Dermessa—Social Media Deep Dive

When Dermessa came to us, they were stuck.

Their clean beauty brand had potential, but their Instagram presence wasn't living up to their product quality.

With just 185 followers and scattered content, they needed a complete social media overhaul.

Following the strategy we created for them, they are now at 1,790 followers as of July 2025.

That's an 868% increase.

Here's exactly what we did in 6 simple steps.

1—Social Media Audit

Before jumping into content creation, we needed to understand what was working and what wasn't.

Our social media audit revealed some promising strengths alongside clear opportunities for improvement.

What Dermessa was doing right

Clear bio that communicated their clean beauty focus.

Active link in bio directing traffic to their main page.

Good content mix of Reels, carousels, and static posts.

Authentic user-generated content in their Reels.

Where they were falling short

Two TikTok links in their bio, with one completely broken.

Story highlights that weren't regularly updated.

No Instagram Shop integration.

Products weren't tagged in posts.

Visual inconsistency that made their feed look messy.

Multiple fonts create a disjointed brand experience.

The audit showed us that while Dermessa had the foundation for success, they needed a better social media strategy.

2—Define Goals & Purpose

Good social media strategy starts with knowing exactly what you want to achieve.

We asked Dermessa three questions that every brand should answer before posting any piece of content.

What is your brand goal?

For Dermessa, the answer was building brand awareness and recognition through education and community building.

Ultimately, they wanted to become the go-to resource for clean beauty insights.

We planned to track this goal through measuring engagement rates, follower growth, and website traffic.

What is your purpose?

Their social platforms needed to serve as an entry point into the Dermessa experience.

A space where education meets inspiration, empowering their audience with valuable knowledge about clean beauty ingredients and sustainable practices.

The goal wasn't just to showcase products but to provide a transparent, behind-the-scenes look at their commitment to sustainability and health-conscious choices.

This approach helps build a community of like-minded individuals who share their belief in clean, effective, and responsible beauty.

What do you want to say when people look at you?

Dermessa wanted to be seen as a trusted guide in clean beauty.

Their content should instantly communicate expertise and credibility while making clean beauty approachable and easy to understand.

The imagery needed to be clean, refreshing, and aspirational. The tone should be knowledgeable yet inviting, helping their audience make informed, confident choices about their skincare.

With their goals clearly defined, we turned to analyzing their competitive landscape to understand how other clean beauty brands were positioning themselves on Instagram.

3—Competitor Analysis

We analyzed five competitor Instagram profiles to identify what was working in the clean beauty space and what gaps Dermessa could fill.

One Fine Secret (@onefine.secret)

This brand caught our attention with their strong visual quality and well-produced content.

Their photos and videos consistently enhanced their brand appeal, showing the power of investing in good visuals.

However, their inconsistent posting schedule and content types created a lack of rhythm that could hurt audience engagement.

While their product and store-focused content effectively showcased their offerings, it needed more lifestyle or educational content for balance.

Their founder’s presence added authenticity and built trust with their audience, but their recent feed appeared messy.

This showed us the importance of maintaining a polished and cohesive brand experience.

Clean Beauty Market (@cleanbeautymarket)

Their high-quality photos reinforced their premium positioning, but quantity didn't translate to engagement.

Despite posting lots of Reels, the content lacked educational value and meaningful connection with their audience.

This taught us that visual polish alone isn't enough. You need substance behind the aesthetics to drive real engagement.

SOKO GLAM (@sokoglam)

Here was a brand with serious viral potential.

Some of their content performed exceptionally well with over 1M views, showing they could resonate with audiences when they got it right.

But their declining follower count and inconsistent engagement revealed the challenge of maintaining momentum.

Their diverse content range appealed to Gen Z, but the lack of visual cohesion reduced brand recognition.

Oh My Cream ! (@ohmycream)

This brand demonstrated how to successfully target an older demographic in the clean beauty space.

Their high-quality images and clean, luxury aesthetic perfectly aligned with their premium positioning.

Their effective use of micro-influencer collaborations helped build credibility and connect with niche communities.

Credo Beauty (@credobeauty)

While Credo Beauty maintained high-quality visuals and strong collaborations with figures like Miranda Kerr, their low engagement rate despite quality content highlighted a common problem in the industry.

This reinforced our belief that content strategy needed to focus on encouraging participation, not just showcasing products.

Content Inspiration

We also looked at two brands outside the immediate clean beauty space that offered valuable lessons for content strategy.

Then I Met You (@thenimetyou)

Their strong branding with consistent story highlights and signature blue color showed the power of visual consistency.

Their regular posting schedule of 7 posts per week maintained visibility and audience engagement.

Most importantly, their giveaways and founder letters performed exceptionally well, fostering genuine community connection.

Space NK (@spacenk)

With 21 posts per week, Space NK showed how high posting frequency could maximize visibility.

