Big Data or Big Brother?

• Reddoordesigner

Anyone who has read The Circle by Dave Eggers (if you haven’t, you should really give it a go) will fully understand the dangerous implications of a world where nothing is private. Every thought, action, feeling is monitored, recorded, cross-referenced and used to dictate every minute of every day. Social media taken to its ultimate, desperate conclusion – humans no longer think for themselves, loss of free will and unable to function without affirmation from millions of unknown people. What makes this novel so terrifyingly brilliant is that although extreme, it is just ‘real’ enough to be remotely possible.

“We all have a right to know everything. We all collectively own the accumulated knowledge of the world. If I deprive anyone or everyone of something I know, aren’t I stealing from my fellow humans? Privacy is theft. Secrets are lies.”  The Circle

Now, we’re not suggesting that we’re all heading towards this bleak, isolated world but we are questioning how today’s relentless use of Big Data can actually do more damage to marketing activity than good. Analytics has always been essential to marketing – understanding the demographics, sentiment and trends of your audience lies at the heart of every successful business.  Segmenting an audience to distribute targeted, relevant messages is crucial – but it is possible to over-segment your audience, responding not necessarily to important shifts in attitude but reacting (or indeed, overreacting) to the usual ebb and flow of customer behaviour. That well-worn idiom ‘knowledge is power’ should now come with a caveat – ‘but too much knowledge is pointless.’

Too much information

This excellent article from the Harvard Business Review rings so true. Social media was supposed to usher in a whole new era of marketing. We could choose to ‘engage’ with a particular brand or service that suited our schedule – no more disruptive advertising. But the irony is that today, advertising is more disruptive than it has ever been. This particular blogger really does not ‘like’ the fact that with a big birthday coming ever closer, my Facebook page is flooded with marketing messages from funeral directors and will planners – I mean, seriously?

Every search, purchase made or article read is recorded and reflected back in a slew of advertising or ‘you might also like’ recommendations. It feels like the autonomy of making your own decisions and taking your own individual action without prompting is being eroded. ‘Know your audience’ remains as powerful a marketing principle today as it was 30 years ago – but your audience is allowed to retain their right to deviate from your expectations and understanding of them. This is not a trend or an insight, it is human behaviour.

Insight, not information

Big Data provides marketers with unparalleled, detailed and personal information that gives you a glimpse of your customers’ lives and thoughts at any given moment. But what you do with that data and how you use it to promote your products and services is crucial. If, for example you have just bought a new car/TV/watch/pension/cuddly toy, what are the chances that you are in the market to buy another one? Saturating personal social media pages with ‘individual’ advertising is not targeted marketing, it is mindless marketing generated by one click on a keyboard. Fatemeh Khatibloo, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research says:

“Big Data isn’t about exabytes or petabytes. It’s not about velocity, Hadoop or any other single thing. Big Data is a journey that every company must take to close the gap between the data that’s available to them, and the business insights they’re deriving from that data.”

And there it is. Only by bridging the gap between raw information and real insight can Big Data fulfil its marketing potential. Technology managers, business leaders and marketers must work together with a clear understanding of a company’s vision, goals and strategies to engage with an audience in the future. This collaborative approach is the key to ensuring Big Data is correctly interpreted and integrated into marketing activity. So, before you embark on your Big Data journey, ask yourself one big question – what do I want to achieve with this information?