1. Introduction

Social media are Internet-based platforms that enable users to engage in opportunistic interactions and selective self-presentation with broad and niche audiences who value user-generated content and the impression of interpersonal interaction [1]. Many communicative tools will have emerged in response to radical technological and social advances over the last few decades. Individuals produce information, post information, and access information on social media, and social media platforms provide a place to interact with information immediately. More and more users share information and contact others through social media. In daily life and study, users are increasingly dependent on social media. Social media has changed the way society interacts and interacts with people. Social media can be more than a convenient medium for users to communicate with each other; it can also be a marketing tool. Through a shared understanding of social media, the processes and influences of social media in the communication discipline and beyond can be theorized.

With the increasingly powerful and influential functions of social media platform, especially in the aspect of communication, cosmetics brands start to use social media for marketing. For the marketing method under the new media concept, social media can bring objective customer flow and topic volume to enterprises, and marketing information can be accurately pushed to the client end of target customers through big data analysis and precise push. Therefore, social media has significance for contemporary marketing. Therefore, enterprises have a more convenient and rapid way of publicity. This paper will analyze the status quo of cosmetics marketing methods in modern social media and clarifies the advantages and disadvantages.

2. Marketing Campaigns for Cosmetics in Social Media

2.1. Analysis of Internet Status

The Internet is constantly being updated and iterated due to the increasing variety and frequency of the information it needs to disseminate to users. Social media is a vital component of the many new methods of producing and distributing information online [2]. Social media platforms' ability to introduce specific content in response to user requirements has significantly impacted how news is disseminated online due to their volume, speed, and rapid news change. Social media can give the network era a new kind of development connotation and development momentum, allowing the network era's development and the characteristic of individualism to be satisfied. As a 'visual product' that adorns people's beauty, the beauty industry and relative products have seen an explosion of marketing on the Internet in recent years. That is because people can visually access cosmetics reviews on social media platforms and decide whether or not to buy them. For brands, marketing in social media is more convenient than traditional marketing methods because social media advertising can be pushed to any potential customer through big data, making more people aware of the brand's products quickly.

2.2. Marketing Methods, Strategies and Characteristics in Different Social Media

A marketing strategy using social media is known as social media marketing. These days, major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, and QQ have robust interactive features. This quality makes social media a vital tool for growing the local business. Take several social media marketing strategies in China as examples. Regarding product attributes, Sina Weibo integrates almost all social media functions and invites celebrities to register on Weibo, so that more people can interact on the platform and reach a broader range of advertising. TikTok has the function of video and live-broadcast, further promoting real-time and diversified delivery of goods. As for Xiaohongshu, the grass-seeding content marketing of it not only provides users with references, recommendations and guidelines to gain users' trust, but also greatly enhances consumers' brand recognition and goodwill [3]. Xiaohongshu aims to create a sophisticated community that generates a desire to buy a particular product or experience something. The visual platform allows users to see pictures of products first before text information. For companies, there are two ways to operate advertising and marketing: to open a brand account or even an alternate self-hosted one; instead, based on the placement logic, recruit relevant content bloggers to co-create content. For the social media mentioned above, cosmetics appear in front of the public in various forms, such as pictures, videos, live broadcasts, and short articles to increase brand-user interaction, increase brand exposure and achieve the brand's marketing objectives [4].

2.3. Analysis of the Brand's Internet User Specialisation Marketing Strategy

It is natural for humans to love beauty, and many people, both men and women, wish to improve their personal appearance through cosmetic adornments. For users of social media platforms, social media is an important channel to get information about beauty products. In addition, there are guides for newcomers and recommendations from bloggers about what's trending, which further increases the authenticity of the information and indirectly builds user trust. Furthermore, these marketing campaigns have pictures or videos of the results of the cosmetic product in use, which substantially increases the authenticity and, indirectly, the user's trust. Users can also communicate directly with the bloggers through interactions such as pop-ups in live streams and comments in tweets to get information about the products faster. This interactivity and real-time nature further increase the likelihood of purchase.

In addition, for internet users, the "herd effect" also promotes a certain number of cosmetics purchases. The "herd effect" refers to the herding mentality of economic individuals in economics. People in a collective state often lose their thinking and are easily swayed by the joint, instinctively following its wishes [5]. In social media, every once in a while, there is an explosion of cosmetics, such as Dior's 999 shade lipstick, Nars' pressed powder, Bobbi Brown's highlighter, and Givenchy's quadrangle loose powder. Many users who are confused about what new cosmetics to buy are lured by the overwhelming marketing about them and go on to buy these popular products. However, whether these consumers truly need these products is debated and further explored.

