WA based small business AntiBeauty has seen a 786% increase in sales over the last two years, which owner, Ben Gardner attributes to joining Facebook and Instagram, leveraging tools like Reels and Instagram Shop.

The business is an award-winning, clean skincare brand with the ethos beauty should be inclusive, ethical and vegan. Gardner decided to walk away from his career in the mainstream beauty industry and create his own brand.

“AntiBeauty is a digital only company; we like to run a number of different forms of ad campaigns, especially during promotional periods like Black Friday, so that we can cut through the noise and present our offers to the people who are most interested,” he told Retailbiz.

“Because we have such a unique concept and our clients are not standard ‘beauty’ customers, using different social platforms like Facebook and Instagram gives us the ability to reach different audiences. We like to do unique things such as collaborative giveaways and competitions on Instagram to engage prospective customers.”

Gardnerloves how easy it is to experiment with Facebook and Instagram platforms, advising businesses to stay proactive, try out new things and experiment with unique marketing styles.

“AntiBeauty likes to test multiple ad creatives to different audiences, and through doing that we have found great ROI and been able to expand our marketing. There are many ways that you can advertise on Facebook and Instagram and there is no right or wrong way to try things out, sometimes the standard industry practices are not the ones with the best results especially when you have a unique brand.”

When disrupting an industry or positioning against huge companies that are well established it’s important to understand the whole digital landscape and use every tool to your advantage, according to Gardner.  

“As a small business, we know that without the ability to leverage digital tools and advertising, it would have been extremely difficult to break into our market. One of the most exciting things about a digital campaign on Facebook and Instagram is that you can alter it if it isn’t performing well. AntiBeauty has risen from the ground up within the space of two years because of our access to these tools.”