Big Data and Marketing—Boon or Bane?

The massive growth of big data, while heralding its success, can also be a bit of a hindrance to our industry. Simply put, there are too many posts, videos, and other data that do not fit the model of query we need. As a result, it’s time to do some big data market research and really think about new ways to store and analyze data.

What is “Big Data” anyway?

In the event you’re unfamiliar with the term, big data is, in short, business data and the technology required to uphold it. Currently, the amount of existing data grows hugely each day. All of this data, including social media networking data, is relevant to business, but as of right now, only a fraction of what’s out there is being effectively analyzed. Really, though, one of the best ways to conduct research and return relevant advertising to the market is through such analysis.

Big Data Boons and Banes

Big data can be seen as a double-edged sword. On the one side, it is the single most significant way to gain insight into business, healthcare, and other markets. Business owners have the ability to track sales and target customers like never before. On the other hand, however, it’s important to employ new techniques to understand the significant bits of data being stored. Using natural language processing to monitor social network posts can certainly help. Utilizing advanced algorithms can also be useful, as doing so makes it possible to obtain personal information from posts that can help marketers more accurately predict customer experience.

Additionally, none of this is limited solely to text. It’s possible to derive a massive amount of information from video, voice, and photographic data as well. Actually, big data innovators are going so far as to analyze facial expressions in order to determine the emotional state of subjects.

Another potential boon of big data is that marketers can take the information gathered and connect it to real life experiences like, sales, returns, etcetera, of a business to derive useful meaning. Big data market research is still in its infancy, but it seems like its youth will be quite promising.

Right now, it’s looking as though big data may be a huge job creator in the near future, with experts saying that about 100,000 experts are needed in the field. These sought after professionals include people skilled in understanding statistics, data sets, and other types of data. Also desired are professionals who understand how this information can really benefit big business, and these professionals may even include people from sociology and psychology backgrounds. Additionally, we’ll be seeing the questions of data ownership surfacing again and again.