Apart from the above discussions about the common consumers, Generation Z is the largest social media user. They account for a large proportion of beauty consumption, making them a key demographic in the entire beauty industry. For the majority of female consumers of cosmetics, brands are increasingly choosing famous male celebrities as spokespersons for their brands, rather than the traditional female audience that uses female celebrities to cope with cosmetics. For example, Chinese actor Yang Yang is the Guerlain's first male spokesperson, and Guerlain even launched a lipstick label named after the spokesperson, attracting a sea of fans to purchase it. Celebrities' influence and appeal to the young female audience are high, maximising the fan economy. With the promotion of brands and fans, pictures or videos of male celebrities endorsing cosmetics or using the products can be seen on all major social media platforms. Today's male make-up consumption is also growing yearly, with a greater preference for natural-looking touch-ups, foundations, and concealers. More and more beauty brands are introducing new products, such as unisex and men-only cosmetics and skincare products. That has also facilitated the emergence of many male beauty bloggers, who share their experiences of male skincare and make-up on social media, causing many men to follow suit and further boosting the consumption of beauty products. Older users with make-up need to learn about beauty products relevant to them within live-streaming platforms such as TikTok, and the live-stream hosts will promote and recommend them for their preferences and buying tendencies.

3. The Meaning of Marketing Through Social Media

Social media has four primary characteristics: entertainment, customisation, interaction, and trendiness, which allow more people to engage in social media marketing [6]. Almost everyone uses social media, and despite their size, even businesses have begun to do so to market and promote themselves. Large companies use social media to demonstrate their robust presence and welcoming customer relationships. Rather than paying publishers or distribution companies to embed their messages, the more positive way is to create compelling content for free and reach a larger audience.

With low barriers to entry, fast dissemination, high level of interaction, and low cost, social media has a pivotal role in a company's marketing. There are no specific social media users, and any individual can post information and market on this platform [7]. On this platform, every user has access to information about beauty products and feedback from purchasers on the use of the products. In addition, each user can also become a blogger and actively share their experiences with others. On social media, regardless of skin type -- dry, oily or combination, fair, olive or dark -- bloggers or brands with similar skin types can be found and used to learn from buying experiences.

Moreover, social media is highly interactive, providing a platform for sharing text, images, audio and video information between consumers or between consumers and brands, allowing them to interact with brands to some degree and within limits. Ultimately, this constitutes a positive cycle of 'active communication' - 'voluntary acceptance' - 'and active e-communication, which drives the rapid growth in the rate of brand communication.

In addition, regarding time cost, social media users only need to move their fingers to find out about relevant beauty products or brands that interest them in fragmented time. As one scroll through their social media feeds on their mobile device, moments before or during class breaks, or during moments of leisure, a plethora of beauty brand promotions and recommendations can be observed. These may take the form of lipstick and eyeshadow swatches or even natural ad placements within short videos. The wide array of content available to the viewer ranges from static images to immersive videos and even live streams, all promoting beauty products and services [8]. That has not only increased access to information for female customers and reduced the time cost of accessing information but has also allowed the company to increase the promotion of its brand as far as its budget allows. Social media efficiently uses all kinds of user scenarios and time, allowing people to access the latest information anytime, anywhere. Consumers can get to know the products quickly, saving them the time of going to an offline shop and avoiding wasting money by buying unsuitable products [9].

4. Problems Existing in the Marketing of Cosmetics Products on Social Media

Compared with traditional marketing methods, social media, with the support of digital technology, can break through the limitations of time and space and accurately deliver marketing content to potential users. The low cost and no barriers to social media entry attract many users to interact. Real-time consumer interaction and feedback can help brands adjust and improve promptly. Social media brings tremendous flexibility to marketing and advertising planning. However, due to the inherent nature of the Internet, social media inevitably has some problems. For recently discussed hot topics, some brands do not put enough effort into their own beauty products on various social media platforms, and the scope is narrow, not allowing enough audiences to get the relevant information. Furthermore, some brands did not seize the opportunity to place corresponding advertisements without considering the consumption level of the relevant users on social media platforms and blindly pushed advertisements, which would lead to users interested in the products being deterred by the limitation of their consumption level as well. In the following part, the article identifies three problems with the current cosmetics marketing on social platforms.

