Beauty Guru’s on YouTube

[#1]

I watch a lot of Beauty Guru’s on YouTube.  I have noticed that a lot of them when do video’s they always tend to have and show free beauty products they have received.  I am not the type to go on YouTube and be a Beauty Guru, I just don’t have the time for it.   Do they get paid for doing this? I don’t know a whole lot about this.

My question is, do you have to be a Beauty Guru on YouTube Guru to receive free makeup products? Are there other ways to advertise products you use other than YouTube? Like Twitter? Would they recognize people through Twitter who advertise their products and you receive free products?

What are other ways one can receive free beauty products without being a Beauty Guru on Youtube?

[#2]

This is a huge slap in the face to the customers who actually buy the products.  If companies want to send out their new products for advertising purposes, who better than the actual customers who buy it and refer it, after all, we are the ones who keep them in business.  It should not be sent out to random girls on youtube who will tell you to buy it, and tell you how great it is... yet they will not go out and purchase it themselves.  The reason for that is because they constantly get products shipped to them for free.  I understand its for advertising, completely get it, but it is definetly not a good business strategy, maybe at first, but the customers are going to start coming out of the woodworks and say hey, wait a minute, this is not right.  They should figure out another way of advertising.  Keeping this up will eventually lead to a loss of customers.  I have already made a formal complaint to a company (which will remain nameless) about this.  I received a good response, so if this turns into an issue and other girls start sharing their concerns about this too, it will come to an end soon.  Yes, that means alot of mad beauty gurus.  I say tough.  Go back to the good ol days where you have to actually go out and buy your makeup, beauty products etc.  

[#3]

Some companies do just the model you're referring to by offering samples to the broad consumer base before release, I think I saw Nexxus do this a few months ago.

Otherwise, I think it's good that they send out what they have set aside for the press, blogs and videos will get the word out to a much more broad audience.  As a writer for a small new age/nostalgic gaming blog, we sometimes do get offers for review copies of video games and whatnot.  While it's very enjoyable to play the games (or in this case apply skincare or makeup) there is the work aspect of actual posting what your review is in detail.  While it's not necessarily a requirement for you to review the product unless you are under contract, to keep the best business relationship with that company, improve your readerbase, improve sales for that company's product, and expect other companies to approach you for product trials the best course of action is to give the review thoroughly, and honestly.  

Unfortunately by sending the review copies out to the customer base there is simply not as large of an advertisement out there, mostly due in part to a large amount of the customer base not feeling inclined to review the sent product.

[#4]

Like I said, I completely understand them wanting to advertise.  This "youtube beauty guru" way of advertising is not going to be around forever, it just simply is not. It is not going to be a long term, effective way of advertising.  Short term yes, but like I mentioned there are going to be upset customers.  We already have to fight for the samples, trial sizes, and even gifts with purchase.  Many times I have qualified for gift with purchase, or just spent a certain amount that should prompt the employee to throw in a couple samples, but end up with just what I bought.  The employees are supposed to give out trail sizes, samples, after all, that is what they are there for.  Loyal customers and new customers should not get the short end of the stick.  I am not targeting one makeup company, This is all makeup/beauty companies who do this.  I just happened to call the one I purchase from, who sends out traincases full of new products for free to these beauty gurus.  It is not right and that is why there has been issues with youtube.  Youtube gets stricter and stricter every year with the beauty gurus for a reason.  My complaints/concerns are not new.  They know these are becoming big issues, and they know these issues are not going to go away, they will only get bigger if not resolved.

[#5]

Ran8 and Katie are right. However there are definitely some gurus out there that don't have professional experience, and are simply very good at what they do. Having a good video camera, charisma, and superb video editing skills also really help in making those gurus sky rocket to 'YouTube stardom'.

I was actually wondering how youtubers made money off of their videos and looked into what YouTube Partners was all about a few months ago. YouTube Partner is basically offered to gurus that have a massive amount of subscribers and video views. I believe that once they are signed up as a Partner they are given a commission of sorts based on the number of views they get per video on a monthly basis. From what I've heard some gurus out there make a pretty decent living making videos full time. 

