The founder and creator of FROS & BEAUS, Joiya Cloud, is a proud naturlista of 17 years. The 35-year-old is a Spelman and Georgetown Hoya graduate who is recognized as a top naturalista in the online natural hair community. The popular Instagram site FROS and BEAUS which celebrates girls with their naturals and the men who support them, launched in 2014 and has transitioned from an online community to an offline brand complete with FROS and Beaus products.
Cloud shared with rolling out how she was able to build her online community, and take the FROS and Beaus Brand offline into a physical retail space.
Why did you decide to build the FROS &BEAUS brand?
I wanted to give back to the community it’s centered around, the growing “natural hair” world, in a special way, one that had not been previously focused on. I decided to expand the community to highlight not just the women but also the men who love and support them.
How were you able to differentiate your brand in a crowded Instagram space?
This was a natural progression. The novelty of the FROS & BEAUS [FaB] concept helped catapult it into a realm that was familiar to everyone but unique in that it opened up the door to include the male presence in a community centered around women. This was new and different.
What steps did you take to grow your audience?
Already a part of the community 14 plus years at the time I started FROS & BEAUS, I used my own immediate resources to grow my audience. I started by featuring my women friends and family with natural hair alongside their husbands, boyfriends, significant others or the “beaus.” Although primarily on Instagram, we also posted our couples on Facebook and Twitter platforms as well. It was not long before others desired their photos to be featured and would hashtag or tag their photos to be featured. We currently have over 26K #frosandbeaus tags on Instagram. The growth of our audience was very organic and I only needed to continue doing our mission “celebrating girls with their naturals and the men who support them” and others drew to the concept of seeing happy couples together and wanted to share theirs.
How did you transition from a social community to a brand that sells physical products?
We used seamless e-commerce option linkable with social media. We opened a Facebook store that could be directly accessed from our Facebook page. We also keep a listening ear to our audience to develop new products we know will be in demand and of value to our followers and consumers.
What three key pieces of advice do you have for people looking to grow their social media presence?
I’d say first to create a clean, recognizable presentation of your brand on social media, something memorable! For us, as a feature-based platform, we love keeping our layout simple on Instagram. This clean layout is recognizable and has the same essence as our overall brand. Second, implement an interactive component to your brand whether it is a feature based platform or not. Making sure your audience is genuinely included in the growth of your brand and sharing experiences will increase the number of people willing to jump on board in the long run. Third, collaborate! We are a huge fan of doing joint giveaways with other brands online and believe teamwork makes the dream work!
