KISS didn’t become the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of professional-quality beauty products without understanding and catering to what consumers want. And now that swapping beauty tips and showing off new styles has moved from the salon to social media, you can be sure the brand has followed suit.

So how does KISS support in-store and e-commerce sales on social? Through a healthy dose of style and smart strategy powered by Sprout Social.

Since signing on with Sprout, KISS has seen a 73.2% boost in engagements across Facebook, X and Instagram, as well as 121,585 link clicks, an all-important metric in the retail space.

And if Social Media Manager Assunta Catalano has anything to say about it, the brand is just getting started.

Nailing Social

KISS has significantly expanded its product portfolio over the years, branching out from nails to include lashes, cosmetics and hair care items. Whether it’s through the KISS name or major brands such as imPRESSmanicure.com, the focus remains on providing customers with salon-quality products they can use at home.

And it’s Catalano’s job to make sure these products stay top of mind for online audiences.

KISS pull quote

“Officially my title is Social Media Manager, but with that comes a whole load of other responsibilities,” she said. “Social media includes the best of all worlds: traditional marketing, PR, digital marketing, influencer marketing, e-commerce, customer service—the list goes on and on.”

And in order to tackle that list, Catalano required a social media management platform that provided all-in-one capabilities.

“I was shopping around between a few platforms, but Sprout really had all I needed in one place,” she said. “A lot of platforms may provide just publishing tools or listening tools and others just reporting tools, but Sprout offers it all.”

Community management is a huge part of Catalano’s day-to-day duties, whether it’s responding to customer questions on Facebook, engaging fans on X or finding user-generated content on Instagram. Then there’s publishing, which includes organic and paid posts as part of dedicated campaigns that require consistent optimization and reporting.

“Without Sprout, I may be missing messages, comments, complaints,” Catalano said. “The scheduling and publishing calendar has also made efficiency so easy to the point where I can work and schedule content a week or two ahead.”

With Sprout’s Smart Inbox, Catalano can see all messages from all social channels and profiles in a single stream.

“The Smart Inbox is my favorite thing ever,” Catalano said. “I always have that tab open on my computer and I’m always refreshing it. And I feel like if I didn’t have this, there’s no way I would be able to respond to our customers as quickly as I do. Previously, when I didn’t have Sprout, I … was going on each individual platform and going through the messages that way. For me to actually be able to quickly toggle between different brands and profiles has been a lifesaver.”

Online, in Vogue

Over time, KISS’ social strategy has changed from promotional to lifestyle-focused.

“I wanted to make that shift in the brand so we weren’t speaking at consumers and potential customers but communicating with them,” Catalano said. “I feel it’s so important to have that relationship and social media is the perfect platform to make it happen. If you take a look at our pages, you may not be able to decipher between user content and branded content.”

And whether a retail business operates online or around the corner, customer service remains key. Catalano sees social as a way to surprise and delight customers through quick and consistent responses.

“I try to personally react to each and every comment made on our social platforms, respond to every DM and it’s always amazing to see the reaction of the customer: “OMG, you responded!” she said. “We’ve definitely built a strong fan base through being responsive. It matters and it does make a difference. For social media, I feel the main priority is to form a relationship with those who follow you. They need to trust your brand, respect your brand and feel like they’re a part of your brand.”

Of course, when your bread and butter is beauty products, showing off the goods is important, too.

“Instagram is definitely our most effective social channel, especially for the demographic that we want to cater to and make sure that we get our products in front of their eyes,” Catalano said.

KISS instagram audience growth

And the number of eyes grows exponentially when celebrities are seen sporting the brand’s styles.

“We’ve partnered with makeup artists and celebrity nail techs through which we’ve received major press,” Catalano said. “One example that was more recent was Cardi B wearing our latest lash collection at the Grammy’s. That evening, we were getting so many followers, so many inquiries on where they can purchase those lashes. It was nice to see. And then the nail tech, her name is Jenny [Bui], she did a video on her Instagram and it was just amazing, the influence that some of these influencers have. An additional benefit is you get other influencers contacting you that want to collaborate as well.”

Through it all, Sprout is on hand to help Catalano track these opportunities and measure their success with social audiences.

“We’ve seen increases in metrics since using Sprout Social and that’s because with the help of Sprout, I’ve been able to push out more content,” she said. “We’ve increased our followers, engagement, number of posts sent out and Sprout Social has been a great partner to KISS.”

In the five months since signing on with Sprout, on Instagram alone, the brand experienced a:

  • 47% increase in followers.
  • 497.4% increase in engagements.

KISS also continues to see substantial growth on a month-over-month basis, with a 15.4% monthly increase in Instagram followers as of February 28, 2018.

In addition to quality products at an affordable price point, KISS’ success with online audiences can be attributed to smart social strategy.

And with the help of Sprout Social, the brand not only does it in style, but makes it look easy.

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