Nam Vo, the New York-based makeup artist who was in Manila for a Bench Beauty event, has words of wisdom: “You have to know how to use social media rather than let it use you.”
To say that Vo is social media-savvy is an understatement. She wields her hashtags like she does her makeup brushes, having amassed a following of over 200,000 on Instagram and creating #DewyDumplings, a delicious name for that glowy, highlighter-blessed makeup look.
“It’s kind of hypocritical for me to say because I’ve made a career out of social media, but it’s a hard world to navigate in,” she said.
Here are some of her tips:
1) Figure out what your brand voice is.
“I think that too many people just throw up on social media, like here’s my breakfast, here’s this, here’s that. You’re your own magazine so you really have to showcase the best of you and understand what your brand voice is,” said Vo. “Don’t imitate other people.”
2) Your content has to be authentic to you.
A makeup artist friend complained to Vo that she didn’t know how to create content. “I’m not like you,” she told Vo. Vo said, “Okay. Let’s start. Five minutes ago, before I sat in your living room, you got a box of drugstore lipsticks and you’re jumping up and down and you said that this cheap lipstick that’s $5, you like it better than your Tom Ford lipstick. That’s content, you should be sharing that. You have acne, you do a beautiful job of covering it. That’s content, share that. Be authentic to you and do it with intention.”
3) Enjoy it and use it to your advantage.
“I think that social media can be very soul-sucking because it’s really edited clips of reality. But it’s also fun… Even when I’m casting models, do I look at their portfolio? No, I go straight to Instagram because you see so much more of someone’s personality and how they want to showcase themselves,” she said.
4) Sometimes less is more. Quality over quantity.
“People say you need to post three times a day. I literally post maybe twice a week but I try to make it count. I focus on quality rather than just throwing bulls**t on there all day. I’d rather have quality over quantity.”
5) Think before you post.
“Before you post, you have to ask yourself: Is it visually stimulating? Am I giving somebody information? Is it educational? Is it something on brand? I’m not gonna post a bouquet for nothing just to post something, you know what I mean? I just think that people get a little post-happy.”
6) Know when to step away.
\Vo said, “This Christmas, guess who’s going on Instagram detox?”