagram account of M.A.C Cosmetics India’s bio mentions “Use #MACCosmeticsIndia to get featured,” American make-up brand Saie has established a community-driven page on Facebook dubbed ‘the clean beauty crew’, with over 6,000 active members. Brands like Goop and Glossier have gone to great lengths to create digital content platforms called Goop and Into The Gloss respectively, playing natural extensions of the brand, its ethos, and positioning. While some beauty brands have resorted to the old-school format of informative and valuable content, newer brands— largely targeting Gen Z—collaborate with content creators to produce catchy, engaging visual content that is ‘save-worthy’ and ‘shareable’. It’s clear that building a community of loyalists has become amongst the top business goals of every beauty brand. Perhaps, because it guarantees success that goes beyond retention. Six founders of homegrown beauty and wellness brands tell us how they leveraged the power of community to flourish their respective businesses.
Shamika Haldipurkar, d’you
If you’ve been keeping up with Alia Bhatt’s skincare videos, you must’ve spotted a moisturiser and cleansing balm from homegrown brand d’you. With 45,000 followers on Instagram, the brand has managed to garner many return users, despite launching less than five products ever since its inception. “I think building a community comes down to authentically engaging with your audience and consistently providing value through your service/product as well as your content. When your audience observes that you’re being authentic and transparent with them, they start believing in you, and therefore connect better with you,” begins Haldipurkar. “You have to sift through the standard marketing jargon, and speak to them like real people … as you would to a friend.” The founder never underestimates the intelligence of her audience. When you put them on a pedestal of being smart, and thus speak to them like smart and aware people, they appreciate it more, she shares. “In our first year, we also did many community activities like art contests and value-based giveaways (not the standard like-and-comment style) that go beyond simply increasing followers.
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With 45,000 followers on Instagram, d'you has managed to garner many return users, despite launching less than five products ever since its inception. Image: Instagram.com/dyou.co
“Brand building via multiple micro factors is very important in the first two years of building a brand. How you speak to your audience builds the community, and the tone of voice you use resonates and stays with them. When your brand is looked upon in the right light for the right reasons, then you unlock the most powerful marketing tool that you can never buy through money—word of mouth,” says Haldipurkar. “A significant portion of d’you’s growth (sales and awareness) has been due to word-of-mouth marketing, which displays the true power of community,” concludes the founder. She attributes much of her brand’s organic growth to the community she’s consciously built, which is why she continues to create some or the other piece of content for d’you’s Instagram account everyday.
Avisha Jhunjhnuwala, Nushu
Launched in September 2023, Nushu is a brand that offers reusable period underwear. The brand thrives on women’s comfort and environmental friendliness. In a short period of time, it has figured out its social media voice—information, awareness, and education are its three pillars. Needless to say, their Instagram account plays manual for anyone who is new to the product they’re offering. Founder Avisha Jhunjhnuwala reveals that the concept of community, specifically ‘sisterhood,’ is deeply ingrained in the brand’s core. “Given that our product is new in the market, our community-building efforts have primarily revolved around offering support and fostering approachability,” she begins. “We encourage open communication with our customers and actively invite questions and feedback.”
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Homegrown skincare brand Minimalist's digital presence is notice-worthy; it has amassed over 2.6 lakh followers just by means of information and education
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To foster stronger and valuable relationships with its customers, (team) Nushu personally reaches out to every customer a month after their purchases for feedback
To foster stronger and valuable relationships with its customers, the brand personally reaches out to every customer a month after their purchases for feedback. “Given the intimate nature of period underwear, these conversations quickly become personal. It’s been incredibly heartening to see how comfortable women are in discussing their menstrual experiences with me.” Gratification isn’t the only thing that Jhunjhunwala has experienced through this one-on-one approach—it’s benefited her strategically too, by deciphering consumer behaviour. “Building a community has allowed us to gain insights into our customers’ desires and needs, enabling us to adapt and evolve our brand to address the specific challenges women face.” Jhunjhunwala is of the opinion that in today's digitally-driven world, opportunities for genuine human interactions are increasingly scarce, and so, building a community around your brand is a win-win situation. “It not only brings people together but also adds a human touch to your brand, infusing it with purpose.”
Mohit Yadav, Minimalist
This homegrown science-backed brand has expanded into a slew of international markets in less than a decade of its commencement. Conceived by Jaipur-based brothers Mohit and Rahul Yadav, Minimalist made chemical actives-driven serums and lotions mainstream in the Indian market before The Ordinary even made its way here. The brand’s digital presence is notice-worthy; it has amassed over 2.6 lakh followers just by means of information and education.
“WHEN YOUR BRAND IS LOOKED UPON IN THE RIGHT LIGHT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS, THEN YOU UNLOCK THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL THAT YOU CAN NEVER BUY THROUGH MONEY—WORD OF MOUTH”
Shamika Haldipurkar
“Our strong community has been a game-changer [for the business]”, says Mohit Yadav. It’s not just about selling products but building trust, loyalty, and long-term relationships, believes the founder. “When we started three years ago, there were very few brands and influencers truly working on educating people about active-based skincare,” he begins, “because you need to constantly solve their problems. And so, we prioritise education. We believe that informed customers are the happiest customers. So, we consistently create content that educates our audience on skincare, body care, and hair care. This includes detailed blog posts and social media content.”
