Big Data Tips for Business

10 Dec. 2013 - - Total Reads 13,616

Big-Data-Tips-Example-Data

Winning The Big Data Game. How big data tips for Business will help with your online and offline game. 

When Google launched their simple, single field search the game had changed forever. Without doubt, single handedly propelling them to one of the largest companies in the world and arguably shifting the minds of digital natives and entrepreneurs the world over. Essentially speeding up our acceptance of online services and thrusting us into a more connected global marketplace.

Distributed networking was the next game changer. From the tens of thousands of active Social Media platforms, it was Facebook who emerged, like Google, simplifying the landscape into a simple and elegantly designed platform, which now hosts 1.1 billion monthly active users.

Supporting technology especially mobile, tablets and apps are the other huge driver of change, allowing us to connect almost anywhere. We love mobile so much; there are more mobiles in the world than toothbrushes. They are so convenient and engaging, by the end of 2014, 50% of Australians were using their mobile while watching television.

So with all this data centricity, especially in terms of track-able user events, we have been arming clients with feedback and insights previously the domain of only our blue chip clients. More interesting though, it is in the last few months we are seeing this power of big data replicate from the boardroom to the home-office. Smaller businesses are now have easy access to relevant customer trends and on the fly analytics. Data so relevant, we are pushing it back up to multi-national clients and effecting next years marketing objectives.

It is due in part to companies like Google pushing for more traditionally accepted models and trying to clean up the cowboy search space. So you’ll see calls and emails claiming page 1 rankings drop off, as this simply isn’t believable any more. This is because Google are removing keywords from traffic analytics. Which means best practice and is all you can do from a lead perspective to stay competitive in the search game. For example; A skin care brand can no longer see how successful ‘the best anti-aging skin cream’ as a keyword traffic generator is. Or a pizza shop can no longer see how well their ‘thin base pizza delivery eastern suburbs’ keyword is performing. This has huge implications to search.

As many of us are aware from those annoying phone calls, there was a huge industry built up around keyword hunting and the last few years hundreds of thousands so-called SEO experts working this angle and other not so above board practices like back-linking. Google had started negatively ranking link-farms in 2011 and when they turned on their new algorithm to combat this, we saw some major newspapers being out ranked by local blogs, obviously they were contracting out to some less reputable SEO companies.

To stay relevant online we are seeing some of the ex-SEO experts are brushing up on English and moving into the social media package space. Again, buyers beware; my strongest recommendation for any digital service is only engage an agency or individual you have had a trusted direct connection or referral with.

So what is left for Search? Best practice certainly; which is working on organic traffic as a whole instead of breaking it down into individual keywords. &Mine have seen a 15% uplift in traffic across all our search accounts since the hummingbird algorithm changes in October 2013. Why? It’s because we’ve been operating in the ‘honest’ side of search and there is an obvious responsibility from Google to align with real content. The other keys to remaining strong in the organic search game will remain constants, goal conversions and multivariate testing; if you’ve got any reasonable traffic on your site, you should be looking into both.

However these search changes are an offshoot of the greatest competition is being waged in search history. As Facebook and Google move closer towards ‘contextual search’. Let me explain what this is with some examples; Facebook with 1.1 Billion monthly users has started to return results based on what your friends like. Their idea is you won’t search and trawl through websites looking for the right thin base pizza place, if you know a few of your friends already liked one a few minutes from where you are. See where all those likes are heading now? And Google who had a ghost town of a social platform a just over a year ago in Google+, have catapulted to over 500 million users through linking YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive, Analytics and other accounts. Basically they all give you a Google Social profile if you are aware of it or not. They are already providing contextual results in Search (those little star ratings). It isn’t as cool as what Facebook are able to do, yet, but as more people click the + button on sites and in Search, the race for contextual search traffic is on. This is Big Data playing a major role in results coming to you.

Google have another advantage too, which will benefit you – they have merged our user data over web analytics. Since analytics launched, we were all able to see where users were located and how long they spent on site, did they buy, did they engage etc. But now, we have access to more personal demographics like their age brackets and interests, their gender and recent online activities; are they shopping for a home, do they prefer entertainment over technology – all aligned to more traditional marketing sets.

For any company trying to work out their target demographics and how to position their online to offline products and services, big data insights are now at your fingertips. Make sure you follow these 5 Big Data tips for business to stay ahead of the competition:

  1. Upgrade Google analytics to turn on demographic and contextual data noting you need to submit updated T&Cs to Google for approval
  2. Align your social media strategy for contextual search results and demographic insights, if Facebook and Google are already there, others will certainly follow
  3. If you haven’t seen a bump in your organic search results over the last few months, time to change your agency or content strategy to a more honest approach
  4. Build in conversion goals and testing across your digital landscape this will help measure real business objectives and iteratively improve results
  5. If you need help, qualify the individual or agency from a trusted referral partner or you’ll pay the price of moving in the wrong direction.

