For our “Ask the Creator” column, we had the pleasure to meet the Italian queen of make-up. She went from making a hit on YouTube with her make-up tutorials and beauty products reviews to hosting her own tv program. She revolutionised the concept of beauty by showing with pride also women’s imperfections. Her spontaneity and cheerfulness go straight to the heart of her followers: we’re talking about Clio Zammatteo, aka ClioMakeUp!
With more than 4 million followers on Instagram and Facebook (2.2 million and 2.4 million, respectively) and her own make-up brand, she’s among the most influential people when talking about beauty!
Not long ago we had a great chat with her and now we want to share her story with you. Here we go!
- What was the moment you realised to be a real influencer?
A first confirm has definitely arrived after the tv program. Many products that were previously heard of very little or that were not commonly used – the butter-coloured highlighter pencil to enlarge eyes or the face primer for a long lasting make-up, for example – suddenly became famous.
This was before the influencer marketing boom, and back to those days everything was much more “natural” from my point of view. Even today I don’t consider myself an “influencer”, it makes me think of a passive audience, which is absolutely not. People listen, evaluate, and consciously decide whether to buy a product or not. Showing a photo with a specific product is not enough to influence their choices, and this is fair.
- Where do you get your inspiration? Favourite Instagram profile?
On Instagram I actively follow Pat McGrath, Charlotte Tilbury, Kat Von D Beauty and all the make-up artists who succeeded in giving life to a real project starting from their passion.
- How do you engage with your followers?
Everything’s really spontaneous. At the beginning there were just me and my husband Claudio, while today we have a team that supports us especially in the social media listening and the organization of events. But you’ll always find only me on Instagram!
- Which criteria do you consider when deciding to collaborate with a brand?
In the last years, requests for collaboration have sharply increased but together with my collaborators we follow a specific selection workflow. First of all, the brand must be in line with my values and my products: at the base of collaborations there must be affinity between me, my business and the brand. Besides, I want to try and personally test the products before deciding whether to accept the collaboration, so for at least 2 weeks I use them to understand if I like them and if they meet my expectations and also those of my followers!
- What do you think of the “fake followers” issue?
In a word, counterproductive! Fake followers are like “corps-followers”, they are there but don’t generate actions. Until now, there hasn’t been much control on social media but things are changing and this is really important. Customers aim at awareness and conversion. They might be initially fascinated by big numbers, but if followers are fake, it will be clear immediately because results speak for themselves and you may lose credibility.
We wish Clio and her team good luck for their future projects!
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