The Year of Data Finally Explained
What is this whole “year of data” that we keep talking about? It’s based off of research and studies that are circulating among industry experts – the same experts who were talking about social media marketing blowing up and becoming mainstream last year. The basic thought principles behind the movement lie in the fact that today there exists a variety of avenues from which to leverage search engine marketing. Each platform will have its own data points, targeted audiences, and unique pull on advertising your brand; the culmination of all the data is going to be the deciding factor for companies who have to make the careful, calculated decision as to where they will be funneling advertising dollars. If you’re a NetSearch Direct customer, you know we adopted this approach a long time ago. We use data points to show our customers all the opportunities and successes their SEM campaigns have accumulated over the past month, quarter, and year. Knowing ROI and exact costs has always been a passion of ours.
With the dawning of new technology and advertising platforms that are little out of their infancy stage, data points will come streaming in by the dozens. The best of the SEM advertising best will know which data points are worth your time; the worst will throw all of them at you. The year of data will prove a great many things in search engine marketing: it will separate the experienced professionals from the ones who wing it, and it will demonstrate your agency or manager’s true value by the way that they interpret – and most importantly – use the data.
How does your marketing manager apply the statistics in order to create a meaningful picture of your advertising campaigns? Let’s say you’re exploring social media marketing which lends itself, naturally, to demographic data. If data points say that your target audience on Facebook is 20-30 year old’s does that mean that you pull advertising which caters to older (and conversely, younger) markets? Absolutely not. The key to qualifying this statistic you’ve been given is in the application of the data against the entire advertising strategy. If Facebook advertising accounts for 10% of your advertising budget and yields a ROI that barely covers costs, it’s clearly not your advertising campaign’s forerunner. There are about 249 pieces missing from your 250 piece puzzle. The next time you are given a set of data, be vigilant and ask questions – especially about the missing pieces.
Like we said before, data makes our hearts go pitter-patter at NetSearch Direct. We are natural number crunchers. We’ll be looking forward to The Year of the Data, and learning about new statistics that we can show our clients to really get them excited about search engine marketing. If you are a NetSearch Direct client, you’ll probably be receiving your monthly report around the time this newsletter is delivered to your inbox; we encourage you to take a new interest into the calculations we deliver, and the way it all creates a picture of your advertising strategy. We’re always happy to talk to you if you have a question or suggestion about the data presented. If you’re not a NetSearch Direct customer, we hope your marketing manager is delivering solid, quality data that makes sense and if they’re not stand up and demand it!