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Millennial beauty mogul Emily Weiss's strategy for launching Glossier was simple: do the exact opposite of what most product startups do. As she explained at TechCrunch's Disrupt New York 2015 today, instead of creating the product and then rolling out ads and marketing, she started by posting content and then building out products with input from Into The Gloss fans and social media. Posting hype-building Instagrams of her new brand came naturally to Weiss. "I’m on Instagram more than any other social platform," she explained. "For us, it came naturally to start to build the brand almost in real-time via Instagram."
Would-be Glossier shoppers are on Instagram too, TechCrunch notes, since 90% of Instagram users are under 35 and two/thirds of users are female. Weiss spent six months listening to feedback via social media to find out what consumers really wanted from a skincare brand. She breaks down her branding strategy to focus on content, community, commerce, and data above all. According to Weiss, next steps for Glossier's expansion include key hires of top talent and improving the digital product.
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