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Who are the marketers?

Is unifying social media profiles across data sources/arenas and over time an important avenue for social network marketing in the future? If so, who is approaching this the right way? How should marketers approach social networks from a data perspective?

  • With the volumes of data that Facebook / Twitter, etc. open up, I often think marketers try and go for the quick kill and make isolated data points actionable right away (liking a brand, complaining about a brand, talking, planning a trip, approaching birthday, etc...). But I think they're missing the real value of this data - the value it gains 1) over time and 2) when layered on to proprietary data like transactional data, survey responses, email open/click, etc... To point #2, I think unifying social media profiles should be among the top priorities for any marketer playing in that arena. Agree? If so... what marketers are approaching this the right way? What do they do that's right? How should a marketer to start to approach social networks from a data perspective?

  • Answer:

    I can offer a few scattered thoughts just based on casual observations of what various firms are doing. [1] The notion that combining many sources of data can give much more leverage than one-off interactions with a consumer seems correct and powerful. Companies like Facebook, Google, and the big players in web advertising are clearly trying to do exactly this -- aggregate information across many sources and across time in order to know a lot about a user and to target ads that are especially appropriate. Currently, you need to be a big player in order to be able to do this; a little guy simply cannot track users at dozens of different locations. Facebook and Google are big enough that many users spend a lot of time interacting through their gardens, so they get a ton of data. Doubleclick (now, of course, owned by Google) and maybe a few other huge advertisers can plant and track many cookies because they control many ads throughout the web. But if you're not them, it's hard to compete at that aggregation activity. The best hope seems to be a market where data about users can be freely bought and sold. Then, two little firms can benefit from the following trade: "I'll tell you what I know about John if you tell me what you know about him." More sophisticated contracts can result in more interesting and elaborate trades along these lines (involving many firms and many users.) Of course, firms might not be willing to do this if they are competing directly. There doesn't seem to be anything fundamental stopping someone from starting such a market. This firm appears to be trying something like that: http://www.kruxdigital.com/ . Broadly, the less two firms are competing to split up the same market, the more potential gains from trade there are in sharing data. Since Daily Deals type companies are doing something quite different from what a lot of other advertisers seek (sell products by mail or build a brand), there seems to be a lot of potential for symbiosis. If I were in this space, I would  look for how I can use markets like the one Krux is building to put together data from diverse firms and exploit it to target ads much more efficiently than isolated marketers can do otherwise. Hope those scattered thoughts are of some value. Would be glad to discuss further in the comments. == [1] Thanks for the question and for the kind words. My academic study has focused on questions related to marketing only at a very abstract level. To take some examples, I work on models of (i) how information spreads in a network; (ii) how people optimally allocate effort to forming social connections; and (iii) how people in social networks engaged in a complex cooperative activity can sustain high levels of cooperation in a way where no subgroup is tempted to split off and do its own thing. These models are based on standard economic concepts (that agents seek to maximize utility and optimally incorporate information) but applied to the details of social networks, which economists have not much studied before the mid-nineties. This research is not directly relevant or applicable to social network marketing, so, unfortunately, I don't have specialized academic insight into the question.

Ben Golub at Quora Visit the source

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I think that synthesis of social marketing and consumer data from web experiences soon becomes not just a nice-to-have capability, but the core competitive basis for all of marketing and sales. In five years, leading business schools won't be teaching just the 4 P's of marketing (price, promotion, place, product). They'll be teaching a fifth P, for people. There won't be social marketing; it'll just be marketing. From a technology perspective the shift spawns lots of interesting puzzles and new technologies, generally focused on taking scraps of data from multiple sources, channels, and devices and making sense of it so that businesses can  sell more stuff and give consumers more of what they want. This idea has more reach than a unified online identify. It's about cross-platform, cross-session identify and preference management. As Ben points out, there will be new market mechanisms -- facilitated, regulation-proof models, we hope -- that solve the aggregation and connectivity questions. Ben is right that the potential for more efficient, more effective advertising is huge, but the shift affects commerce, content, collaboration, inventing, healing, etc. Social data is huge, which is why the fifth P of marketing needs to be people. There are lots of sources of data beyond social networks, though there's no question that Facebook is exerting huge gravitational pull (the way a black hole exerts gravitational pull ;) when it comes to the capture, consolidation, and potential application of people data. If Facebook can continue to keep its platform open and put it to use in helping people buy more than just virtual cows, there are big opportunities for companies like mine and many others to help businesses deliver facilitated, more intelligent experiences for their customers. As I tap this out, it occurs to me that Quora has lots of interesting opportunities to create higher-value, platform-like connections for businesses, too. I don't know many conventional enterprises who are approaching this the right way or doing an awful lot in this realm. The tip of the spear, plainly, are digital media publishers who depend on targeted, relevant advertising to butter their bread and have turned it into core competence. Outside of that, as Marc observes in his question, the early paces for most companies have been mostly about quick kills and low-order marketing -- damage control in the blogosphere, liking your brand on Facebook, etc. Finally, to respond to the last part of the question, here are some quick prescriptions for marketers. First, it's your data. Take steps to protect and manage it. Understand who's pumping your website for data about your customers (yes, this is happening), and take steps to monitor and block it where necessary. Second, don't just let any intermediary put their tag on your page; understand what they're doing with your data and what you could start to do with it on your own. Third, start charting out a data strategy (http://www.kruxdigital.com/broadcasts/toms_blog/organizing_distinctions_to_help_with_data_strategy/).

Tom Chavez

FullContact has tackled this problem head on by aggregating and analyzing billions of public contact records from across the web. We currently have ~250 million contacts indexed, with a ~60% fill rate on email address queries. We can provide basic demographic data, profile images, social profile urls, and influence topics/scores, in a single API response. You can currently query by email address, Twitter handle, Facebook username, or phone number. For certain records, we offer enhanced B2B contact information as well (ie. physical address and business phone number). Sign up for a free API key at http://www.fullcontact.com, check it out, and let us know what you think!

Robert Jack

This isn't an answer as much as just a comment. But I'd argue that "quick kill" marketers aren't really marketers at all. At least not in the sense of what a marketer should be in 2011. That said, clients like stats. It doesn't matter how useless and how meaningless. Numbers are like sex - it sells. When the brand manager can say to be the VP "Likes are up 50%" and everyone smiles and pats themselves on the back. Well, sometimes it's hard not to deliver the quick kill, eh? btw, this is one of the better (read: non-fluffy) questions I've seen on Quora as of late. Kudos to you for asking it.

Mark Simchock

May I reccommed the company I work for, tracx. tracx is the only SMMS that addresses this issue directly. By unifying all the social media accounts belonging to a single user, tracx is able to analyze the behaviors and activity levels of the person behind the accounts. The tracx solution provides in-depth analysis of influence that relies on much more than just the number of friends and followers. - Identity Unification: All network accounts are gathered in a single profile - Behavioral Patterns: The tracx platform provides an analysis of interests, reactions, networks usage, activity times and more- Impact Analysis (Per week and per post): Displays the levels of engagement per person - Campaign Engagement: Shows the level of contribution and performance per campaign. This measurement is the base of determining ROI of paid influencers - Social Sphere: Provides information about who is in the user’s active social circles, enabling you to understand what is the real reach and influence - Recent Posts: Provides a complete list of all relevant posts from across all the social networks. - Popular Posts: Provides a complete list of the posts with the most interactions and impact - Personal Information: Based on publicly available information sourced from the social networks Would be happy to give a private tour of the platform. I look forward to connecting.

Mandy Newgrosh

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