Having a good product is key to a successful business. But building trust in your brand all comes down to how you communicate with your customers online, according to Charlotte Palermino, a licensed aesthetician and co-founder and CEO of skin care brandDieux. Charlotte found the formula for success on TikTok, where she amassed eight million likes—and counting—by dispensing honest, well-informed skin care advice.
Charlotte joined theShopify Masterspodcast team in New York City to share how she used short-form videos on social media to grow her audience—and her business. Ahead, learn her three tips for doing the same with your own brand.
How to make content that stands out
1. There’s no such thing as too much information
If you create a product you truly believe in, being 100% transparent about what goes into your product is an effective social media content strategy.
“A lot of brands are afraid to say certain things because it opens up the door for more conversations [they don’t want to have],” Charlotte says. By giving her audience honesty upfront about each product she develops, her customers can then make better-informed purchases and end up happier with their results. “We call ourselves a ’too much information’ brand—we share what your skin needs, what it doesn’t, how it’s so varied, and that, quite frankly, our products are not going to be for everybody.”
2. Stay true to yourself
As a founder, your audience wants to see the more personal, intimate aspects to starting a business. “When we’re in corporate environments—I worked in corporate for a long time—you are not allowed to bring your whole self to work. It’s about a form of assimilation into the culture that you’re being brought into,” Charlotte says. “I’m allowed to bring myself to work now, and I ask that the people that we hire bring themselves to work [too].”
The Dieux team is always encouraged to bring their real opinions and feelings to the table when creating content, so they can build real trust with their viewers.
Charlotte advises founders not to be afraid of getting really geeked out on different parts of the business: People want to hear what got you to where you are now. She explains that this authenticity will create a deeper bond of trust between you and your customers, and they’ll be able to make more informed purchases that leave them happier in the long run.
3. Use authentic storytelling to connect to your audience
In order to sell product through your social content, approach it from the perspective of storytelling, rather than pitching your product to the consumer. “Algorithms are really fickle, so you have to really stay on point for your storytelling—great salespeople are storytellers,” Charlotte says.
“One of our most viral videos right now has over 100,000 views, is just talking about packaging and non-mined aluminum and what that means and what that carbon footprint means, and why plastic isn’t evil.” A five-minute video about plastic and aluminum performs well because of the storytelling behind it.
To try this tactic yourself, Charlotte suggests talking about your own products non-stop for 10 minutes on camera, then retroactively reviewing your footage and cutting it down to the most essential two minutes. You might just find your next great story to tell.
Your career is long, and in order to build a business that can reach a wide audience through social media content, you’ll need patience, some great storytelling, and a lot of attention to detail.
To hear more of Charlotte’s tips for social media production or speaking to your customers, tune in to the fullShopify Masters On Locationepisode.