Advances in technology have brought about increased computing power in both scale and speeds, making Big Data ever more accessible. This has created an environment where large amounts of data can now collected and easily decipherd. Analysing this information correctly has the potential to help any organisation with its marketing efforts resulting in an increase in reach and subsequently, revenue.
The inspiration for this article comes from a New York Times article by Bernard Marr in which he lists some mind boggling facts about big data. Listed below are 3 good reasons why big data should be part of every marketers strategy as a sure-fire way to get better results:
- Big Data: A treasure Trove of Information
The collection of user information from various offline and online services ranging from social media, shopping, banking, and most other parts of our daily lives has raised the issue of privacy recently. There is no doubt that user’s information should be protected at all costs and only collected after explicit consent at that.
However, legitimately collected data has the potential to provide immediate and clear insights that would otherwise have taken years of research to unearth in the past. Marr begins by pointing out that the last recent years have seen an explosion in the amount of data we create and collect. Having created and curated more data in the past two years than in all of humanity’s history, humans are set to be creating 1.7 megabytes of new information every second by 2020!
In addition to this, our data volumes are growing faster than ever, creating what is essentially a treasure trove waiting to be discovered by marketers.
While such numbers may seem overwhelming, it is important to remember that increased computing power also means an increased ability to analyse the information collected. For example, Google handles over 40 thousand search queries every second, that amounts to over a trillion of searches every year.
The search giant can handle queries and surface relevant results in seconds. In addition, tools such as the Adwords keyword planner can harness all that search information to provide marketers with the exact keywords their target audience use to search the internet.
2. Facebook’s Influence Cannot be Ignored
In the battle for our hearts, minds, and clicks, not to mention personal information, Facebook has emerged as a formidable rival to Google. The social network has improved content delivery and enhanced it’s video platform even as it’s audience soars over a billion active users worlwide.
Marr points out that Facebook users send an average of 31.25 million messages and view over 2 million videos every minute. This past August, the social media platform had over a billion people using the service in a single day!
Just like Google, Facebook’s growth corresponds with its horde of user data and the ability to deduce specific trends and opportunities through its advertiser programme. This amount of Big Data means marketers can target a wider audience with more accuracy for a more efficient marketing strategy, and better returns.
Marketers who ignore Facebook as a marketing paltform, do so at their peril.
3. Media Consumption Has Evolved
This year alone, over one and a half billion smartphones will be shipped. A predicted six billion smartphone users will be taking and viewing trillions of pictures every year. In addition, these devices will be able to track and collect the vast amounts of being created every second.
The smartphone has evolved how people consume information, with pictures, video, and lately GIF’s, leading the way. This means that in addition to search advertising, or/ and Facebook efforts, picture and video platforms such as Pinterest and YouTube should also be pillars in any content marketing strategy.
Again, the above mentioned platforms, as well as other similar sites, provide a large user base plus the tools with which marketers can use to increase their reach.
Planning your content marketing strategy with the help of Big Data can certainly help your marketing strategy. The information available at our fingertips and in most cases at a nominal cost, can be used to discover what target audiences are looking for as well as the means to reach that audience.
A smart marketer will have the above mentioned important pillars in their strategy and much more in order to stay ahead of the competition. Big Data can seem overwhelming, but the sooner content marketers embrace it and learn to harness this information, the better it will be for their bottom line.