First Aid Beauty is a US skincare brand founded in 2009. I have used their products for the past few years and think they are fantastic. The brand has an active social media presence, particularly on Instagram and TikTok. This week, using Sprout Social as well as Instagram and TikTok Insights, I analyzed their socials and focused on how their organic content performs and where it can improve.

First Aid Beauty on Instagram

First Aid Beauty does a great job with organic content on Instagram. They post consistently and include a variety of posts. One of their strengths is that they post a lot of Reels, which is a smart tool for increasing reach. I’ve noticed in my experience when posting that the Instagram algorithm pushes Reels rather than static posts to more users. They use a lot of high-quality User-Generated Content in their Reels, which are among some of their highest-performing posts. Their best-performing post with the most engagement of the past year is a Giveaway Reel. Giveaways are a great way to attract new audiences. Even if all it does is get a bunch of users to follow you and comment on your post, the increased engagement can help the algorithm continue to push your content, which can lead to conversions over time the more that people hear about your product. Another strength I saw is their willingness to clarify consumer’s concerns. Their second-best-performing post from the past year explains a recall of one of their products. A scented version of their moisturizer was recalled and customers were questioning if the non-scented version was okay to use. First Aid Beauty explains the situation and reassures customers that their favorite moisturizer can still be used. This shows that they care about maintaining trust with their audience which is great to see from a brand. Their third highest performing post from the past year comes after the devastating LA wildfires, showing their limited edition moisturizer which 50% of profits will go to the LA Fire Department Foundation. This goes beyond strategy because it shows that they’re a brand that cares and wants to give back to the community, which is always a positive in consumers’ eyes. 

Speaking of community, the one First Aid Beauty has built is entirely positive. All of the comments I read on their posts were positive and praised the products. My one critique here is on a couple of recent posts, the same user left a comment asking if a product was discontinued and they didn’t get a response. I would advise First Aid Beauty to stay on top of monitoring these types of comments because it shows they care about their customers and if one person is asking then it’s likely that other people have the same question.

First Aid Beauty on TikTok

TikTok is First Aid Beauty’s second-largest platform behind Instagram. Similarly to Instagram, they post consistently and have a variety of posts. The overall tone of their videos on TikTok is more casual compared to Instagram. This is smart because I find as a user that TikTok is considered the casual app while Instagram is usually more polished and focused on being aesthetically pleasing. They share a lot of User-Generated Content on TikTok as they do on Instagram, but with the inclusion of more influencer-style content that is popular on TikTok. This includes “get ready with me” videos, showing shoot days, list videos, and slideshows. They also include some videos with trending sounds and some that are just talking videos. I find that using a mix of the two rather than entirely one or the other is better for reaching more people on TikTok. The biggest weakness I see with their TikTok is despite the content being good, their engagement and reach are rather low and a lot less than what they get on Instagram.

My Suggestions

One thing I think First Aid Beauty lacks in their organic content is storytelling. They scratch the surface but don’t go nearly as deep into storytelling as they should. This applies to Instagram and TikTok.

Storytelling in the context of skincare can be done by showing real-life scenarios in which a First Aid Beauty product would come in handy. For example, slugging is a skincare technique that’s been discussed a lot on social media. One of their highest-performing Reels shows how to use their product for slugging. Another video that had great reach and engagement on Instagram and TikTok shows an esthetician applying a First Aid Beauty product while explaining that they love it as someone who does a lot of chemical peels. There are many real-life scenarios that skincare can be incorporated into such as gym vlogs, morning routines, and makeup tutorials. Another thing that these two examples have in common is both videos have great leads. The first sentence of a video is very important because it can determine whether or not someone keeps watching or scrolls away. First Aid Beauty should definitely prioritize a strong lead in all talking videos. 

One thing First Aid Beauty could do to see more success on TikTok is to participate in more TikTok trends. These trends are a great way for more reach because the algorithm tends to push them more. When scrolling through their TikTok, I saw only a few TikTok trends. The trends I did see were less popular ones. If they regularly posted the most popular TikTok trends, they could get more eyes on their videos. Popular TikTok trends are constantly changing, so it’s important to have someone on the social media team monitoring what trends are viral at the moment. This week in particular, my For You Page is filled with videos of people doing the “Here I Am” trend. The trend is to use a random object like it’s a guitar and to pretend you’re performing like the character Margaret Dupree from Camp Rock. If First Aid Beauty did this trend with a box of their products, I bet the video would reach a lot of users.

Finally, the last suggestion I would make to First Aid Beauty is to include popular topics within the content. As I mentioned earlier, their post about the LA wildfires is one of the highest-performing posts from the past year. I would consider including content related to something that a lot of people are talking about, whether it’s a tragedy like the fires or perhaps something more uplifting like awards season. A “get ready with me” for an upcoming award show using a First Aid Beauty product would do really well, bonus points if they can get a celebrity to film it.