Although I'm not a Beauty Guru, I have worked as an online beauty columnist and I can tell you that through that I did obtain a number of free beauty products. Many cosmetics brands set aside a number of items for the press (which youtube falls under too) for reviews. A lot of brands will offer to send products for gurus (and beauty journalists/editors) to try and review. Companies realize that Gurus can really publicize their products, especially top gurus that have a lot of subscribers.

I haven't heard anything about using twitter as a primary beauty platform...but I have heard of beauty bloggers having some success in doing this. Do keep in mind that it is also a numbers game, most companies will gladly want to have you review their products if you have a large following, which can take months (even years) to develop. Once again it's all a numbers game, and It's important to track your page views/number of followers/etc as many cosmetics companies will want to know about this if you send them a product request letter.I have fair amount of experience in social media marketing and it's definitely something that takes a lot of dedication, but is definitely worth it as you gain a following. My best advice if you do start a beauty blog would be to post regularly, self promote for an hour or two daily, and to really have a passion for it.

Also keep in mind that even though you may get free along your blogging journey, even the most accomplished bloggers/gurus still pay out of pocket for a lot of the items they review and feature.

[#6]

Some are paid, some are not.  It depends if they have a contract in place and the terms whether or not they can disclose that information.  And while it seems there are plenty of users who do receive free items, one does not have to be on YouTube.

Plenty of users do it for their love of sharing information and products.  If a certain user/blogger has a significant amount of traffic or followers, certain companies may look into that particular person or blog.  They may be offered free items or even a career opportunity with the company. 

Twitter may be more difficult due to sheer advertising blindness.  It would require at least 100,000 followers to maybe be noticed. How to get those numbers:  a strategic plan to market yourself.  Why should people follow you?  What do you have to offer that makes your tweets worth following?  Awareness; etc. 

Keep in mind the brands and corporations for beauty products are a business.  While it is nice to receive free items, this cannot always be possible to each and every random person who asks for free stuff.  Companies need long term financial stability to stay afloat. 

Those who are currently working in the beauty industry usually have opportunities to attend certain events which in return have free items.  Product launches, anniversaries, product development, trade shows, marketing events, demonstrations, etc.  Some YouTube users/bloggers may be invited to these events as well.   

One up and coming website that has seemed to attract popularity is Pinterest (kinda google botiques beta-ish).  Account users find items from certain sites (retailers, etc), post them onto their board.  Other users visit the board, follow the picture to the site and either browse or choose to buy the item.  I read an article somewhere that the use and sharing on pinterest has increased web traffic to certain sites.  It also has some controversy regarding copyright (users more or less have an intent to share more than infringe but certain companies are not fond of their image(s)/product(s) appearing on pinterest). 

Hope that helps. 

[#7]

I agree with ran8. I wanted to add that there are several beauty gurus on YouTube who are professional and/or celebrity makeup artists (or talented beauty bloggers), and these people attract followers because they have professional experience and know what they are doing -- and therefore people subscribe to them. These individuals receive free products from companies (big and small) because -- if you think about it -- it's a wise investment on the part of the company if they know their product will be reviewed by someone with access to many subscribers (i.e. potential consumers). There are also "gurus" who don't really know what they're doing and make YouTube videos for the sake of doing so, and I would be willing to bet that these people do not receive free products (or at least not products from well-known or higher end brands), because it would not be a wise investment. You (the collective you, not you personally) can't just throw up instructional videos and reviews and expect companies to send free products -- it's not a sensible investment.

Sometimes you just have to make a personal investment in good products by buying them -- at the end of the day, companies need to make a profit, and it would not be profitable for them to hand out freebies simply because people asked for them. Most samples (freebies) come with a purchase as a reward for the small investment (the purchase) in the company. Without that, it doesn't make much sense to give things away. Sometimes if you ask counters for samples, they will give them to you, but it's a bit impolite (in my opinion) to ask for counter samples when not making a purchase if you're not an established customer.