ChrisOhCOH

Image/Personal Style Consultant | Digital Strategist | My thoughts at the intersection of fashion/beauty & digital.

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Compelling content + context still wins over push marketing and the hard sell.

ChrisOhCOH

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Stopped and directed by street photographer Edo after the Thomas Wylde A/W 15 show.

[wwd]

Banana Republic RTW Fall 2015

Photo by Robert Mitra

Marissa Webb has infused Banana Republic with new energy since her Summer 2015 debut — and for fall, she pushed it even further. For more.

For all RTW Fall 2015

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Love the new look of BR a la Marissa Webb.

[chrisohcoh-blog]

DARK SOCIAL: Why You'll be Hearing More of It

The term was coined back in 2012 by Alexis C. Madrigal, a senior editor at The Atlantic, but I'm betting it will quickly become a new buzzword in our industry. Before I dive into why, here's a recap of what Dark Social means: 

Sharing content privately with your personal network via digital communication tools, i.e., emails, text messages, messaging apps. 

This private form of sharing content with your friends is nothing new. So why should you, a Social Marketer, care now more than ever. I'll let this visual from Radium One say it all: 

Are you with me now? I'll be honest, I was shocked to see Dark Social sharing was the dominant, by a substantially larger percentage, form of all social sharing. Then I thought to myself, heck I do this all the time!

Besides the grim realization of just how much social sharing is done privately, the bigger concern for marketers is - how much of this can we track? GA is my best friend. I know exactly how much referral traffic all my brand social channels drive a month, which ones are the top referring sites and how much each drives conversions. But if I can't track these essential metrics related to the majority of the social sharing activity among my audience, I would normally be very concerned. 

But further insights from Radium One underscore how Dark Social sharing sheds light into another compelling consumer behavior and metrics - clickbacks. It's not compelling to just gather and know how many people "clicked" on your link. Rather, it's exciting when you analyze this data against your whole content marketing pie to see what and how your audience is consuming your content, where they are sharing it and how you can optimize to better serve it up. This deeper insight can only improve your content management and engagement strategy. 

Why you'll be hearing more very soon.

With the exponential growth of anonymous sharing app Snapchat and messaging apps like WhatsApp, we can't ignore the fact that a lot of sharing is happening here, privately, especially among Milliennials. Moreover, the big guns, Facebook and Twitter, have already made moves to play in this field - Facebook with Messenger and Twitter with its new Private Group Messaging feature. 

We can't ignore Dark Social any longer. 

//Chris Oh

[chrisohcoh-blog]

A Day with MUA Todd Harris Wolf: Korean Makeup Look

When one of your dear friends is an incredibly talented makeup artist, it's amazing just to get beauty secrets and tips from the busy expert. This past Sunday, I was beyond lucky and grateful my friend, Todd Harris Wolf, spent a day glamming me up! Bonus for me, Todd is totally into Korean beauty trends and products, like many of you right now. 

What I was going for: 

Growing up, Mama Oh instilled in me "a healthy, dewy skin" is the epitome of the Korean beauty look. This trend has really caught on in the U.S., and regardless of a day or night look, I want my complexion game on point, everyday. We Koreans call it "chok chok." Todd NAILED it. (My selfie - photo 2 - captures my glowing complexion without any filter. I promise.) 

Todd says, "The beauty of Asian skin is it's naturally translucent. To keep its beauty, use foundations with a lighter translucent textures that allow its true beauty to come through."

Besides the flawless, dewy complexion, we Koreans are all about playing up our eyes. I haven't meant a Korean woman who can't live without her liquid eyeliner, liquid being the operative word. But Todd took my eyeliner game to a whole new level. Just look at that wing, baby!

Finally, Todd did some magic contouring, which I could never do on my own, and added lashes for days with some falsies. I'll mention though, most Korean women focus more on eye lid makeup (as I mentioned, eyeliner) rather than on lashes. 

I'm obsessed with the look Todd created. What do you think?

//Chris Oh

[chrisohcoh-blog]

It’s not always B/W. More from my makeup sesh with dear friend and amazing MUA Todd Harris Wolf, coming soon.

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Incredibly proud and excited to share this campaign video for TEMPTU's first ever lipstick collection, Color True Lips. 

[chrisohcoh-blog]

2015: Year of Video - The Cornerstone of Your Content Strategy

If your social media strategy doesn’t include video at the core of your content strategy by now, you’re in trouble. 

Your audience is consuming more video content than ever. As a brand marketer, it’s up to you to define how video will play a key role in your overall marketing efforts—across channels and disciplines. Let me break it down to you, why and how you should be thinking about video strategy.

1.8 Million Words: According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, that’s exactly the value of one minute of video. Let’s face it, video is a faster, more compelling form of storytelling. And, consumers couldn’t agree more with the rate of them not only consuming video content, but creating and sharing it. 

