We don't want to ruffle any feathers, but bloggers and influencers are slowly (or not so slowly depending on who you ask...) starting to replace print advertising and editorial content. We aren't saying that beauty magazines have become obsolete, but platforms such as Pinterest and YouTube have made it faster and easier for the average beauty maven to find the latest tips and tricks to stay looking fresh. Why wait for the latest issue of Allure or Vogue when you can log online and find the exact products, tools, and tutorials you need?

Influencer marketing makes for great partnerships:

Budding cosmetic companies can benefit tremendously from tag teaming the beauty world on the stiletto heels of lifestyle and beauty bloggers and influencers, such as Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere who boasts a cool 260,000 Instagram followers. According to Social Media Examiner, she joined forces with Birchbox to promote several of their spring boxes. Birchbox is a new, monthly subscription box that sends beauty and lifestyle products to curious shoppers ... and with just five Instagram photos of their May box, Emily touched more than 550,000 consumers and generated over 18,000 likes. For a new business, that type of exposure can literally make or break your success and the cost may be as low as sending a few products to your influencer of choice and letting her do her thing. By establishing reoccurring partnerships with influencer marketing queens and kings, your brand has a steady stream of reliable exposure directly to your target audience for a fraction of the cost of paid advertising. BIGEYE can help you identify and reach out to the right influencers to ensure the partnership is a mutually beneficial success, but the good news is ... your influencer will do most of the work.

Product launches:

If you don't have the bandwidth to establish long lasting partnerships, or sending swag to bloggers on a regular basis doesn't fit your budget, consider using influencer marketing to promote a product launch. By sending products to influencers just before the official release, you can generate buzz around your launch before the product even hits shelves. For example, luxury cosmetic brand Peter Thomas Roth sent advanced samples of their new Rose Stem Cell Bio-Repair Gel Mask to Arielle Charnas of Something Navy, who posted about the mask the day of launch. Within 24-hours, the post had sold 502 masks and $17,565 revenue according to the LA Times. As your brand prepares for launch, consider using influencer marketing to augment your other marketing initiatives and support a more successful splash within the market.

Influencer marketing has taken on a life of its own, from "unboxing" videos from YouTube channel stars opening and showcasing new products to full-scale celebrity recommendations from the likes of today's top stars. For traditional marketers, this new world can feel unfamiliar and difficult to navigate, but it's just another day in the bloggersphere for digital natives. Millennials have grown up seeking information and product approval from their peers and role models on the internet and are primed to learn about your brand online. Click here to learn how BIGEYE can help your brand stay current with the most current trends in unpaid, digital marketing and how it can transform your marketing and publicity strategy into the hottest click trend to hit the market this year.