Social media combined with big data holds the key to future success for companies in every industry. These two resources bring in incredible amounts of useful data. If companies don’t actively invest in them, they are effectively eliminating two of their most useful resources.
Using social media and big data databases to enhance products and/or brands should come in a few different forms. First off, it should come from your own pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. This is the simplest level of marketing and the easiest to control and monitor. Before you consider advertising somewhere else, you should have your own page. It should be a place consumers can visit to quickly get relevant, concise and pertinent information. At the same time, you need to work on drawing people to your page, whether that’s by drawings, prizes, raffles or free tickets.
Simply having a page or account, however, isn’t enough on it’s own. It’s got to be active. One, because it’s so annoying to visit a site that hasn’t been updated for months or years. And, because the more you engage in social media, the more you get your brand out there. A lot of social media is back and forth interaction, especially on Twitter.
The best thing about your own page is it’s free, and you don’t need to rely on a third party.
After you’ve established your own presence on social media sites, then it’s time to really get going with big data. Much of what goes on in your marketing strategy with social media should come from the information that you gather and analyze with big data. There’s really no reason that companies should shy away from big data. With increased availability and decreased prices, big data is available from all businesses, big or small.
Where to advertise?
Don’t go into your advertising blind. One of the main reasons to use big data is to discover the best social media platforms to advertise on. Don’t just think Twitter and Facebook. They’re important, but they’re not the only places on which to advertise. Big data can give you insights into the sites your demographic uses the most. Information on where people are browsing, posting, pinning, tweeting and writing is readily available.
When to advertise?
In a world full of ads and social media, you’ve got to be strategic not only in where you advertise, but when you advertise. Again, this is where monitoring your demographic’s habits becomes invaluable. Putting an ad up doesn’t guarantee success. The best time to advertise is different for each demographic. For some, social media usage is highest in the morning, with others it may be later in the night. It varies, but big data can help you pinpoint that.
How to advertise?
Big data makes it clear how to best market your brand and product. It’s much easier to monitor which ads are effective, when they’re effective, where they’re effective and why they’re effective. Successful marketing depends on numerous factors, most of which can be enhanced by big data. One area, though, that big data doesn’t immediately impact is the amount of money available to invest in marketing. Many companies live on very tight budgets, and when the money’s gone, there’s nothing to replace it. That’s why pinpointing the best ways to market on social media with big data is so important. It can save you numerous marketing dollars while bringing in even significantly higher revenue.
Big data is making social media marketing a science. It’s becoming less about intuition and feel and more about information and analysis and that is good news. The sooner companies gain a vision of how this can enhance their products, the more they’ll be able to take advantage of this incredible technology.
