Mary Kay grows social media fan base with one-day event

If any organization can pull off more than 44,000 makeovers in one day, it’s Mary Kay.

And the organization did just that on Mary Kay Global Makeover Day. The event also brought the makeup brand a 42 percent increase in Twitter followers, and a whopping 288 percent increase in Pinterest followers.

For its work in promoting Mary Kay Global Makeover Day, Coyne PR earns first place in the Best Use of Social Media for Event Promotion category of PR Daily’s 2013 Social Media Awards.

Every year Mary Kay hosts a makeover contest where the brand’s independent beauty consultants conduct makeovers and share their stories on the Mary Kay website for a chance to win prizes. This year was the first time the event would go global.

To encourage social media conversations around the event and attract new fans to the brand’s social media profiles, Coyne PR created a social media strategy that employed several of the primary social networks and relied on live event coverage.

The week before the event, Mary Kay sent out Facebook posts and tweets to build excitement and encourage both independent beauty consultants and Mary Kay fans to either participate in brand-sponsored live events in New York City, Dallas, or Los Angeles, or host their own makeover parties at home.

The day of the event, Mary Kay social media team members live-posted from the brand-sponsored events on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Twitter served as the main hub. Pinterest and Instagram showcased the best images throughout the day, and Facebook housed event details, such as the event page, links to the live streams, a photo album to recap the day, and a final makeover count. Every social media post included the hashtag #MKMakeover.

At the end of Mary Kay Global Makeover Day, Mary Kay’s Facebook page had received more than half of an average month’s worth of impressions for the brand. The 2.3 million Twitter impressions surrounding @MaryKay mentions totaled nearly half of an average month’s worth of impressions.

We congratulate contributing staff members Marie Baker, Lindsey Scharf, and Kathleen Tower on the honor.

Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here.