Just how big is big data? Internet Live Stats has this answer: Every second on January 25, 2018, for example, there were 826 Instagram photos posted, 7,910 Tweets, 64,935 Google searches, 72,441 YouTube video views, and 2,660,827 emails sent. Every second.
Every one of these actions adds to an ever-growing stream of data. In fact, Entrepreneur reports that by 2020, every person online will generate approximately 1.7 megabytes of new data every second, every day.
The study of data for insights has become an essential marketing tool. But mining the value in that data takes some skill. At Northwest Missouri State University, students in the marketing-focused Master of Business Administration (MBA) take a course titled Business Decision Analysis Tools. Topics such as linear programming cover the business analytics skills MBAs need to make the most of big data in their careers.
What Is Data-Driven Marketing?
One way to understand the value of all that data is to look at its staggering size. Consider the 1.7 megabytes per second that every person will generate in the year 2020. Thinking of that data as ones and zeros is probably not much help.
This is where equivalents come in handy. In just three seconds, those 1.7 megabytes add up to just over five megabytes. That, according to SearchStorage, is equivalent to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. In a single day — all 86,400 seconds of it — a person will generate the equivalent of 28,800 copies of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This makes it a little easier to picture the vast amount of data that just one person can generate.
What Decisions Are Based on Data?
Data-driven marketing is all about using customer information (data) to predict behavior. Marketing professionals who do this skillfully can implement media buying and messaging strategies that achieve optimal results. That, of course, is good for business.
Think back to those hundreds of Instagram posts every second. According to Omnicore, as of December 2017, a whopping 80 percent of the 800 million Instagram users live outside the United States. That information alone has a lot to tell marketing managers about, say, how to allocate ad budgets. Instagram stories are a valuable source of data as well, pointing the way to trending products and target markets.
Marketing is sometimes described as an art. Others argue that it is a science. Either way, data adds a lot to the process of understanding customer behavior.
- Who is the target audience? Data analytics can help marketers more precisely identify a target audience to deliver more relevant advertising.
- What is the best price for a product? Analytics can help a business identify the optimal price for maximum profits.
- How well is a company meeting customer needs? The quality of customer relationships can make or break a business. Data analytics can provide insight into which interactions matter most and what aspects of those interactions are most important, such as transaction speed. The more quickly customers can log into their online accounts, for example, the higher their satisfaction.
- What is the most effective way to connect with customers? Businesses that track customer engagement with Google Analytics, for example, will find that 98 percent of text messages are read. (Adding a link to that message tells a business even more — it enables measurement of the click-through rate.)
- How are visitors getting to a company’s website? Did they find what they were looking for? Collecting and analyzing information — with keywords and bounce rate, for example — helps a business see what is working and what needs attention.
The better a business understands its customers, the more effectively it can market to them. Data-driven marketing provides a deeper level of customer information than can be gained through traditional approaches to marketing. Developing strategies based on these insights can make a significant difference to a company’s profits.
Learn more about Northwest’s online MBA in Marketing program.
Sources:
Internet Live Stats
Entrepreneur: ‘Big Data’ Is No Longer Enough: It’s Now All About ‘Fast Data’
TechTarget: How Many Bytes For …
Omnicore: Instagram by the Numbers
SmartInsights: How to Track Customer Engagement With Your SMS Campaigns in Google Analytics
