Position Paper 1 | Demographics: Ulta Beauty


Ulta Beauty Demographics and Media Usage

Ulta Beauty is the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., with over 25,000 products and more than 500 brands for both high-end and low-end makeup, hair care, skin care, and fragrance products and essentials. Ulta Beauty has partnered with some of the gals' favorite beauty products, including Fenty Beauty, Tarte Cosmetics, Maybelline, r.e.m. Beauty, Marc Jacobs, BabylissPro, and others. 

Ulta Beauty's socials                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Like most brands in 2026, Ulta Beauty is active on social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and X (previously known as Twitter).  From Instagram reels and aesthetic photos to TikTok trends, Ulta Beauty is fluent when flowing with the motion of social media algorithms and its traffic tactics. 

Ulta has two Instagram handles, @ultabeauty and @ultabeautymx. Both Instagram accounts are formatted the same, where you can find IG reels of nails to find at Ulta, makeup hauls, makeup bag refills, and other creative posts. The primary account has over 7.6 million followers, which is the most following the company has out of all social platform followings. 

The interactivity between social users and the account can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of likes. The traction can sometimes be mildly consistent depending on what the post is, if it features a popular figure, and its relevance to current trends. 

Just a couple of days ago, it was announced on the primary Instagram that the beauty brand, Rare Beauty is now available in all Ulta Beauty stores nationwide. Before, Rare Beauty was limited to sales in only some stores, and now the brand can be purchased at any Ulta Beauty near you. 

This was a great move on the company's part, highlighting the fact that the founder of Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez, is currently the most followed woman on Instagram and #3 in the world, with over 415 million followers on the platform.  This automatically gains the company more traffic than it typically receives. Not only that, but Ulta's target audience on Instagram should currently be those that follow Gomez, ensuring that her followers and fans will begin to transport over to the beauty retailer's account and possibly gain them more attention and following. 

The primary account pinned a recent post in light of Rare Beauty's availability in all U.S. Ulta Stores and captioned, "We’re all about to be feeling very: 🧡😮🩷☺️🧡 @rarebeauty available online and in store on 2/1 💫" 

Transitioning socials, what you find on Instagram is very similar to the type of posts you will find on Ulta Beauty's TikTok account. Though quite a bit of a smaller fanbase than on IG, 1.6 million followers is still large, nonetheless. Like most social media content creators with multiple social platforms, a lot of the beauty retailer's content is transported from account to account. So, what you see on IG, you'll probably see it on TikTok too.

There are some differences, which is that TikTok has a specific atmosphere compared to Instagram. A lot of trending videos on TikTok are humorous and oftentimes unfiltered.  What I mean by that is Instagram is the professional side of business (aka the CEO), while TikTok is the little sister that comes into the company every once in a while, says the wildest things to potential prospects and yet, successfully convinces and secures a partnership that would've taken the CEO ages to secure. Talk about Andie Andersen's How to's, how about How to explain media and publicity to the net. 

@ultabeauty

Ready for the Big Game. 😈

♬ original sound - Ulta Beauty
Who is Ulta Beauty's target audience?
A few years ago, Coresight Research wrote an article discussing the demographic categories for beauty brands and retailers, including Ulta. Ulta Beauty is known to focus its growth strategy on three consumer segments, which are considered "Beauty Enthusiasts." Ulta Beauty's 2021 Analyst Day presentation recorded that 91% of black buyers are passionate about the beauty market and spend a lot of time purchasing from Ulta Beauty more than at any other beauty retailer.  

Even though the analyst presentation was from five years ago, Ulta's demographics still remain structured around Gen Z, Millennials, beauty enthusiasts with/without social platforms, and women of color. What better way to get to that audience than through social media influencers who are amongst those demographics and have the power to influence their  followers. 

 For any brand in 2026, rebranding is a marketing option that will either gain, lose, or lose then gain following for a company. In the summer of 2024, Ulta relaunched its' in-house products with the focus of Gen Z in mind. These products are similar to popular, high-end beauty products, and they were created to fit the look and packaging of beauty favorites with its own unique touch. 


Ulta Beauty World: The Media Tactic
Ulta Beauty World is an immersive beauty experience that Ulta Beauty hosts once a year for individuals to connect with beloved brands that arrange exclusive experiences for attendees to discover what makes beauty feel truly special.  Ulta Beauty World hosts masterclasses, over 200 brand partners that you can connect with, interactive beauty moments, and so much more magic. Here are the main amenities you can find on the website for what this event has to offer:

  • 200+ brand partners bringing exclusive experiences and giveaways
  • Ulta Beauty booths with hair & makeup services, photo ops--even ear piercing!
  • A high-energy atmosphere with a live DJ, fun food, delicious drinks and unique Ulta Beauty moments.
  • Swag bags and surprises--walk away with a swag bag valued at over $2,000.

 In 2026, brands are all about bringing out the realness of a brand from behind the scenes to center stage. This often looks like an influencer-exclusive brand trip, commenting under viral videos through the brand's account, and public relation events (like Ulta Beauty World) for followers to trip over, either in person as an attendee or on social media as a viewer.   This campaign is like a once-in-a-lifetime event for the gals' to pay such a small price for like 20 pounds of products, which I get to watch online for free. Though only an assumption from social media comments, it makes some feel special to be apart of this special event. Fortunately for the retailer, this event generates a ton of social media posts (which are mostly from gen z influencers), hashtags, and trends that flow freely from this event. What brand doesn't like free clout? 

Ulta Beauty's social media presence reflects their target audience demographic, and we see that through tiktoks, YouTube videos, Instagram posts, and so much more. This beauty retailer unfortunately does not receive the same attention as individual beauty brands obtain on their social platforms, and yet, the media team is consistent and present with posting content with the favor of their audience in mind. 






 

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