Tribe Skincare, Ena Pelly, Swim by Elly: Geelong businesses with thousands of social media followers

Skincare products, coffee roasters and surf fashion, these Geelong brands are making it big on social media. Here is how:

Chelsea Bunting

@chelseambunting

2 min read

April 18, 2023 - 6:00AM

Geelong Advertiser

Tribe Skincare founder Kayla Houlihan built the brand’s online following by sharing behind-the-scenes content of how the business is run. Picture: Brad Fleet

Geelong

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Videos of staff packing customer orders may not be the most interesting content for some.

But Tribe Skincare founder Kayla Houlihan has discovered it works for her Torquay-based brand.

The business owner runs one of dozens of Geelong brands which have risen to stardom-like fame thanks to social media.

Ms Houlihan’s brand has a combined social media following of more than 300,000 users and more than 5m likes on TikTok alone.

She said she has turned her back on paid digital advertising and reaches audiences organically through Instagram and TikTok instead.

She said behind-the-scenes content was key to success.

“We are very open about what we get up to in the business everyday,” she said.

“It helps people feel invested in the brand and part of the community.

“People find it really interesting to see the behind the scenes from business perspective.

“Once someone finds something that works for their skin and they love, they stick with it for years to come so the business has also naturally grown over the years by having repeat customers.”

A video of Ms Houlihan’s mother trying the brand’s vitamin C serum has seen more 490k views on TikTok and 34k views on Instagram.

She also shares videos of employees packing customer orders and ‘day in the life’ vlogs.

The 33-year-old started the brand six years ago to create products for sensitive skin she could use on her clients at her Pakington St skin clinic.

“I was looking for something on the Australian market that was going to be super gentle and natural so sensitive skin could tolerate it but still have the active ingredients in it to fix their skin conditions and that is when I saw the gap in the market,” she said.

“I set it up in a time when e-commerce was really booming and Instagram accounts were growing … it took off really quickly.”

In 2022, Ms Houlihan took the brand to online retailer Catch to be sold as wholesale.

“The brand awareness we gained from going onto Catch definitely helped to contribute to that growth,” she said.

Geelong is no stranger to TikTok with many locals using the video-sharing platform to gain a following.

Many of the city’s top 30 under 30 have also learned how to boost their fame through social media platforms.

With a combined social media following of more than 1m followers, here are some of the local businesses with successful social media platforms: