Kao Canada, parent company of beauty brands such as Jergens, John Frieda and Bioré, has partnered with Blue Ant Media’s social content studio, Blue Ant Plus, to create and amplify its social content for all of 2018.

Heather Carney, director of marketing for Kao Brands Canada, told MiC that in the age of algorithmic feeds and other changes favouring paid advertisers, it was time to change up the social strategy.

“When we first embarked on this space, the strategic approach had been primarily focused on engagement,” she said. “As this transitions from organic to paid environments, it’s now up to us to deliver on objectives that we find are more aligned with paid media.”

Treating social more like traditional paid media meant going with a third party, she said. Blue Ant’s in-house creative team will develop social campaigns and custom content across all platforms, while also amplifying and boosting the brand content in order to generate maximum reach.

Carney said that while most of Kao’s focus will remain on Facebook and Instagram — key players in the beauty space, she said — it’s also looking to employ Blue Ant to create more Snapchat content to align with Bioré’s younger audience.

She said that proportionally, Kao’s social spending has not changed much over the years, but the expectations and KPIs on that social spending have. “That’s why we continue to evaluate our strategy and make moves like the decision to move to Blue Ant.”