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data

10 actual uses of big data

First off, what is it?

Well don’t let anyone tell you it’s down to sample size, or about measuring everything. It’s about combining datasets (sometimes ‘dirty’ ones), contrasting them in different ways, and doing it as quick as possible.

Sometimes this necessitates great computing power, but not always. You can read more about such technology as Hadoop and GreenPlum in this nice little article).

Datasets are multiplying as we measure lots more than we used to. This means our thinking has to broaden – no longer is ‘what can we do with our database of email addresses?’ the question, rather ‘what data can we look at to give us the best idea possible of a customer’s stage in the buying cycle and what they’ll be receptive to next?’

The definition of big data isn’t really important and one can get hung up on it. Much better to look at ‘new’ uses of data.

So, here’s some examples of new and possibly ‘big’ data use both online and off.

Four reasons why Facebook hashtags are just plain awful

Hashtags are a key part of the Twitter experience as they allow users to link together otherwise disparate tweets, thereby creating conversations and streams of information around particular themes or events.

Unfortunately they have become an overused medium and are frequently used as ironic punch lines in dreadfully unfunny tweets.

In fact someone put it quite aptly when describing hashtags as the digital version of the ‘not’ joke.

And yet hashtags still have a practical use on Twitter and are an excellent marketing tool, so it came as little surprise when Facebook also enabled a similar feature a few months ago.

So considering the fact that hashtags have proven to be such an excellent tool for search and conversation on Twitter, it’s a shame that they’ve proven to be so useless on Facebook.

Google’s five questions every business should address on mobile strategy

Google recently launched its new mobile playbook, replacing last year’s edition, in which it gives details on how marketers can improve their mobile strategy.

Here we’ll take at a look at the key points that Google raises, mainly the five questions which it believes businesses need to ask themselves in relation to mobile marketing, and provide you with Econsultancy’s own research and understanding within each area.

Engagement with mobile video is three times higher than desktop: stats

The use and efficacy of mobile video has been steadily increasing over the past few years thanks largely to improvements in mobile technology and increased smartphone ownership.

And new research suggests that mobile video is actually more effective than desktop in terms of clicks throughs, after the average CTR for smartphone and tablet campaigns tripled in the past 12 months.

In fact, online video viewers are almost three times more likely to click through to a brand’s website from their smartphone than their laptop or desktop computer.

Using data from more than 3,000 branded campaigns, Unruly found that the average CTR for mobile is 13.64% compared to 5.45% on desktop.

WHSmith: how will taking its site down impact on sales, PPC and more?

As many of you will be aware by now, WHSmith took its website offline on Sunday after it discovered that pornographic eBooks were available through its Kobo e-reader.

While the material was undoubtedly unacceptable and needed to be taken offline, it did seem like an over-reaction to pull down the entire website. What’s even more surprising is that two days later the site still isn’t back online.

Yesterday we published a post discussing WHSmith’s decision, including the impact on its SEO, alternative courses of action and what it says about the business’ understanding of digital marketing and ecommerce.

And as the site is still offline there’s more to be said in terms of the wider implications for WHSmith’s digital marketing initiative and the long term impact on the brand.

Five user experience problems with iOS7

By now you’ve probably already decided whether or not to upgrade your existing iPhone operating system to the largely divisive iOS7, released approximately four weeks ago.

Perhaps some of you automatically uploaded on the day of release without question, perhaps some of you more cautious cats waited to see what the general consensus was from the early adopters before uploading.

If you were anything like me, an iPhone 4 user – the shelf-life of which was becoming quickly terminal – who read thousands of comments (ranging from histrionically aggrieved to deific praise) and decided they had nothing left to lose, so took the plunge anyway.

Although we have looked at iOS7 in terms of opportunities for enterprise organisations, we have yet to discuss the user experience of iOS7, so after a month of the new operating system being released in the wild and with the Nielsen Norman Group publishing its own user experience appraisal today, now seems the right time to do just that.

Start Me Up! A profile of Moovly, for easy animated videos

We’d all like to produce videos that convey our complicated product or brand but don’t cost the Earth. Without a background in rich media, it’s time consuming to create a animated video or shoot and edit your own footage.

Moovly aims to make this easier and allows the easy creation of simple animated videos. I spoke to the team to find out more about the service.

The effect of Gmail Tabs on email marketing

On May 29 this year, Gmail introduced the new tabbed layout. For many email marketers this was a major concern as this raised questions on the effectiveness and ROI of their email marketing activities.

Would the introduction of this new layout affect their open rates? Does this mean email marketing just got a lot harder?

Let’s have a look at what this means for email marketers.

15+ key takeaways and soundbites from Crunch 2013

Yesterday saw the arrival of Crunch, a brand new event where marketers can get to grips with what type of data they should be collecting and how to apply it successfully.

Held in the iconic Truman’s Brewery London, Crunch forms the data and analytics strand of Econsultancy’s inaugural Festival of Marketing.

The agenda for this annual conference included speakers from O2, Lastminute.com, Teradata and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Obviously it’s not possible to condense all the different tips and recommendations from the whole day into one blog post, but here’s a selection of the most interesting points.

For up to the minute tweets please follow @FestofMarketing and #FoM13.

How Channel 4’s remit for innovation impacts its risk-taking ad campaigns

‘Punch’ is the part of the Festival of Marketing that celebrates creativity, and few organisations can be said to be as creative as Channel 4.

In fact it’s within the broadcaster’s official remit to be innovative and distinctive while also developing new talent.

C4 is state owned, but it doesn’t receive any taxpayer’s money and remains a not-for-profit organisation. Therefore all of its revenue is ploughed back into making new programmes.

And at Punch this afternoon C4’s chief marketing and communications officer Dan Brooke gave a peak under the hood of some of its recent marketing campaigns, which are also geared towards fulfilling its innovative and risk-taking mantra.

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