Beauty brands Mac, Sephora and Maybelline are losing voice in the social conversation surrounding beauty and skincare to non-traditional brands such as eBay, Amazon and Etsy, according to a new report from NetBase.

According to the Brand Passion Report: Beauty and Skincare, the traditional beauty brands are slipping in the ranks of social engagement to unconventional beauty retailers, with Mac replaced as the top brand by eBay. Traditional beauty brands need to leverage consumer emotions, spokespeople, new innovations, categories and research to get back on top.

?NetBase publishes reports on a variety of industries and what we are seeing across the board is the importance of paying attention to what consumers are readily providing via social,? said said Pernille Bruun-Jensen, chief marketing officer at NetBase. ?For this report in particular, we see the five primary qualities that consumers look for and use to evaluate brands such as L'Oreal and Maybelline. 

?We also see that consumers may be looking for new ways to purchase cosmetics,? she said. ?While there is not a single variable that points to why certain brands are slipping in the rankings, the biggest improvement brands can make is to be more engaged with consumers on social. 

?Brands need to meet their customers where conversations about their product are already taking place.?

With mobile dominating the marketing industry, consumers can search for deals and competing brand content faster and easier. This means that finding cheaper prices is at the forefront of customer?s minds. 

The retailers and brands that have climbed the social engagement ladder are known as platforms for finding discount prices, which could be a possible reason for the uptick in social discussion surrounding the brands. EBay skyrocketed up the ranks this year, as it was twelfth in last year?s report and is now occupying the top spot. 

Although eBary replaces Mac as the top name in social engagement, Mac still remains the top cosmetics brand name. However, Sephora dropped from the third spot down to the eighth. 

To gain back the coveted social media rank, Sephora and other brands need to focus on adopting well-known faces and names to be featured in and share content on social media. More importantly, they need to look at trending topics within the beauty and skincare world and incorporate it into their social media tactics. 

Looking at purchase history to see which products are the most popular or viewed and developing content based surrounding these items can incite engagement. The data shows that consumers are already interested in that products, which means on social media it will grab their attention and generate a significant response. 

Paying attention to what has done well in the past is highly beneficial as well. These brands should look at what has produced positive results and what caused a negative or stagnant response, and react accordingly to the information. 

It is important for beauty brands to implement unique marketing tactics into their social media plans. 

For instance, Benefit recently took Instagram users on a virtual underwater mobile scavenger hunt, playing on consumer interest in contests, games and Discovery?s Shark Week in an attempt to preserve its image as a genuine brand that enjoys having fun with its fans (see more). 

Also, Grooming product subscription service Birchbox Man is delivering a unique augmented reality experience to members to further develop its newer male side of the service (see more). 

?It is vital for beauty brands to keep a pulse on their consumer and use the insights gained from social listening and analytics to drive business decisions,? Ms. Bruun-Jensen said. ?If consumers are talking about beauty and skincare in conjunction with Nike and athletic gear, as the report found, then perhaps marketers of cosmetics should find ways to reach consumers when they are thinking about fitness apparel. 

?The ways that insights from social data can be applied to business and marketing decisions is almost limitless.?

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer