Most industry coverage we see related to the “boys of beauty” influencers are gender-bending boys who have mad skills when it comes to makeup application or guys who focus on shaving and hair care. Josh Blaylock aka ManCredible Beauty (@mancrediblebeauty) has taken a different path. Many of you in the beauty industry know him as the ultimate networker and tenacious face of business development for Pierce Mattie Communications, but his side hustle is sharing his love of products and beauty from a male point of view.
What was the impetus for jumping into the world of influencers? I’ve always loved sharing my passions and daily life with my friends, and engaging with people on social media. But it was only a year ago that I started taking pictures about my daily beauty routines. Actually, the idea accidentally originated from work. I currently work for a beauty-focused PR agency in business development (Pierce Mattie Communications), so I am fortunate to be introduced to all sorts of beauty & grooming brands, new and established. Because of that, and because I sometimes manage to take home some great brands and try them, friends and colleagues would ask me a lot of beauty-related questions and recommendations: like what’s your favorite eye cream that I can afford or what moisturizer should I be using for my type of skin? All of that led me to creating ManCredible Beauty. I found there was a lack of male bloggers on Instagram who solely focused on beauty and skin care, and even fewer provided reviews beyond the hair care styling and shaving category.
How would you describe ManCredible Beauty? I think of ManCredible Beauty as beauty, from a male point of view. I hope people view my posts as the same things that attract me to other feeds: honest, informational, inspiring with a little friendly spice and dorkiness added every now and then. If I get a few eye rolls from my friends, I know I’m doing something right.
What do you want to create? I want to create a forum where everyone, male or female, gay or straight, old and young feels comfortable engaging with me, laughing along with me, asking me questions and creating a dialogue about their beauty and grooming needs.
Who is your audience? Honestly, everyone and anyone who enjoys using beauty and grooming products and who wants to enhance their daily routine. It can be difficult making sense of all the thousands of beauty products out there and I’m here to help! On a daily basis, I receive DMs from men and women asking me what you would think would be easy questions, such as what’s the best way to get rid of my dark circles or what’s the proper way of applying moisturizer? You google those questions and you start getting frustrated really quickly.
I’m also fortunate that I get to try out so many fantastic products that are realistically obtainable. And because of that, I get to talk about products that I feel genuinely works for me and that I would personally buy. It’s been really fun and exciting.
What’s your content strategy? I don’t want to make my posts just about products & beauty. I love sharing a bit of my personal life with others—my travels, being silly around New York City, shots that I feel bring out my personality. I use this to supplement my product reviews and easy-to-follow skin & hair care tutorials, sometimes even incorporating both, showing how beauty & grooming works into my daily lifestyle.
What’s your number-one way to gain followers? Every way is my number-one way! Seriously though, what I’ve found drives the most new followers is when brands are generous enough to repost my content on their channels and introduce me to their audience. That said, although growing my following is super important to me, creating real dialogue & engagement with my audience is just as important. I’ve also noticed that I gain a lot more followers when I share more about my personal life, be genuine, and open up to my audience. That’s the whole reason why I started ManCredible Beauty in the first place!
Instagram is your primary platform. Do you have a strategy for other platforms? Absolutely! You can never get enough ManCredible Beauty! With the one-minute time limit on Instagram videos, I’m often having to rush through my tutorials and product reviews. YouTube has been a great outlet for me to tell more of a fully rounded story, allowing me to give more in-depth reviews & tips. But it’s a completely different animal and a different kind of audience, so the learning process starts once again. My strategy is to use it as a way to supplement my Instagram, but I’m pretty sure it will veer off into something of its own. My followers and what they enjoy really have dictated my direction, and my friends, some of whom are also influencers, always are happy to give me a dose of advice and reality.
What’s been the biggest challenge so far? My biggest challenge continues to be to how to keep creating fun, unique content going beyond just taking a picture of a beauty product on my bathroom counter—how do I keep my audience entertained but still feel educated. I’m lucky to have a friends and a fiancé who challenges me to push my ideas further. Another challenge has been finding time to meet up with fellow beauty bloggers to collaborate. This should be changing in the near future — Hit me up my fellow beauty lovers!
Anything exciting in the works you want to share? So much! I’m getting married in late September and will be documenting my skin care prep for the big day. I also have a pretty jam-packed travel schedule planned for the rest of the year: I’ll be traveling to Tokyo, Taiwan, Berlin, and Cabo and cannot wait to share my new beauty finds and trends. Besides that, I also have some fun giveaways coming up and potential collabs. Stay tuned!
As an insider (influencer) what’s your view on the future of influencer marketing? I’m excited to watch micro-influencers continue to stake their claim. For brands, it’s becoming more important that whomever they send their product to, it’s going to reach their true targeted audience. Quality over quantity is the key and with beauty especially, there needs to continue to be a genuine passion and interest that is conveyed. The consumer will see right through it if not.
It’s quite clear this is not just a fad and something easy to replicate; this is how you build trust and a relationship with your customer.
The interview would not be complete if I didn’t ask about your abs! What’s your workout routine to keep the six pack? Equinox, Barry’s Bootcamp, and saying no to that second slice of pizza … okay, maybe the third.