Firstly, because of the unhindered participation of the Internet, all users can say whatever they want on the platform, making it difficult to distinguish the truth from falsehoods, and users can easily be deceived by false information [10]. Moreover, some users fabricate negative viral reviews of products out of thin air to gain personal benefits, leading to a lower brand reputation. For example, some consumers who bought a beauty product wrote bad reviews on purpose on social media to create rumors that the product was not good for use with poor quality and contained many chemicals that damage the skin, and threatened brands to get discounts or cash back to delete the bad reviews.

Secondly, the marketing efforts of the brand side need to be more attractive and attractive. Some brands do not put enough effort into their own beauty products on various social media platforms, and the scope is narrow, not allowing enough audiences to get the relevant information. Or they do not find the point of interest of users when promoting their products, failing to impress them precisely in a short period of time. Moreover, the brands have insufficient interaction with consumers, which leaves the user unconnected to the brand and therefore uninterested. Some beauty brands only focus on outputting their own ads, and there is a complete lack of interaction with users. For example, they rarely reply to users' comments on social media platforms, and do not carry out live streaming and other social communication methods that can directly communicate with users. This kind of problem can have many negative consequences. For example, with the loss of brand customers, consumers will have a great sense of distrust towards brands playing big names and various customer control problems.

Finally, the control of hot topics, current themes or consumer ideas is not precise enough. For recently discussed hot topics, brands did not seize the opportunity to place corresponding advertisements without considering the consumption level of the relevant users on social media platforms and blindly pushed advertisements, which would lead to users interested in the products being deterred by the limitation of their consumption level as well. For example, some students often see the beauty advertisements of luxury brands when they browse the moments of friends. Many students have no such spending power, so they will not buy these products when they see these advertisements, which results in a waste of resources. Besides, this kind of marketing advertising will potentially cause customers' uncertainty about brand marketing, and extensive advertising will make customers feel the decline in brand value. This inaccuracy of control is also reflected in the platforms on which the information is placed. Some brands do not pay attention to the classification of advertising placement and on-demand placement. For example, advertising anti-ageing and other products on social media, such as Xiaohongshu, which is used more by young people, is far less effective than an anti-ageing video posted on a WeChat channel.

5. Conclusion

Social media platforms provide users with a place to produce, publish and obtain information in real-time. It is a medium-bearing communication function at the user end. On the enterprise side, social media also plays an important role in corporate information transmission and marketing. Social media platforms introduce specific content according to user needs, greatly affecting how information is spread online. Social media can give the network era a new development connotation and momentum so that the development of the network era and the characteristics of individualism can be satisfied. The numerous functions of social media not only provide users with references, recommendations, and guidance and gain the trust of users but also significantly improve the brand recognition and goodwill of consumers and further promote the real-time and diversified delivery of goods. For users of social media platforms, social media is an important channel to get information about beauty products. Interactivity and timeliness further increase the possibility of purchase. In addition, for netizens, the "herding effect" also promotes a certain number of cosmetics purchases. Social media plays a pivotal role in enterprise marketing due to low entry barriers, fast communication speed, high interaction degree, and low cost. In addition, each user can also become a blogger and actively share their experience with others. Social media provides a platform for consumers to share text, image, audio, and video information with each other and with brands, enabling them to interact with brands to a certain extent and within a certain range. In addition, when it comes to time costs, social media users can find relevant beauty products or brands of interest at the flick of a finger in fragmented time.

However, some brands fail to take the opportunity to put corresponding advertisements on social media platforms and blindly push advertisements without considering the consumption level of relevant users. As a result, users who are interested in the products will be deterred by the restriction of consumption level. Secondly, due to the unhindered participation of the Internet, all users can speak freely on the platform, it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and users are easy to be deceived by false information. The marketing efforts of the brand side also need to be more attractive and attractive, and some beauty brands only focus on the output of their own advertising and complete lack of interaction with users. In addition, the accuracy of user classification/user analysis in some network marketing is low, and the control of hot topics, current themes, or consumers' ideas is not precise enough.

In conclusion, theoretical research on social media marketing in the beauty industry is still relatively limited, especially for a specific cosmetic company, and there is a "gap" in social media marketing research. Therefore, future research will focus on specific cosmetic brands and will begin to investigate social media marketing strategies for Chinese cosmetic brands.