In many respects, most inbound marketers have been involved with big data long before it was called big data. What is big data? It’s a term that describes databases or datasets that grow so large that they become awkward or difficult to work with.
Digital marketing is based on tracking customer likes and dislikes. The continued growth of these analytics in digital marketing is a given and it’s driven by our hunger to track more data points about more products and even more potential customers. In fact, it’s doubtful there will ever be too much data for true inbound marketers because the ability to parse data efficiently and effectively is actually what separates the good from the great in this space.
Start from the beginning, when a new website is launched and when the Google Analytics code, or other analytic alternative, gets added to the site. Your next step is to set up your goals, funnels and tracking URLs within your log file tracking tools. Follow that with 8-10 social channels, all of which provide a steady stream of data that needs to be monitored. Add all the analytics of your email marketing campaigns to the top of this mix and you’re almost halfway there.
Now it’s time to track your reach on other’s sites. You’ll want to track your backlinks and your keyword rankings along with any kind of social mention. Don’t forget to include your paid search analytics, especially the information based on your keyword rankings, ad copy and split tests. Hopefully you’re using some sort of landing page optimization platform so you can monitor your variants and their response. In addition, whether you’re a B2B or B2C marketer, you should be using some sort of marketing automation software so you can monitor your lead generation and lead nurturing data.
If these various pieces of the digital marketing pie dissuade your interest in the topic, you’re probably not long for the new era of big data within digital marketing. However, if the thought of an unending stream of structured and unstructured data floats your boat, you may be in the right place.
The big data future is here for digital marketing and the opportunities are limitless. The victors in this game will undoubtedly be similar to previous eras. Figure out how to manage and extract valuable insights from this knowledge base, and you’ll be way out in front.