Sephora Trains Brands to Become TikTok Stars

Retailers and brands want a marketing presence where potential customers are looking, and that increasingly means establishing a presence on TikTok. Sephora is now helping up-and-coming beauty brands get the most reach and value from the world’s most popular small-form video-sharing platform with a new marketing incubator.

The recently announced Sephora x TikTok Incubator Program will consist of three sessions, two via Zoom and one in-person meeting at TikTok’s offices in New York City, according to Glossy.

Three beauty brands launched through the retailer’s accelerator in 2021. Eadam, Topicals and Hyper Skin were chosen to participate and will attend data-focused training led by three established TikTok beauty influencers.

Sessions cover such topics as building a strategy and using TikTok content to feed into an overall marketing plan. The program will finish with “community creators,” selected by the incubator’s influencers, who will create six pieces of content for each brand. Sephora says the TikTok incubator is not a one-off and will be available to three new brands each quarter.

Sephora’s attempt to build brands through TikTok traffic comes as major beauty and cosmetics competitor Ulta Beauty is gaining ground in the vertical, reporting record sales in its fourth quarter.

By now, some of the biggest U.S. retailers have taken note of TikTok’s ability to reach customers. Amazon.com and Walmart have created programs that reward influencers and content creators for reviewing and promoting their products on TikTok, Marketwatch recently reported.

Despite its brand-building potential, U.S. retailers may be rolling the dice when they devote resources and money to TikTok as the future of the app in the U.S. is still being determined.

The Biden administration is beginning to take a more rigid stance on the China-owned app over national security concerns, The New York Times reported this week. The administration demands that the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sell the app or face a ban from operating in the U.S. The White House has also been negotiating with TikTok to get ByteDance to implement new data safeguards or to seek a sale.

• Exclusive: Sephora and TikTok team up on new content program for emerging brands — Glossy

• U.S. Pushes for TikTok Sale to Resolve National Security Concerns — The New York Times

• Ulta’s performance is a thing of beauty — RetailWire

• Big retail companies are paying influencers to help them with their TikTok presence — Marketplace