Often, cultivating a loyal community online is one of the best ways to build a brand. But how do you make content that’s relatable and rallies the support of strangers? Liah Yoo has the answer.
Liah is the founder of KraveBeauty, a multimillion-dollar skincare company that’s resetting industry norms. Her brand focuses on limiting the number of products used in a typical skin care routine to minimize breakouts.
Liah founded her company after she documented her own journey with adult acne on YouTube. She built a community of more than one million subscribers before launching her market-disrupting brand.
Ahead Liah shares the strategies that helped her connect with a large audience online.
3 ways to build a community online
Lilah has been creating content on social media since 2011. Tap into more than a decade’s worth of her experience to grow your own community.
1. Find a problem you already have
If you want your content to perform well on social media, address a problem you understand first hand. “Community gets built really easily around a shared problem,” Liah says. As soon as she began making videos documenting her struggle with adult acne, people started subscribing to her channel.
Lilah was vulnerable about her own frustrations, and how confused and overwhelmed she felt with the industry. “Oftentimes with acne-prone skin, we’re applying way too many products, and sometimes you need to press reset and simplify in order to clear your skin,” Lilah says. Her content was enjoyable because it not only was relatable, but came from an authentic point of view.
2. Create a slogan that embodies your brand
Lilah highlights the importance of having a slogan for your content. “Nike has, ‘Just Do It’ and Apple has, ‘Think Different,’” she says. “Your slogan represents your brand and the lifestyle you want other people to also join and live together. For us that was definitely #PressReset.”
The slogan refers to resetting thoughts around routine, the industry’s waste, and other jargon brands use to scare or upsell customers. Lilah uses the slogan throughout her content, including as a hashtag on her posts.
3. Focus on value for your audience
So many influencers sell skin care products online that it can be unclear what actually works and what’s excess. Lilah focused her content on providing value in the form of helping and informing her audience.
Frustrated by all the contradicting information sold to her by popular skin care brands, she wanted to promote the fact that you don’t need expensive treatments or topicals to heal. “The industry makes you feel like you need to apply more products, go through a laser treatment, or take accutane,” Liah says.
If you can create content with helpful, tactful information, people will keep coming back for more. Developing personal expertise is important when it comes to making your posts engaging online—and earning the trust of your target audience.
To learn more about KraveBeauty and Liah Yoo’s social strategy, tune in to the full Shopify Masters episode.