Saturday, July 12, 2014

Numerati

The articles on marketing data all seem to be driving the same point, prediction. I think that big data is trying to predict within a standard deviation how to or when to display an ad and suddenly we will purchase.  I think that we are too complex but it is definitely interesting work.
I've been interested, and thinking a lot this week, about the idea of influence. If a marketing ad has influence (as we have learned lately from the Facebook studies and how FB can direct our moods) that is measurable, can we measure the influence friends recommendations have on each other. Do closer friends opinions influence our buying decisions more, or political votes, etc.?
I wonder what the smart watch, with its focus on health analytical will do for marketers. Could it measure peoples mood? And prompt them with an ad accordingly?

Anyway, I have learned a lot about data from the readings this week. The article about advertisers and clues from smartphones has me looking at marketing as more of a detective than a salesman. It's not about proving to people why something is better, but finding out what people prefer and getting that to them, so they can buy something they wanted already. Looking for the right clues (and respecting privacy) is important for this all to be effective.

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