How to Build an Online Beauty Tutorial in 10 Steps

How to Build an Online Beauty Tutorial in 10 Steps
Free and paid online beauty tutorials are a great way for businesses to enhance their brand presence, keep clients engaged, and increase their customer base. Here's how to build one in 10 steps.
by Square Sep 19, 2024 — 16 min read
How to Build an Online Beauty Tutorial in 10 Steps

Content plays a powerful role in shaping consumer preferences, and there’s no industry that illustrates that better than beauty. The growing demand for digital content from beauty professionals presents a unique opportunity to not only enhance your brand, but also to attract a wider clientele. How? By packaging your passion and expertise into engaging online tutorials that showcase what you offer. 

Free beauty tutorials and paid online courses are a perfect way to get started. Whether you’re promoting a storefront or hosting private in-home sessions, beauty tutorials can be a low-cost yet powerful marketing tool and, in some cases, an attractive opportunity to generate passive income. Through teaching, you can build trust with viewers as someone who understands the trends people want to incorporate in their lives.

According to the Square Future of Customers report, 47% of Gen Z consumers, 42% of millennial consumers, and 25% of Gen X consumers are interested in online tutorials or virtual classes offered by beauty or personal care businesses. In this guide, we’ll explore how beauty businesses can use online tutorials to increase their brand presence, keep existing clients engaged, and build a base of enthusiastic customers.

1. Define the opportunity: What is a beauty tutorial, and how does it help your customers?

An online beauty tutorial is a walkthrough of a particular style or method of beauty care — ideally one that’s trending and ideally one that your viewers can do themselves. Giving away the very expertise you want customers to come to you and pay for might seem counterintuitive, but a good beauty tutorial does more than show how to contour your face or achieve the perfect blowout; the idea is to build trust with potential customers and show what makes you (or your business) the go-to expert on a certain subject.

Think of your tutorials like the start of a relationship. For viewers, it’s more intimate than a before-and-after still or a time-lapse transformation video. Viewers could very well use your instructions to get ready for prom, a job interview, or a wedding. While free content like this is especially popular on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, it can also work as a more formal, paid educational course. As always, there are pros and cons to each.

Free beauty tutorials

Free beauty tutorials posted on social media or YouTube often feature multiple steps or chapters to keep viewers engaged. By creating a separate video for each step, the content is easy to consume for viewers, allowing them to rewatch each video as they follow along at home. Plus, when viewers go down a rabbit hole on your account, consuming multiple videos in one sitting, you’re built into their algorithm, making it more likely your content will be recommended in the future — even if they don’t follow you. If you have a really unique voice or story, there’s an entire phenomenon of viewers using how-to beauty tutorials as their own form of entertainment and a window into the creator’s life, which can lead to even more followers. 

While social media algorithms are always evolving, their recommendations generally favor accounts that post often. So posting a series of short videos instead of one long one can be a great way to boost engagement on your channel. There’s no limit to the number of videos you can create for a series — users will happily consume a 10-part series if it speaks to something they’re interested in. And if they’re not interested, it can still leave the impression that you know your stuff.

Paid beauty courses

A paid beauty course would live on a third-party platform or your website, and, to justify the price tag, would be more in-depth than the sea of free beauty advice that permeates our feeds. A paid product means a higher production value and potentially a longer content series. If people pay for your course only to discover they could have gotten that experience for free, it could be detrimental to your brand. 

If you have an established following, are a known brand, can recruit a well-known influencer, or are even an influencer yourself, people will be more likely to pay for your instruction. On the other hand, if you’ve just been creating free content for a while and have received repeated requests for more, creating a paid beauty course could be the next best step to cater to your fans and generate passive revenue. The most important aspect to consider here is putting yourself in a customer’s shoes and considering what would make you open your wallet. 

Pro tip

If you create a paid beauty course, be sure to post teasers and clips of it on social media channels to generate interest.

What do beauty tutorials offer your customers?

