Now that we all know what Big Data is, how can we use some of that data which is being generated by GAFA. Who is #GAFA you ask….? It’s 4 of the major Big Data players: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
While all of these firms have created corporate fortunes through accumulating Big Data, we too can benefit from the information they generate. I thought I’d share with you some of the possibilities created by Facebook’s data stream.
Facebook, Big Data & Advertising
As any Facebook user would know they now have an advertising platform which is pervasive in every feed. What many people might not realise is that this is open to anyone who cares to use it. From the solo entrepreneur, to the multinational conglomerate anyone can log in and advertise to Facebook users. It’s largely how Facebook has become a company worth $271 billion (at the time of writing). Now that they have such a large amount of data (with over 1 billion users), and very granular behavioural information they probably have the best, and most cost effective advertising platform on the planet. Yes, you heard that right – it is the best advertising platform in the world – by orders of magnitude.
How cost effective is it? Extremely. The price of reaching 1000 people through the FB advertising platform averages around 37 cents. The cost of reaching the same amount of people through traditional TV advertising is around $37. That is a 100 fold cost benefit for advertisers using the FB platform instead of TV. Holy wow, it is not very often that an alternative is 100 times cheaper than the previous method. Yep, it is 1% of the cost to reach the same number of people via TV advertising. This means two things:
- The price of advertising on Facebook will creep up, and
- The cost of TV advertising will fall.
They will inevitably meet in the middle somewhere as the lines between the small screen and big screen blur. In fact Facebook is very close to matching the number of video views that Youtube boasts. Put simply, both of these channels are also TV.
The reason many marketers have missed this Big Data opportunity, is that Facebook made a promise that they didn’t keep.
Basically they said:
“Build an audience with us and you’ll be able to organically reach your fans on our platform for free.”
So every marketer in the world went out and did that. They invested millions in generating fans and likes on Facebook hoping to have direct access to their target market. Only problem is that Facebook then pulled a bate and switch and changed the rules. These days organic reach of a post is less than 10% of brand followers. It’s fair to assume this will trend to zero. Here’s a marketing lesson for the ages:
“When you grow vegetables in someone else’s garden, they can change the rules without notice, and even pull up your roots.”
While marketers the world over are crying foul, they are missing the bigger opportunity FB is still the best value equation in the world when it comes to advertising to an audience. And this is before we have even considered the implications of Big Data in Facebook advertising. Big Data which creates a level of advertising targeting which has not been seen before in marketing history. Let me break it down for you.
Targeting an audience on Facebook
To show you just how specific an audience you can generate, here’s an example of extreme Big Data in action for anyone who wants to leverage their ‘no longer free, but crazy cheap platform’.
I recently posted about a social surfing app I am building. I just did a mock audience generator on Facebook advertising to find new users. I generated the following target:
– Men,
– Who live in Sydney
– Over the age of 18,
– Who surfed in the past week,
– Who are also expats,
– Who are also early adopters of technology.
A super targeted campaign to exactly the people I need, for a new app that helps surfers meet each other and catch waves together. It turns out there is a potential reach of 120,000 people. Of which reaching 1000 of them will cost me $1.50. It’s more expensive than the 37 cents because of the early adopter and expat element, a very sought after audience with lots of money. A more generic wide audience would come at a much lower cost per 1000 people. But reaching such a targeted audience has never been possible before, and it is all due to Facebook’s amazing amount of Big Data. Data they make available for us to leverage. And at this stage, their price point is incredibly cheap. It’s a compelling business case indeed.
So what does this mean for you? It means it is time to get your hands dirty and experiment with the possibilities.
ACTION REQUIRED
- Go onto Facebook and sign up for their advertising platform
- See the different types actions you can advertise towards: Download an app, watch a video, sign up to a newsletter, attend an event, go to a webpage, buy a product
- Create a targeted audience
- Use their platform to make the actual advertisements (Free amazing stock photography & copy writing assistance)
- Create a split test for these 2 new ads and use whichever one is getting better results after a live in market test.
- Place a small order to advertise. (a few dollars will do)
- Flearn (Fail and Learn)
Do these things above and you will be in the top 1% of people using Big Data to their advantage in business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a startup trying to get app downloads, or a Multinational selling makeup to tweens. This is Big Data serving you and you’ll be blown away by the possibilities.