Minimalist’s social media strategy involves interactive posts, where the audience can directly engage with the brand and ask questions. “We ensure that all the queries are answered within a few hours,” assures Mohit. “Incorporating customer feedback is fundamental for us. We listen to our community's concerns, suggestions, and feedback through various channels and actively incorporate their insights into our product development. So, our community has been incredibly courageous in sharing their transformation stories with us.” The brand also makes an effort to co-create products with its consumers, in a way. “It's all about meeting the needs of the community because they are the centre of our brand,” says Mohit.
Sejal Goyal, Suhi & Sego
Suhi & Sego is a budding skincare brand that thrives on customisation. Founded by beauty content creator Sejal Goyal, who gained a following by sharing product reviews as well as her grandmother’s traditional beauty hacks, Suhi & Sego’s Instagram account looks nothing short of a Pinterest mood board. Goyal shares that the brand was born out of a community. “The first 1,000 followers on our Instagram account were the people who I would regularly engage with through my content on my page, @skinsideout.” Roughly two months into launching the brand, Goyal started including content that had more take-home value for followers.
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“The first 1,000 followers on our Instagram account were the people who I would regularly engage with through my content on my page, @skinsideout,” shares Sejal Goyal. Image: Instagram.com/suhiandsego
“Some of the content included: A solid recipe that had been tried and tested by us; a ‘Self-care Menu’ reminding people of fun, simple ways to take care of themselves; BTS videos of our lab where we show real-time footage of how things come together; testimonials from our customers; skincare tips that went beyond our products; and multiple Q&As to demystify incorrect skincare beliefs,” shares Goyal. She considers the brand’s slowly yet steadily growing community to be the most effective growth lever. “What differentiates a community from regular followers is when your followers feel like they have an open line of communication with you—when they feel they can share feedback, and that there's actually a real human being reading it and responding to them. The kind of ideas and feedback you can then receive is endless. It also creates a sense of belonging and loyalty.”
Anushka Gupta, MyMuse
Launched in 2020, MyMuse is a sexual wellness brand that aims to normalise self-pleasure. For a brand like this to crack the code in a conservative market such as India, tasteful and genteel content—that is also highly informative—is key. And, that’s exactly what MyMuse tapped. “The reason behind starting MyMuse was to build a safe space and community where people can find information about intimacy and pleasure, and where they can talk about it freely. That has always been the core of our brand—our community,” shares Gupta. In fact, the brand’s first set of organic community base and user testers helped Gupta understand what people’s pain points were in the bedroom, which helped her determine the first four products. “Since then, our community has grown significantly across platforms, from Instagram to newsletter subscribers. On all platforms, we encourage bi-directional conversation rather than one-sided, creating significant engagement.”
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The reason behind starting MyMuse was to build a safe space and community where people can find information about intimacy and pleasure, and where they can talk about it freely, shares Anushka Gupta
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What differentiates a community from regular followers is when your followers feel like they have an open line of communication with you, opines Sejal Goyal. Image: Instagram.com/suhiandsego
Gupta shares that MyMuse’s social media, blog, and emails reflect honesty and simplicity. “We have a large beta-testing community that we reach out to help formulate products, and decide every aspect with them—from which colours to launch to what type of formulations work best for their skin type.” Plus, the brand’s customer experience team is in constant touch with the users to better understand and improve their experience. “We talk to every single member in our community as a person and not a data point.” For Gupta, the direct feedback loop straight from the brand’s customers is suggestive of the power of community. “From the content we create to the products we launch, and sometimes the products we revamp—the feedback comes from them,” she says.
Nikita Deshpande, Ilana Organics
Nikita Deshpande and Amit Patil co-founded Ilana Organics, which Deshpande claims is India’s first “superfood” beauty brand, in 2018 through her own search for better, cleaner skincare products comprising ingredients that were not only good for the skin but also easy to comprehend. The brand’s best-selling Beet Tint’s popularity in its early stages is an example of how beneficial community-driven positive reviews on social media can be. “I think in today’s day and age, with so many brands selling so many products, it’s important to put in an extra effort to build a community that relates to your brand from the personal connection that the entrepreneur is able to build,” begins Deshpande. “This adds authenticity, which is very crucial, especially when it comes to beauty; it can potentially be a sustainable growth strategy for the brand.”
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I think in today’s day and age, with so many brands selling so many products, it’s important to put in an extra effort to build a community that relates to your brand from the personal connection that the entrepreneur is able to build, says Nikita Deshpande. Image: Instagram.com/be_ilana
For Deshpande, storytelling was the foundational aspect of all her marketing strategies, including community creation. “We shared customer testimonials, success stories, and transformation journeys through blog posts and videos. We also ran contests and giveaways to encourage user-generated content while focusing on authenticity and engagement. We regularly posted on social media, sharing behind-the-scenes content, product development updates, and customer stories. We also hosted live Q&A sessions where we interacted with our community directly, addressing their concerns and feedback.” Deshpande agrees that the community has played a crucial role in brand building. “Not only have we built strong brand loyalty, but our community has become our brand advocate, driving word-of-mouth referrals that help boost our sales.”
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