Ingrid Nilsen (screen name: missglamorazzi) is a YouTube beauty guru with nearly 3 million subscribers

The Globe and Mail article titled “Twitter conversation more important than blatant advertising” brings forth the increasingly important marketing strategy of this digital age – social media. As an avid user of social media myself, frequenting websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube multiple times a day, I can wholeheartedly say that not only is a brand’s output on social media important, a brand’s reputation through the eyes of consumers is even more so. The brand’s page on social media is like a TV advertisement. Consumers do not believe every claim or click every link that a brand tweets; mostly these are tuned out or ignored. Instead, consumers follow the advice and recommendation of fellow “regular people” on social media sites.

On YouTube, there is a massive community of “beauty gurus”, girls and women who make videos about makeup and fashion. These women film makeup tutorials, product reviews or product recommendations, usually from the comfort of their bedrooms. They gain hundreds of thousands of hits on each video they post and have fiercely loyal viewers that trust their opinions and purchase products based on what they rave about. Company’s who partner up with these individuals understand how important it is to market their brand to consumers, through consumers.