Skin care and beauty brands ranked according to social consumer posts

A newly released research report from the social analytics solutions firm NetBase includes a listing of the top 30 brands according to the frequency and sentiment with which consumers post about beauty, feeling beautiful, and the like.

The NetBase platform doesn’t simply tally words and mentions, the company uses what it calls natural language processing technology to listen intelligently and gather meaningful data. The NetBase Brand Passion Report: Beauty & Skincare can help brands understand, “Who loves me, who loves me not – and what I can do about it!”

Expect the unexpected

A preponderance of brands on the report’s list of the top brand conversations are leaders in the beauty space. Though curiously enough, mass market ecommerce sites and retailers resonate with consumers talking about beauty.

eBay ranks number one, while Etsy is third on the list, and Amazon is seventh. Other brands and retailers, edging in on the beauty market include Victoria’s Secret (and the Pink brand) at number four, Apple at six, and Macy’s department store,“ [which makes the strongest move from #26 last year to #11 this year,” according to the Brand Passion Report.

What gives?

Unconventional brands clearly resonate with beauty consumers. Etsy does it by providing on-demand service with an individualized feel; “with its unique bath and body products, [the ecommerce site] gives consumers a feeling of complete customization and personalization,” notes NetBase.

Fitness and lifestyle brands are very on trend with consumers keen to live their best healthy, beautiful lives. And athleisure wear is quite popular as well: “Athletic apparel has become part of women’s everyday wardrobe.  Women are wearing yoga pants to run errands, shop, and even when dining out,” observes Ann D'Adamo, senior marketing manager for Women’s Marketing Inc.

NetBase explains Nike’s position—number 27—on the list: “whether within the context of feeling beautiful or as a complement to beauty items, [Nike] is seen as the perfect match in daily conversation.

Beauty as usual

These well-known personal care and cosmetics brands rank in the top 15 on the NetBase list:

  • MAC at number 2
  • Channel at number 5
  • Sephora at number 8
  • L’Oreal at number 9
  • Maybelline at number 10
  • Dior at number 12
  • Avon at number 13
  • Colgate at number 14
  • Revlon at number 15

The social media conversation about beauty is global and always-on. Those rankings are based on posts made in English with no geographical limitations. The bulk social posts comes out of the US, the UK, India, Canada and Australia. Though, the NetBase study shows that talk of beauty goes on in over one hundred countries.

This report marks the second year of the project, which began in Feb of 2013. Notably, the volume of beauty posts was up 5% year over year.