Big data is the ever growing mass of data that surrounds every aspect of the modern human experience. The phrase refers to the idea that your every action can be categorized and organized in an ever growing digital library, the size of which we can only hope to understand. Any modern thinking advertising agent or company looks at big data and drools at the possibilities and those who don’t should start re-evaluating a few things, lest they become obsolete. Big data can be used for a myriad of marketing strategies, as the following shall demonstrate.
#1. Stay informed through Google trends
Google trends is one of your best friends when it comes to marketing and a good place to start when first incorporating big data into your marketing. Google trends is a detailed record of every search term ever used on Google when it was searched for from Google’s inception to now, and how many people punched in that specific term. It’s a good way to monitor the public’s searching habits on an unprecedented scale and thereby stay on top of the trend of the week.
Following trends in marketing is always a tricky business, since it’s never clear which ones stick for long, and which are outdated the minute your strategy is put into play. So it’s best to play the long game with this strategy, wait a few months, and watch which trends sputter out after a month, and which stay relevant. The latter ones are the ones you want to chase, obviously.
#2. More thoroughly identify content that draws in buyers
Just a few years ago, it was impossible to know just how potent advertising on social media sites like Facebook or Pinterest was at generating ad revenue. Marketing companies kept doing it because it was obviously working, but they had no way to back up exactly how. Nowadays, the effectiveness of a company’s marketing push can be pinpointed practically to the last digit of code. Big data can allow you to more accurately test which content assets were working, and which weren’t.
#3. More accurately pinpoint which demographic will most likely buy into your advertising
Whereas just a few years ago, even the most sophisticated marketing companies had to rely on outdated, flawed tactics like focus group testing. Today, there are veritable pools of personal information for digital marketers to choose from. What web sites that person visits, and how often, which social media platforms they use, even which search engine they use most often. Before demographics were these incredibly broad, general things that didn’t properly encompass the people within them, but now those demographics can be broken up and narrowed down for substantially more accurate advertising.
Big data is what digital marketers have been waiting for. While not able to solve all of your problems, it goes a long way to make your job much easier. It can pinpoint your potential buyers down to the tiniest detail, and provide unprecedented information on how to appeal directly to them.