27 Feb February Social Media Trends

February was a busy month as we started to see more news about the CCPA’s data collection law that went into effect at the beginning of the year. We also saw several updates from Pinterest. Let’s break down the February social media trends.

What You Need to Know About the CCPA’s New Data Collection Law

In an effort to further protect its residents’ personal information, California passed bill AB 375 as part of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in effect as of January 1, 2020. While on the surface this may seem like something only California residents and businesses need to pay attention to, the law affects any company that can serve a resident of California. The law requires businesses to give consumers the ability to opt out of having their data shared with 3rd party companies, and this option must be clear and concise on the company’s website. Moving forward, if your company does business with California residents, your marketing team will have to sort, and separate customer lists based upon the information that consumers allow to be shared, it’s more far reaching than that. To ensure you’re compliant with CCPA, read our blog post that breaks down the key details.

The State of Facebook Fan Growth

Fan growth is slowing down for brands. We took a sample of 47 Facebook pages and, on average, the pages in this sample grew at a median of 1% over the course of a year. We also looked at the top brand pages on Facebook. Most of the brand pages saw stagnant, if not decreasing fan counts. While significant fan loss should raise a red flag, most brands don’t need to be concerned about this type of growth slowing. Instead of fan growth, check out the social media metrics that are more closely tied to business results.

Facebook Launches New Pinterest-Like App ‘Hobbi’

Speaking of Facebook, their New Product Experimentation team recently released a new app called Hobbi that may one day challenge Pinterest in terms of DIY project organization. The app lets users easily store and track their DIY projects, simplifying how a user might photograph and document an in-progress project by organizing content into visual collections. While the app has yet to take off, brands with DIY enthusiast audiences should take note of the new release.

Pinterest Launches Program to Verify Retailers

Pinterest announced it is launching a “Verified Merchant Program” to give retailers credibility with consumers that they have been vetted by the platform. Verified merchants will get badges on their account, get access to Shop the Look Pins, a shop tab on their profile and early access to their conversion insights tool. If you are an ecommerce retail brand, we recommend you sign-up for the program’s application wait list. While we await the roll out of this program, check out 3 features to help you achieve online sales via Pinterest.

Pinterest Tests “Try-On” Tool for Mobile Commerce

Another update from Pinterest is that the platform is further dipping its toes into AR with the addition of its new “Try On” tool. The tool is currently limited to lipstick but allows users to click through and try on different shades through their front-facing cameras, without skin-smoothing, image altering effects. Once users pick their favorite shade, they’ll be directed to relevant pins from popular brands, as well as similar lip shades that appear on skin tones close to their own. As the technology improves, we can see this functionality expanding to other cosmetics and maybe even accessories. While we are awaiting the full roll out of this functionality, here are 3 other Features to Help You Achieve Online Sales on Pinterest.

LinkedIn Merges Elevate with Company Pages

Our final update is around LinkedIn. They are catching our attention each month with their new offerings and better targeting. The latest advancement is the merger of LinkedIn company pages with Elevate, it’s employee advocacy tool. We’re eager to test it out since we really like the idea of implementing tools where the audience already lives.

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