A top E.l.f. Beauty marketer reveals how the beauty brand uses platforms like TikTok and Roblox to develop products and drive sales

• E.l.f. Beauty is looking for new customers on TikTok, Roblox, and Twitch.
• These platforms are helping ELF achieve record sales.
• Laurie Lam, Chief Brand Officer, outlined the beauty company’s marketing strategy.

E.l.f. Beauty is known for creating viral, low-cost makeup and promoting it on platforms such as TikTok and Roblox.

According to Laurie Lam, a former longtime L’Oreal executive who joined E.l.f. Beauty as chief brand officer in 2022, the 19-year-old beauty brand primarily built its business through digital marketing and focuses on finding platforms with a built-in community to target specific groups of people.

“We’re a company that believes in failing forward — if something doesn’t work, we’ll just pivot,” Lam went on to say.

E.l.f. launched a Roblox game earlier this month that allows players to earn virtual currency called Robux in exchange for playing entrepreneurs who run shops named after E.l.f. products like mascara and primer.

The decision to create a branded Roblox game “was probably inarguably one of the hardest things that I think we’ve done as an organization,” according to Lam, because the brand wanted to target Gen Z gamers interested in becoming entrepreneurs in a non-annoying way. More than 2 million users have visited E.l.f.’s Roblox activation since it launched in November.

E.l.f. also has a presence on Twitch to target female gamers who have alias usernames because they do not fit the demographic of male gamers, according to Lam. Twitch is a small but growing platform for driving makeup sales, according to Circana’s 2023 Makeup Consumer report. Twitch influenced a makeup purchase for 6% of makeup wearers who cite social media as their source of makeup information, up from 3% in 2022.

E.l.f. also has a sizable following on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers. TikTok has a high engagement rate, and users provide feedback that is used to develop and sell products, according to Lam. For example, E.l.f. brought back a seasonal product called Jelly Pop makeup primer after TikTokers requested that it be available all year. In another case, TikTok users asked E.l.f. to create a more hydrating version of the concealer and foundation product Camo CC Cream, which E.l.f. intends to develop, according to Lam.

@elfyeah Replying to @ant 1 MILLION FOLLOWERS MEANS JELLY POP IS BACK BESTIES #elfcosmetics #millionfollowers #celebration #jellypopprimer e.l.f. Cosmetics

TikTok, according to Larissa Jensen, VP and global beauty industry advisor at research firm Circana, is a major driver of makeup sales. According to the Circana report for 2023, TikTok is the top social media platform for influencing sales, surpassing Instagram for the first time. Fifty-two percent of makeup wearers said TikTok influenced their makeup purchases, while 45% said Instagram influenced their makeup purchases. TikTok was named the top platform for influencing purchases by 75% of Gen Z makeup wearers.

“Considering that about one-third of E.l.f.’s users are Gen Z, TikTok is the place for the brand to reach their audience,” she went on to say.

E.l.f.’s strategy of investing in new platforms, according to Lam, does not follow a traditional marketing calendar in which campaigns are planned months in advance. A campaign, on the other hand, can be put together in a week.

This year, E.l.f. ran a regional Super Bowl TV ad starring actress Jennifer Coolidge and co-written by “White Lotus” creator Mike White. Coolidge has since appeared in a couple of other E.l.f. campaigns this year, including a promotion for a set of lip products that Coolidge helped create.

These marketing strategies appear to be working for E.l.f. During its fiscal second quarter earnings, the company reported a 76% year-over-year increase in sales. During its fiscal year 2024, the company expects net sales to increase by 55% to 57% year on year.