I’ve recently been on the hunt for the best black liquid lipstick and found myself scrolling TikTok to see other peoples’ thoughts on the products I was considering. After watching a few reviews and tutorials of Black Moon Cosmetics’ matte liquid lipstick, I decided to give it a try. After my purchase, I found myself thinking about why exactly I chose to go with this brand. What it boils down to is the connection I felt to the creators talking about the product. As I learn more about social media analytics, the ways in which companies choose who to represent them is a side of social media I just recently learned about. To understand more of how the process works, I put together a hypothetical influencer marketing strategy for Black Moon Cosmetics to better understand the success of collaborations between brands and content creators.

From Burbank, California, Black Moon Cosmetics was established in 2015 with their first product being liquid lipsticks. They strive to “bring you quality Cruelty-Free & Vegan beauty products from the darker side. Inspired by the mysteriously magical moon and all its emanating beauty, Black Moon combines the darkly with the colorful and shiny to create an ethereal makeup world you’d have to see in person to believe.  We began our journey with our innovative liquid lipstick formula and have made our way to eyes, body, and face using only the finest quality ingredients.”

The Search for Influencers

To begin building the strategy, it’s important to find influencers who align with Black Moon’s identity and ideal consumer. By partnering with the right creators, Black Moon can expand their reach, strengthen brand loyalty, increase sales, and reinforce their commitment to creating quality cruelty-free and vegan products. To help with this, I used HypeAuditor to look at the details of several creators’ platforms.

Hannah Rose (@hannahxrosexootd on TikTok)

Hannah Rose is a micro-influencer who mostly posts goth beauty and fashion content. She has an excellent engagement rate, which shows that she has built trust with her audience. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, many experts “note the trend of brands moving toward micro- and nano-influencers for more targeted and cost-effective collaborations. While this reflects smarter spending, it often entails lower overall budgets compared to macro-level campaigns.” Since Hannah has 54K followers, she is a great example of a smaller creator that has the potential to draw interest for Black Moon Cosmetics. She also wears black lipstick with every makeup look, so she would be a very credible reviewer. Because her content relates to categories other than beauty, such as cosplay and art, Black Moon could reach a more diversified audience.

Nova (@vocallyshook on TikTok)

Nova is a macro-influencer who focuses on alternative beauty and vintage fashion content. She values cruelty-free products, which aligns with Black Moon’s mission. She also has an excellent engagement rate, which means her content is effective for keeping viewers watching. Like Hannah Rose, she also wears a lot of black lipstick!

Mason (@wasteharlot on TikTok)

Mason is a smaller macro-influencer that does some beauty content, but she posts a wide range of content. This could help Black Moon reach people they otherwise wouldn’t. Mason also has a strong engagement rate and high view average, which tells us that most viewers watch her videos fully.

Mock Strategy for Black Moon Cosmetics

Campaign Goals: Black Moon Cosmetics currently focuses on organic engagement and product swatches in their content, so the main goals for this campaign are brand awareness and conversions. By expanding their reach and sales, engagement will also likely increase.

Type of Influencer Collaboration: To align with the primary goals of the campaign, the influencers listed above would collaborate through an ambassador program and product reviews. Influencer Marketing Hub community member Emily Hare explains that “brands are moving away from mass influencer activations in favor of smaller, more impactful campaigns. This “quality over quantity” approach reflects a broader industry trend toward precision and efficiency, as brands seek to optimize their spending while maintaining relevance in a competitive market.” By utilizing ambassadors, this aligns with current influencer marketing benchmarks.

For the ambassador program, influencers would create video-based content on TikTok and Instagram Reels that incorporate Black Moon Cosmetics products in engaging and unique ways. These posts would align with alternative beauty trends to help Black Moon stay relevant and competitive.

With the product reviews, influencers would receive free PR packages to try and review on camera. This allows the creators to share their thoughts on the products and use them in a way that’s natural for them.

Content Strategy: The content from each influencer would be in the form of sponsored posts and affiliate links to increase brand awareness and drive sales. Content would be posted as Instagram reels, TikTok videos, and stories instead of still image posts to encourage viewers to watch and interact. Links to the products shown should be included in the caption of each post.

Here is a list of content ideas for their posts:

1. Get Ready with Me (GRWM) Black Moon Cosmetics Edition – Each influencer would incorporate at least three Black Moon products into their makeup routine in a unique way.
2. Product Swatches – Each influencer would swatch all products received in a PR package to show viewers what each would look like and ideas on how to use them.
3. User-Generated Content (UGC): Influencers would encourage their followers to try the products by including links and asking them to share their thoughts under the hashtag #MoonBeauties that is already established with the brand.

How to Measure Performance

Since the campaign’s main goals are brand awareness and conversions, the success of the campaign would be measured through reach and sales. Performance would analyzed using TikTok and Instagram Insights to measure the influencers’ success of spreading brand awareness and increasing sales. These platform analytics offer updated data on impressions, engagement rates, and conversions, allowing Black Moon Cosmetics to measure the campaign’s success and improve their future strategies.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Brand Awareness:

• Impressions & Reach – How often an influencer’s content appears in the audience’s feed.
• Watch Rate/Video Views – Total and average views for each influencer’s post.
• Follower Growth – New followers gained from these collaborations.

Engagement:

• Likes, Comments, Shares, and Saves – Measures content’s relatability and interest.
• Hashtag Use – Number of posts using #MoonBeauties.

Conversions:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Percentage of users clicking through to the Black Moon Cosmetics website or product page.
• Conversion Rate – Measures the percentage of users who take a desired action after clicking an ad.

Challenge and Potential Solutions

A challenge with influencer marketing is making sure the content stays authentic and informative, since overly promotional and disingenuous content can damage the trust of Black Moon Cosmetics customers. One way to limit this is to work with influencers that already use and enjoy the brand. Honest product reviews help users trust the influencers’ opinions and Black Moon’s products.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right content creators to represent a brand is crucial for a successful influencer marketing campaign. Influencers who serve as the brand’s ambassadors and align with their mission can help Black Moon cosmetics expand their reach, increase sales, and maximize ROI.

As influencer marketing grows and evolves, implementing this campaign would push Black Moon Cosmetics towards greater success in the alternative beauty community.