When Petrabytes seem like kilobytes - what comes next? | SMLXL - Business and Communication Innovation from Alan Moore

When Petrabytes seem like kilobytes – what comes next?

April 7th, 2008

Affirmation is a great and positive word and I have been feeling some affirmation recently and here is another small slice

The concept of Web 2.0 is a dynamic, user-driven mesh of technologies

Absolutely, and Carlota Perez in her book Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital states that when separate technologies become interlocking they have a profound impact on the direction of economics, culture and wider society.

So the question was well – what comes next? Ubiquitous social computing and digital footprints means that we get a huge spike in data and so we become completely data-driven. The web (the 6th Mass Media) converges and becomes one with mobile (the 7th Mass Media )

Data will be the key . There will be independence from platforms, devices and the internet. Users might be able to collaboratively design websites and applications. The barriers between applications will begin to break down as portability between applications increases.

But it is more than just data – its what one does with that data, how one processes it – how one refines it and then deploys that intelligence. – This is called Social Marketing Intelligence.

In 6 feet of junk mail or a 29% response rate? Blyk shows the way We demonstrated the potential of refined data

Average response rate 29%

Average SMS response rate 41%

Average MMS response rate 22%

Really engaging communications consistently receive responses over 50%

So – firstly we see a disproportionate success rate when campaigns are Engaging but also an incredible mean average of 29%. Nick Fuller, Chair, DMA Mobile – 2nd November 2007 declared that

Response rates for cold [Mobile] campaigns are in the 3- 6% range while campaigns using client’s own customer data fare much better with response rates ranging between 1.3% and 20%

Recently we have seen churn rates at a large Telecommunications company reduced by 20% by using Social Links a subset and the DNA of Social Marketing Intelligence – Now that's a big number. Further with unique intelligence I think one can transform communications – Any communications – so that it becomes:

1). Timely

2). Relevant

3). Contextual

Also, what many do not understand is that data when coupled to social networks analytics becomes transformational in what is communicated to whom and when – yes there are many data analytics companies out there, yet few I think have the ability to capture data that comes from many multiple sources, including the richest raw material of all – mobile data – and at volumes which make petrabytes look like kilobytes. Also however, data flows are dynamic like tidal waters – ebbing and flowing. Dynamic social data processing enables organisations to be responsive, fleet of foot. Traditional Media cannot deliver a captive audience anymore – so what can? And what type of audience is one delivering. I have argued we will move froma world of CPM's – Cost per Thousands to CPRA – Cost per Relevant Audience

In the advertising world, multiple shifts are piling on top of each other and it is often hard to keep track of them, much less understand their implications. says John Hagel Let’s look at just some that are re-shaping the advertising world:

1). Shifts from advertising placed in digital content to ads placed in social networks and applications
2). Shifts from digital advertisements delivered through conventional PC’s to a growing array of mobile devices, with an increasing ability to target messages based on the physical location of the person
3). Shifts in the behavior of digital users in their responsiveness to advertisements online
4). Shifts in the way that companies connect with and build relationships with stakeholders (e.g., blurring boundaries between customers, partners and suppliers)
5). Shifts in the revenue models for businesses, as online businesses in particular become more and more dependent on advertising as a key revenue source (e.g., is there any Web 2.0 start-up that doesn’t blithely answer "advertising" when asked about their revenue model?).

Hagel goes onto say

The basic paradox of the Internet can be framed very simply: The very platform that makes advertising both more relevant and more measurable is the same platform that longer-term will challenge and ultimately undermine the basic role of advertising in communicating with customer. Exactamondo though he doesn't mention mobile – which is a bit of an oversight.

This a map of a hierarchical social network. A beautiful image in its own right, yet it has something far more valuable to offer – Insight into how that network operates and how individuals inter-relate with each other. Understanding the social and communication dynamics of such networks will transform marketing/advertising and any other form of communications one cares to think of. And indeed what we find is that social data intelligence can become self-learning and predictive.

Social Intelligence is how we will Mind the gap as the circumnavigate the world from Analogue to Digital

Forrester in their report the Connected Agency believe that data will play an increasingly important role in marketing and branding and will in fact shape those organisations in the future.

Offer access and intelligence to brands and media An agency will know which brands and content can enter and access community data. The agency will facilitate the interaction with the brand, and consumers will welcome agency involvement as the key to their independence. Brands like The Body Shop and Toyota will want to connect — and pay — for community entry, much as they would pay for media today. Similarly, agencies will broker content-sharing deals with media firms like Viacom to add targeted entertainment and information.

And

Planning, strategy, and research become continuous Insights and consumer intelligence will constantly ?ow from the community — as from a 24×7 focus group. Agency sta? will be hungry for real-time results to see how a conversation is spreading and to drive future decisions. So agencies like OgilvyOne will adopt sophisticated enterprise marketing platforms (EMPs) and sta? up with data analysts to manage this knowledge and sell it at a premium to advertisers.

They go onto say that these organisations will become community focused – communities are formed around meaningful social connections. Manuel Castells says that we must emphasise the role of technology in the process of human transformation, particularly when considering the central technology of our time, communication technology, which relates to the heart of the specificity of the human species: conscious, meaningful communication. Clay Shirky's book Here Comes Everybody and the wealth of other research and book titles are all affirmations of Communities Dominate Brands published in 2005.

Price Waterhouse Coopers in How Consumer Conversation Transform Business outline the following points again affirmation from our previous research

The speed and scale of consumer conversations can redirect entire markets

1). Monologue is a thing of the past

2). Conversation is the new source of consumer intelligence

3). We have to know how to analyse consumer conversation

4). The Market is ready (companies in all industries are actively seeking new tools and capabilities)

5). We need to develop the art of translating conversation into action

6). The new currency in advertising is the voice of the consumer

7). Companies can use consumer conversation to innovate

Indeed and as Labour MP Tom Watson wrote

The 19th century co-operative movements had their roots in people pooling resources to make, buy or distribute physical goods. Modern online communities are the new co-operatives.

Its a far cry from the straight lines of our industrial era and this is the result The world of set piece competition is over. In a hyper competitive landscape where reach is no longer defined by time or geography and as our economic and political landscape also evolves – companies will be required to ensure that they are prepared for the landscape that confronts them. Data and the ability to refine that data into unique intelligence will become a central component in competing for the future.