Most importantly, don’t over analyse, develop meaningful insights which actually matter to your bottom line, I see a lot of managers get distracted by irrelevant numbers, for example the number of Facebook likes they have.

Big data is converging on us from other places too; User sediment and social optimization tools becoming more affordable. I was recently dazzled by CBA’s free and market leading ‘merchant data’ that combines user records from credit and debit card transactions, allowing retailers and etailers to see info like the number of return customers they have, what they spend and where they live. With mobile app records sure to make a mainstream appearance soon too, the compelling case for integrating Big Data performance indicators to your business to me is a no brainer. Ensure you are onboard with the right tools and talent to understand and leverage this new world of instrumental insights.

Michael Simonetti
Posted by:

Post Reads: 13.6K

Share this
Comments
Mohammad afshar Said :
"very good ,thanks"

Trusted by

Rydges
Australian Physiotherapy Association
Hairhouse Warehouse
Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals
LBG Australia and New Zealand
McArthur Skincare
Matchbox Homewares
Engineers Without Borders
Inferflora
Fast.co
Mark Alexander Design
Magento
James Buyer Advocates
Garmin
DepSkin.com
Buy Aussie Now
Grays Ecommerce
SwinBurne University of Technology
Peter Mac
The Age
Arc One
Fairfax Media
French Tables
Heat Holders
Tomorrow Stars Basketball
Craft CMS
Dinosaur Designs
SMH – The Sydney Morning Herald
White Suede
Melbourne Heart
Jalna
Australian Government
Beaumont
Australian Anthill
Rock Pool Group
King Wood Mallesons
GPT Group
Rackspace
21st Century Australia Party
Positive Poster
Scrum.org
Switzer Media+Publishing
High Street Armadale
Engine Swim
Forbes
PranaOn
Ebay
Toni&Guy
Crumpler
Appstore
Australian Organic Food CO
Tassal
Carlton Football Club
HGG 
Federation Square
Mamma Lucia
Herbert Smith Freehills
Watches of Switzerland
Street Kitchen
AC/DC
Vitura Health
Drupal
131 Pizza
Movember
Moov Head Lice
Bigcommerce
Etihad Stadium
Dial Before You Dig
Catholic Insurance
Cooper Mills
OJAY
Chia
Tek Ocean
Mecca Brands
Marshall White
Melrose MCT
Naturtint
Metricon
ADP Payroll
RMIT University
Sunday Creek
Unsw Australia
Kay&Burton
The University Of Melbourne
Parker Lane
MAP
CB Richard Ellis
Tribe
Bank of Cyprus
Fresh Cheese Company
DeeWhy Market
Thomson Geer
Uber
Coles
VISSF
Sports Power
Ubertas Group
Florsheim Shoes
Wild Rhino Shoes
The Burger Cheese
Kadac
Magento Solution Specialist
Aqium Gel
NMI Insurance
Bondi Sands
Cleanfit
Gilbert+Tobin
Liveoneday
Telstra
Eway
Adobe Professional
Bintani Australia
Grainshaker
National Relay Services
SunSense Digital Agency
Bostik
Melbourne Central
Xavier
BlackMores
Atlantic Group of Companies
Cell Therapies
POSTER Magazine
Celebrate Health
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
The Canberra Times
Windsorsmith
WTFN
CAN- Common Wealth Bank
Passage To India
Green St Juice CO
Paypal
One Shift
CSquared Executive
TPP
Toy World
Macmillan Publishing
National Museum of Australia
Castran Gilbert
Novvi
ISO Certified
NextTech
Passage Foods
OMS – Order Management System
Bulk Nutrients
Associated Press
Amino Active
Oakdale Meat Co
Oracle
Plants
Federation University Australia
Ego Pharmaceuticals
Schiavello
ABC
Plan It Sync It
Loan Market
MyAccount
Natralus Australia
Palace Cinemas
Cronos Australia
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre – MSAC
Madman Entertainment
Maxine
The Fortune Institute
Shell
Victorian Government
Smart Company
GooglePlay
News
Jetstar
ACTUATE IP
Ello
Acquia Certified Site Builder Drupal
Grow Your Business
Brisbane Times
iPrimus
Google
QV Skincare
Gadens
Boston Consulting Group
Van Egmond Group
DUSA, Deakin University Student Association
Melrose Health
Vendor Advocacy Australia
Viktoria & Woods
Max’s
Think & Grow Rich Inc
Focus On Furniture
Arthur Galan
Hanover
Elucent
Royal Freemasons
Instant RockStar

Testimonials

I strongly recommend AndMine and Michael's work to any forward thinking company. They have helped us rapidly evolve our business with great success in a very difficult period in retail. From online to offline they are the new generation of advertising delivering brilliant results and service. From simple EDM's to our new online store and creative campaigns, they have gone above and beyond, engrained themselves in our business and amplified our brand. We look forward to what Michael and the team achieve for us next. Harry Goles, OJAY Clothing

More Testimonials
AndMine-Google-Partner-Signature