How many times have you seen an advertisement for a monthly subscription box? People love getting fresh new items delivered straight to their homes, like wines and cheeses, and up and coming exclusive beauty products.

The problem for subscription box-producing companies, however, is differentiating itself from the robust competition. This is where business intelligence tools like social listening come in handy. By understanding your competition and your consumer, brands have a huge advantage when it comes to innovation and market share.

We decided to look at beauty and fashion subscription services to identify key takeaways and trends.

What’s Trending in the Beauty World

Starting with looking at Synthesio’s AI-powered trend landscape, it is clear that a few brands are generating the most conversation around their brand. This includes brands like BoxyCharm, Glossier, and Ipsy. However, we can also see brands gaining popularity quickly like FabFitFun, Stitch Fix, and Fabletics.

When we look into the mentions of these top-performing brands, some social media strategies jump out. Fabletics uses influencer marketing, using popular personalities to rep their brand and get followers to check out their products.

Fabletics has a highly attractive deal where if new customers sign up for their VIP program, they get their first two pairs of leggings for a total of just $24. This deal attracts many customers to their products who get a deal on a workout set every month. This lower entry barrier, combined with influencers of all different shapes and sizes, creates an inviting and inclusive environment for people to get involved with Fabletics.

Glossier, though not a subscription service, is another exciting brand to look at. The brand has enjoyed immense success in recent years, exploding in popularity. Glossier has achieved an almost cult-like following among millennials and younger generations thanks to its active social media presence. With more than 2.8 million followers on Instagram alone as of late October 2020, Glossier has built a robust and coherent brand presence. Other up-and-coming beauty brands would do well to take a page out of their social media playbook.

Boosting Brand Visibility

It’s interesting to look at how a brand’s visibility fluctuates due to certain factors. A volume timeline is a great way to visualize these changes. Therefore, we can see for sure what caused a spike in conversation.

One impressive spike happened in mid-October for FabFitFun (seen in orange on the chart.) Clicking into the spike’s contextual report reveals a significant amount of conversation surrounding the release of their winter box. Some of the top keywords include “New,” “Love,” and “Excited,” which emphasizes the importance of fans sharing on social media to boost a brand’s presence.

By looking at the popular mentions associated with the spike, we can see what generates the most conversation. Here we see a YouTube influencer discussing the contents of the FabFitFun Winter 2020 box.

Videos like this generate a lot of buzz with viewers leaving comments about what they are most excited for in the box.

By keeping track of critical conversations among your consumers using social intelligence software, your team can harness the power of unsolicited opinions and use that to improve brand offerings while also keeping tabs on competitor activity.

Want to know more about how social intelligence can boost your brand to the top of customer’s minds? Check out our trend analysis use case story to see how brands are able to leverage fast, accurate trend detection and reporting.