2. Pick your beauty trend and join the conversation

Modern consumers want knowledge, expertise, and experiences that can enhance their beauty routines. We know from the Square Future of Customers report that a significant percentage of consumers expect beauty businesses to engage with them online: 79% in the U.S., 72% in the United Kingdom, 69% in Australia, and 68% in Canada.

Your potential followers — who could become your potential customers — will have classrooms in their pockets with your content. For this type of content, success means timing + talent: Tap into what’s hot, show the people your technique, and stand out while doing it.

Choosing a topic for your beauty tutorial

So where should you start? Stick to areas or techniques where you have unique expertise, credibility, or a genuine passion. Look for an overlap between something your beauty business offers and something your consumers are actively seeking to learn about, mixed with a perspective or presence only you can bring to the tutorial. 

Here are some ways to identify what consumers are looking for in an online tutorial:

 

By focusing on what you do well and have a genuine passion for, viewers will pick up on your experience, product knowledge, and how fun it would be to work with you. Consumers want to know you’re someone they can rely on and get along with.

Example: How an event-focused makeup artist could turn a makeup tutorial into a business opportunity

Let’s use the example of a makeup artist who specializes in weddings and formal events. By searching hashtags such as #weddingmakeup, #bridalmakeup, and #weddingtiktok, they may discover brides are opting for a glowy but natural look because a less-is-more approach photographs well in multiple settings. Their tutorial could start by showing examples of the glowy, natural look and what situations it’s best suited for, such as venue and time of day. 

If this makeup artist wants to target local wedding clients, they could name the specific venue and give tips about what’s worked there in the past. Then, they could show viewers how to apply this look in real time, explain why certain techniques work better than others, and show what’s possible with customization. Then, they could wrap up their tutorial with ways for potential clients to get in touch, find their other work, and book an appointment.

Sure, viewers would learn how to apply the technique themselves. But they could also learn about your friendly attitude and craftsmanship while hearing about all the successful events where you’ve done makeup. They like your style, they know you can handle the pressure of a wedding, and they want to see more.

3. Identify your target audience

Who is your tutorial for? Knowing your target audience allows you to tailor your content to their needs. Consider that casting too wide a net may be a negative here. It’s okay to narrow your audience and speak to the exact customers you want.

Determine what problems your audience faces:

 

Define your ideal customer. Develop buyer personas based on demographic information, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. This will help you create content that resonates with your audience.

Target locally. If you’re trying to drive traffic to a physical location, it’s important to target consumers in your region. Use location-specific hashtags and engage with local influencers to increase reach in your area. For example, if our wedding makeup artist is based in Miami and targeting South Florida brides, they’d tag their videos with #miamibridemakupartist or #bridalmakeupmiami. 

Do your research. Engage with your customers during appointments to learn more about their interests. Use social media polls for further outreach, or join a forum to gather insights on what works for other practitioners.

4. Get ahead of your competition

Use your competitors to your advantage. Learn from their successes, ditch their mistakes, and come out of the gate strong. Conducting a competitor analysis could help differentiate your brand.

To find your competition, do some hashtag research around the trends and audiences you’re looking to target. Curate your “For You” page and search for similar courses and tutorials that may already exist. See what type of content your competitors are creating and any feedback they’re receiving in comments or reviews.

Three other approaches to take when assessing your beauty tutorial competition:

5. Choose your platform carefully

Be where your customers are. Different platforms have different strengths, but it’s crucial to pick a platform that aligns with your brand, content, and target audience. 

Best platforms for free beauty tutorials 

TikTok

 

Instagram

 

YouTube

Best platforms for paid beauty courses

Don’t forget to test the experience

Before committing to a platform, take at least one sample course from another creator, or go down the rabbit hole on someone else’s series of TikTok or YouTube videos. That will allow you to test how the various features complement what you’re planning to offer and even provide inspiration on aspects to include in your own course.

Try not to get too sucked into the possibilities, and don’t let too many options keep you from getting started. Start posting and learn from your experiences. Remember: if the platform you choose lacks the features you need, you can always switch. 