Social Networks Put More Weight on Video: All of the top social platforms have already made moves to position video, native videos to be precise, as a key priority both from an engagement and advertising perspective. Twitter’s native video product is only weeks away from hitting the market. Meanwhile, Facebook’s algorithm, something all social marketers love to hate, have been favoring native video content since last year. This trend isn’t waning, so if your content strategy doesn’t evolve to the changing landscape of these major social platforms, your content will struggle to reach your fans, at a depressing rate. 

SEO, baby: With YouTube being the second largest search engine in the world, it’s not rocket science to understand the importance of optimizing your video content, much like implementing SEO strategy for your website. #nuffsaid

Video Ad Spend on the Rise: It’s the fastest growing slice of the digital ad spend pie. No surprise, for several of the reasons mentioned above and because, more importantly, it has the best ROI. Speaking from experience, I can attest video content and campaigns incorporating and leveraging video influencers have proven much more successful in delivering results against KPIs. Social insights are even richer and more compelling. Industry insights show that I’m not alone in sharing this sentiment. 

Finally, I’ll be remiss not to mention the importance of distribution. It’s often overlooked, but your video content strategy isn’t good enough if it’s missing the other half of the equation. Determine how you will scale your reach beyond your owned channels. Consider co-branded content, content delivery platforms, influencer networks, and display and pre-roll ads. 

Now, go ideate, produce, publish and distribute your amazing video content. 

//Chris Oh 

*image above from uberflip

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Korean Wave II: #KBeauty Trend

Walking through the aisles of Sephora the other day, I was pretty surprised by what I saw -  a wall of Amorepacific products, the largest Korean beauty brand and my first skincare. As I stared at the glowing wall, I started thinking: 

"What?! When did Sephora start carrying Amorepacific?! This is major. Korean culture must be really catching on. First Korean food, of course. Then Kdrama...I need to catch up on My Lovely Girl. Then Psy - jigeumbuteo gal dekkaji galbolkka. Oppa! Gangnam Style - put  Kpop on the map with Americans. And now, Korean beauty products are all the rage. Woah. MAJ. I need to call mom tonight."

This was my stream of consciousness as I realized a serious Korean Wave is taking place in the States. And as a Korean American, I couldn't be more proud. (By the way, Amorepacific isn't the only Korean brand sold in Sephora. You'll also find quite a bit of Dr. Jart products, brand credited for introducing Americans to the BB Cream, another hot, hot Korean beauty import.)

I don't know exactly how or when it started, but it probably began with the Korean beauty masks, now ubiquitous and available in generic American forms. (If you haven't tried them, get on it STAT, a Korean brand though.)

Another reason why I'm so excited to witness this growing fascination, maybe even obsession, with Korean beauty/skincare is because I'm a Korean American woman in the American beauty industry. I have nearly 10 years of experience, but about a year in the beauty industry, and I couldn't be happier where I am professionally. 

Today, I have the great opportunity to lead digital communications for TEMPTU, the gold standard in airbrush makeup. If you haven't heard of us, that's okay. Come 2015, every woman will want a TEMPTU. I promise.

As I get more entrenched in the beauty industry, I'm excited to see what other innovations and trends we'll be talking about in another year, five, and decades from now, including further impact of Korean beauty in the U.S. market. Hopefully, my voice as a Korean American woman professional in the industry will provide an interesting perspective. 

//Chris Oh

P.S. Curious to hear what you think of Korean beauty products. Comment here or you can tweet me @chrisohcoh,​ which is also my IG handle. 

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Women need role models and you are one!

Maggie Ciafardini, Former CEO of YSL Beaute and Executive Director of Estée Lauder. (To hear this from her is so humbling. I hope to live up to this standard. #honored)

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Perks of working at TEMPTU: get made over by makeup geniuses like MUA Sylvia Pichler. 

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Learnings from Mashable Media Summit 2014

Last Friday, I attended the 2014 Media Summit where esteemed thought leaders in media, publishing, entertainment and digital (Jill Abrasom - legendary executive editor of NYT, Roman Coppola, Joanna Coles, David Muir, etc) spoke on the theme of storytelling. Key take aways:

State of the Media:

Good content, strong content and even better content: More people are consuming and creating content than ever. How brands/publishers can stand out is by focusing on creating great content first and foremost. 

Video: In speaking about content, there were many great examples, but the type that was reiterated over and over was video - both long form and short form (“snackable”) content. 

Predictability: 2014 in digital media was all about big data. 2015 will have even greater focus on data - understanding its use and more integration of tools and technology across the company to derive insights, including predictive analysis on consumer, social behavior. 

Mobile: Mobile emphasis is greater than ever. 2015 is not about being just mobile optimized (site), but it’s about having a whole mobile business strategy – thinking about mobile first.

Content and Video:

Sweet spot for length of video is still 2 - 3 mins. But when creating long form video, it can still be engaging if you fill it with captivating moments every 30 secs or so. 