Their creative Reels formats, including illustrated content, helped their posts stand out in crowded feeds.

Their consistent use of user-generated content and influencer partnerships enhanced credibility and engagement.

These insights shaped our approach to Dermessa's content strategy, informing the five-pillar system we developed next.

4—Five-Pillar Content Strategy

With clear goals and competitive insights in hand, we developed a five-pillar content strategy.

This would position Dermessa as the trusted authority in clean beauty while driving real business results.

Each pillar serves a specific purpose and targets different stages of the customer journey.

Educational Content

Establish Dermessa as a trusted authority in clean beauty.

We created ingredient spotlights highlighting the benefits of niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and other key components in their products.

The myth vs. fact series helped debunk common clean beauty misconceptions like "clean beauty isn't effective" while positioning Dermessa as a knowledgeable source.

How-to tutorials provided step-by-step routines for different skin concerns, giving followers actionable advice they could implement immediately.

Common skincare mistakes and how to fix them rounded out this pillar, helping followers avoid costly errors while building trust in Dermessa's expertise.

Product Highlights and Ingredients

Drive conversions by showcasing product benefits.

Before and after transformations from real customers provided powerful social proof of product effectiveness.

The key ingredient series dove deep into one ingredient per post, explaining how it worked and which Dermessa products contained it.

Routine building posts showed followers exactly how to layer Dermessa products for maximum effectiveness.

Comparison posts between clean and conventional products helped followers understand why choosing Dermessa made sense for their skin and values.

Customer-Centric Content

Build trust and social proof.

Real customer testimonials with quotes and photos created authentic connections with potential buyers. These weren't polished brand photos but genuine user experiences.

Interactive polls and Q&As like "What's your biggest skincare struggle?" encouraged engagement while providing valuable insights into customer needs.

User-generated content reposts celebrated customer stories and created a sense of community around the brand.

Weekly customer spotlights and "Feedback Fridays" kept the conversation flowing while generating fresh content ideas.

Giveaways and hashtag challenges like "Share your DERMESSA glow" amplified reach and encouraged user participation.

Clean Beauty Advocacy

Educate about clean beauty standards and build a movement.

This pillar positioned Dermessa as more than just a product seller but as an advocate for better beauty standards.

Ingredient red flag posts educate followers about what to avoid in skincare, helping them make better choices across all their beauty purchases.

Myth-busting content tackled the difference between genuine clean beauty and greenwashing.

Behind-the-Scenes and Brand Story

Humanize the brand and build connection.

Founder stories explaining why Dermessa was started created emotional connections with the audience.

Team introductions helped followers connect with the faces behind the brand.

Content about their rebrand journey made followers feel part of the transformation process.

This five-pillar approach ensured every piece of content served a strategic purpose while maintaining variety and engagement for their growing audience.

5—Content Calendar System

A content calendar is essential for following through your social media strategy.

Without one, even the best strategy falls apart due to missed deadlines and scattered posting.

We built Dermessa's calendar around three core functions.

Planning and Organization

The calendar provided a clear view of all upcoming content pieces across platforms.

We assigned specific team members to each post, from writers to designers, ensuring everyone knew their responsibilities and deadlines.

Consistency and Accountability

Automatic reminders and notifications kept the team on track.

No more scrambling for last-minute content or missing optimal posting times.

Strategic Alignment

Every piece of content mapped back to one of the five content pillars, ensuring strategic purpose behind each post.

For Dermessa, we created a 4-week rolling calendar that included the content pillar, content type, topic idea, and platform for each day.

This system kept their posting schedule full while maintaining variety and purpose across all content.

6—Ready-To-Post Content Templates

All of our work up until this point would have meant nothing if Dermessa didn’t have the tools to execute the plan.

That’s why we created custom templates that made it easy for their team to create on-brand content without starting from scratch each time.

Here’s what we delivered.

20 ready-to-post Instagram templates

We designed these to cover all five content pillars.

Each template was fully editable in Canva, making it simple for their team to customize with new text, images, and colors.

7 Instagram Story templates

These gave them variety for daily engagement.

These included new blog post announcements, weekly subscriber giveaway, weekly coupon, before and after shots, and sale graphics.

9 custom highlight icons

These tied everything together visually.

These created a cohesive brand experience across their profile while organizing content into clear categories.

After receiving all these templates, Dermessa was ready to go.

Conclusion

Working with us, Dermessa transformed their Instagram presence with an 868% follower increase from 185 to 1,790.

This success came from six strategic steps.

Auditing their current state, defining clear goals, analyzing competitors, building a five-pillar content strategy, implementing a content calendar, and creating templates.

We hope you enjoyed this social media deep dive, and thought of ways you can renew your social media presence.

Follow Marlo Studios on Instagram and TikTok to see our social media strategy in action.