Marketing has evolved from mass media to social media, broadcasting to curating and now demographic data to social data. What is social data and why is it important to marketers? Social data is anything and everything collected from social network profiles and behaviors i.e. logins, sharing, gender, interests, age, etc…
Companies understand the value in social media. According to the Social Media 2012 Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, a significant 83% of marketers believe that social media is important to their business. Companies work hard socializing and driving traffic to their websites. However, what most companies don’t realize is that they can unearth the vast amount of data contained in the online social footprints that their consumers leave behind. Utilizing this data to maximize marketing output and increase ROI is called Social Data Strategy.
The following diagram illustrates the role that social data plays in the marketing strategy process.
Download a PDF version of the above Infographics.
With the right tools to collect, analyze and take action; social consumer intelligence can have an impactful effect on businesses. It might inspire a new product, help with the messaging of a radio campaign or simply help communicate to customers in a more meaningful way. See more examples in my blog 4 Examples of Driving Marketing Strategies with Social Login Analytics.
Andreas Weigend, Professor at Stanford University and former Chief Scientist at Amazon identifies this time as a Revolution of Social Data because it “fundamentally alters the relationship between buyers and sellers” forcing marketers to think differently. At the foundation of a social data strategy, Weigend states that a marketer must:
- Address each customer as an individual, not as a target.
- Design campaigns to encourage social sharing.
- Recognize how social data influences decision making, everything from how to create and sell products to how you acquire and lose customers.
The social data era is upon us! How will you leverage it?
Your turn! Do you see social data playing a role in your marketing decision-making?
Author:
Lanoba provides easy registration for website users by giving them the option to log in to your website via their existing social network accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, among others. Lanoba captures permission-based profile & behavioral data, then aggregates, stores and presents it in powerful analytics helping drive ROI through targeted marketing campaigns. Follow Lanoba on Twitter @lanoba.
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