“Serial” content is gaining a lot of traction and engagement: series of short form content. 

Click vs. Views: Some will argue needing/wanting consumers to watch the entire video or not, depends on your end goal of the content. 

Power control: Give consumers some control and power in helping to craft stories. “I like the idea of handing over the power to them (viewers), ” David Muir. David Muir created 1 min brief videos on Facebook to give them something unique on that channel. He also understood audience, “by the time they watch the news or log on, they’re already educated on the topic. Don’t waste time, give them what they want and need.”

Humans are innate story tellers: Don’t forget to connect on an emotional level. 

Distribution and Virality:

Know when & where to optimize: Publish the content everywhere, then optimize where it’s successful.

KISS: Keep the message simple. Mobilize community leaders to spread the word. 

Spreading the word globally: focus on localization, relevance and format.

Data: Equation for successfully using social data to drive business - define what type of data you want to collect and what you need that data to do/solve + invest in a solid infrastructure (tools and data scientist/analyst) = actionable insights

//Chris Oh

[chrisohcoh-blog]

I'm (almost) Fluent in Emoji.

"I can speak entirely in Emoji," I realized, has become one of my bragging rights, as of late, right up there with "I can pretty much run, jump, skip and hop in 4 inch heels." Truth.

Joshing aside, as a professional communicator and marketer, I'm now fascinated how a 170+ set of symbols created by Shigetaka Kurita (in 1995!) has become a global phenomenon--not only transforming the way we communicate digitally to merely conveying an expression to, dare I say, creating a new language. (Have you heard of Emojili or Emojicate - emoji-only communication apps?!)

I'll admit, rewind two years ago, if I received a text with one of those yellow-faced smiley faces, I dismissed it as silly, but cute. Perhaps even judged the sender for their "lack of vocabulary." Today, I'm that sender. 

But how and why did the use of emojis in texts, across social networks and even marketing copy blow up? (By the way, have you seen the Beyonce "Drunk in Love" music video depicted entirely in Emoji?! Thanks, Amanda D. for blowing my mind!)

I can't help but think these reasons are drivers of this crazy, fun phenomenon: 

Most Basic Form of Communication: Before there was the written language, communication relied on symbols then decoding of pictures.

It's Universal: It transcends any language barrier, albeit some would argue the lack of cultural diversity depicted in the current collection of Emoji. 

Visual Revolution: Our communication landscape has been rapidly evolving into a more visual ecosystem. Perhaps, we're adapting in the simplest, universally-understood, basic form of communication along with the change. 

Now, I leave you with my closing remarks in Emoji, of course...

//Chris Oh

[chrisohcoh-blog]

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

- Albert Einstein

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Exploring Seoul.

[chrisohcoh-blog]

Marketing to Millennials: Understand Their Online Behavior

With an annual purchasing power of $170 billion, millennials are the largest population cohort today and are on the minds of every marketer, for more reasons than one. 

These stats start to paint the picture why:

- Millennials account for an annual $1.3 trillion of consumer spending. (Boston Consulting Group) 

- 63% of them stay updated on brands via social media. (Ipsos)

- 84% report that user generated content on company websites at least somewhat influences what they buy - (Bazaarvoice)

- 46% count on social media when buying online (YouGov)

- 41% of Millennials have made a purchase using their smartphone. (Edelman Digital)

- 80% of Millennials sleep with their phones next to their beds. (The Millennial Generation Research Review) 

This generation has been called everything from narcissistic to lazy. As digital natives, steering the next consumer generation, one thing is certain. Their spending habits, consumption of information, online behavior, and attitudes about brands are, to say the least, uniquely different from Gen X and Baby Boomers. 

As smart marketers, we have to first accept that this generation needs to be communicated to, no, actually engaged differently than any other generation before them. Old ways of marketing just won't cut it. A few things to keep in mind, which I've gathered from my personal experience of marketing to millennials working with various brands in fashion and beauty. 

- Bloggers/Vloggers are their "celebrities": There's a reason why brands are working with bloggers/vloggers. This isn't news, but some have even greater influence over purchasing decisions than a typical celebrity. But note, they aren't all created equal. When developing a campaign or project with a blogger/vlogger, look beyond their "follower" count and understand their fan base and how engaged they are with the blogger. Based on my experience of working with hundreds of bloggers, this has become more telling of the results I can expect.

- Buy Now vs Buy Later: Millennials don't easily make immediate purchases. They rely on peer reviews, influence among their inner circles and comments on social channels more than any other generation. They will seek out what they want, including saving up for the coveted item. When launching a campaign targeting this cohort, don't be surprised to see them coming back months later to make the purchase after they sought out the information they needed and saved for it. With that said, think about investing in more long term, ongoing campaigns to keep millennials engaged about what you're introducing them to, rather than a one off marketing campaign. 

//Chris Oh

[chrisohcoh-blog]

NYC nights, I love you.