Mary Kay salespeople have successfully engaged consumers on a personal basis for almost 50 years. In 2009, the direct seller extended its reach with a new website. Efforts have paid off handsomely. On July 19, the cosmetics company reached the 1 million Facebook fan mark, a number that has become the benchmark for successful consumer engagement for brands.

To celebrate the milestone, Mary Kay created a video to thank its fans from its corporate staff. Plus, Mary Kay’s Facebook fans have the opportunity to enter a daily sweepstakes to be one of 250 randomly selected winners for daily prizes for the five days following the milestone.

“The million fan mark on Facebook is the quintessential gold standard of a brand’s success in engaging consumers,” said Sara Friedman, Mary Kay’s U.S. vice president of marketing. “Every time a person gives us the ‘thumbs up,’ it means that one more person is engaged with our brand and loves our products. Our fans love every aspect of Mary Kay from our irresistible products to the rewarding opportunity to the positive community impact. An engaged consumer who is an advocate for your brand is one of the most valuable partners any company can have.”

Mary Kay launched its official Facebook fan page in November 2009. In March 2010, the U.S. fan page reached 100,000 fans and half a million by August 2011. Over the last year, activity on the page has increased significantly with a 600 percent increase in content posted by fans and 848 percent increase in fan comments. All this activity has driven fan engagement and a steep increase in fan growth over the last several months.

“Social networking isn’t a new concept to Mary Kay,” said Kim Sater, Mary Kay’s U.S. director of consumer marketing. “For nearly 50 years, we’ve relied on people interacting with one another and word-of-mouth advertising to increase our brand awareness. Facebook and other social media tools provide another venue for us to engage consumers. We’ve basically replicated our 50-year history of social networking into social media.”

Mary Kay’s social media presence and digital tools have also proven to be extremely attractive to Gen Y. Mary Kay saw 94,000 new independent businesses started in the second quarter of 2012 and more than 34,000 by Gen Y. Meanwhile, more than 36 percent of all new Independent Beauty Consultants in 2012 are from the Gen Y (18 to 30-year olds) segment.