The cosmetics company L'OrĂ©al has analysed social media to identify micro-trends. L'OrĂ©al revealed that over a 6-month period, it analysed 5.2 million pieces of consumer-generated content on social media in India, Indonesia and Thailand. This allowed it to identify 28 different micro-trends on topics such as eyes, lips and face, which helped to inform product innovation and enabled the brand to take advantage of these trends while they were still hot. A spokesperson from L'OrĂ©al explained the rationale behind the analysis, saying: “It's about sniffing out and catching these little behaviours and little insights which can then become big”. She said that listening in to what consumers were saying made innovation much more actionable and agile, especially in the short-term.Â
