You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that companies are producing and consuming more data about their businesses, industries and customers than ever before.

In 2010 the world broke the one zettabyte (that’s 1 trillion gigabytes) of data barrier in the digital universe, and by 2020 IDC predicts we will have created an incredible 35 zettabytes! We have now reached a point in technology where we are able to collect information about some very, very granular aspects of our lives, meaning that the volume of data has exploded beyond what we could have imagined a few years ago.

But knowing how and when to use this data can be a challenge. For advertisers, it can also be difficult to make sense of which data is actually relevant to their campaigns; not just the data they own, but data from external sources also needs to be considered and managed.

But there are huge advantages to be gained from knowing how consumers are behaving as they browse the web; how they work, the things they buy, and what their likes or interests are. This insight means that advertisers can reach consumers at the right point in the purchasing cycle and in the right context.

Speed is of the essence

The problem with big data in the advertising context is that you need to be able to get the insight quickly - in real-time in fact. If we wait for number crunchers to come back days or even weeks later with an insight on whether an advertising campaign worked or didn’t work, it’s too late then to make any changes. In today’s fast moving world, this window of opportunity only exists for a short period of time. Any delay for that behavioural data to be analysed and actioned renders it useless. Speed is of the essence.

For example, if I search for a hotel in Barcelona in two weeks’ time, serving me up car hire or flight offers at the same time is helpful. In a few weeks’ time, after my booking date, targeting me with further offers for flights to Barcelona, when I have most likely been and returned, is useless, and perhaps even a bit annoying.

With advertisers buying through an ad exchange, with all the right data management capabilities in place, we’re seeing a change in the way an audience is identified. Advertisers are able to use data from a range of sources to build rich audience segments, and then go back to publishers with detailed audience profiles – and customising messaging and creative accordingly.

Real-time Social Data

At the same time we are sharing so much information about ourselves online through our social networks – where we are, what we’re doing and how we’re feeling. You can only imagine the volume of data there, and the two biggest social media networks in the UK – Facebook and Twitter – are realising its potential for advertisers.

In April this year Twitter introduced keyword targeting in timelines, so advertisers can reach users based on what they are talking about right now.

Similarly, there are now tools to enable real-time bidding on Facebook, meaning better targeted ads can reach more than 1 billion people globally. All con­ver­sions can be tracked, with the technology available to also find out micro-conversion met­rics such as time spent on pages, cart aban­don­ment and much more at the indi­vid­ual click level for all ads, helping build a better picture for advertisers to target their ads.

With Facebook talking about a "want" button to further monetise and establish itself as an e-commerce platform, it is clear that the social network is attempting to get brands’ buy-in and trust around the concept of socially driven commerce. All they need now is the tools to cultivate this data and ensure the right ads are going to the right people in real-time and the ability to measure and optimise this process.

Actioning Big Data

With data, insight and action advertisers can certainly maximise the advantages of big data – but to achieve this you need to have the right technology framework in place.

In the past, delays in getting access to data have been down to the challenge of bringing it together from previously siloed areas of a business to create a single customer view. Advertisers then had to wait a considerable period of time to get the insight before they could even begin to react and create a campaign.

Today, the technology exists to bring all this data together into one place to be analysed and acted upon. Having spoken about the importance of speed, it can be done in real-time so the insight gained can be actioned in real-time too, and by virtually anyone in the business – without specialist analytical skills. And with our recent research finding that digital advertising is still not resonating with UK consumers, it’s vital that advertisers use all the insight they have access to so that they can make online ads as appealing as possible.

If used to adapt and evolve in-line with the needs of the customer, big data in action is a powerful tool and will transform advertising in the digital age.

 

By Jonathan Beeston, Director of New Product Innovation, EMEA at Adobe.

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