6. Outline your content

Whether it’s a free social media tutorial or a paid online course, make sure each part has a purpose. The end result should be well organized, to-the-point, and easy to digest for a busy audience that has hundreds of brands vying for its attention. 

Put yourself in a beginner’s shoes. Make a list of things you would want to know, common mistakes, and any tools or products that are necessary or helpful. If you’re doing a makeup course or how-to guide for the perfect blowout, do the whole process with a willing friend or current client and take detailed notes on every step.

Make sure there’s a logical progression to your course content, like chapters in a book. State the “why” clearly at the beginning. Let users know what they’ll need to do the process themselves. Shout out all serums, curlers, hydrating sticks, moisturizers, irons, buffers — whatever tools you use — and say why you like them and why they all play well together. From there, organize the steps in a way that’s practical and reflects real-life application.

7. Edit your beauty course

With your plan in place, the next step is to film and edit. As you find your brand’s footing and establish your channel’s voice, you’ll want the video to feel familiar enough so that viewers recognize what they’re seeing, but unique enough that it highlights what’s great about your personal style.

Editing for social media

Here are some best practices when editing content for social media:

 

If you need editing help, check out various short-form video editing apps ( like CapCut) that feature full suites of tools to help inject a bit of creativity and add style into your videos.

Editing for a paid beauty course

Creating a video series with higher production value — especially one you plan to charge for — will mean more up-front costs in the form of professional recording equipment. Doing this yourself can be costly and require very specific expertise, so consider finding someone with these talents in your network or hiring a freelance producer to make sure your beauty course comes out looking and sounding perfect. 

8. Price your beauty training and determine your revenue goals

The price of your beauty course will vary depending on the format, your revenue goals, and how the content fits into your overall marketing strategy.

Paid-course pricing models

9. Launch your beauty tutorial

Once your tutorial is ready, it’s time to go live.

Have a trusted colleague review your content

Before you launch, have someone you trust check out your content in the same way a user would see it for the first time. Encourage them to take notes and report back on what works, what doesn’t, and what may need to be tweaked.

Share with your network

Once you’re ready, post the tutorial on all your social accounts, then encourage your staff, friends, and other reliable voices in your professional network to share it on their social accounts. If your business has a newsletter, include the tutorial there too. Lengthen the promotion period by sharing the course in stages — the way it’s meant to be consumed — in subsequent editions of the newsletter. Consider providing a discount code or bonus materials to your followers, as this kind of initial push can help generate early sales and feedback.

Pay attention to your content’s traction

Launching is just part of the picture. Track performance using analytics available on your chosen platform. Be sure to respond to any direct messages you may receive, as long as they’re relevant. Stay active in the comments section and be ready to provide follow-up information or next steps should viewers ask. Show viewers that you have more to offer as they engage further.

10. Market your beauty course 

With your content posted and your personal network already in the know, it’s time to broaden your reach and make sure as many potential customers as possible come across your videos. Here are some ways to market your new beauty content.

Email marketing

Tools like Square Email Marketing can help create email lists from the customer data you already have. Choose from premade templates to optimize the experience for readers, and use the built-in dashboard to analyze data, see open rates and click-throughs, and fine-tune your marketing efforts.

Influencer marketing

Influencers can help your course reach a larger audience by building credibility and tapping into their own vast networks. Choose influencers whose values align with your brand and who have a following that matches your target audience. 

Paid ads

If you have your own website, consider investing in paid ads to drive traffic to your course. Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads can help.

Reviews and testimonials

Social proof is crucial for convincing potential students to purchase your course. Collect reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers and display them prominently on your website and social channels. 

Evaluating the success of your online tutorial

Now that your beauty tutorial is live, it’s time to check in. How well did it work? Did your content have the impact you intended? How you personally measure success depends on the goals you established in the previous steps. Here are some common metrics: 

 

Finally, if you published a paid online beauty course:

 

Remember that beauty consumers have a wide range of priorities, from price to convenience to personal style. There’s no magic equation to reaching your target audience. It takes research, patience, and adjusting your approach based on the feedback you receive. A well-made, informative, and fun beauty tutorial can drive your overall business.

Square
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