{"id":591,"date":"2013-02-15T11:17:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T11:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=591"},"modified":"2013-02-15T11:17:44","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T11:17:44","slug":"how-to-get-your-small-business-on-the-road-to-big-data-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/how-to-get-your-small-business-on-the-road-to-big-data-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get your small business on the road to big data analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"
If you think you don\u2019t know much about your small business customers, consider this. \u201cEvery time we perform a search, tweet, send an email, post a blog, comment on one, use a cell phone, shop online, update our profile on a social networking site<\/a>, use a credit card, or even go to the gym, we leave behind a mountain of data, a digital footprint, that provides a treasure trove of information about our lifestyles, financial activities, health habits, social interactions, and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s Frank Moss, entrepreneur and former director of MIT Media Labs commenting<\/a> on the explosion of structured and unstructured data about people \u2013 with no end in sight to its growth \u2013 that companies are mining to make business decisions. Big data is helping companies decide what products to bring to market and when, how to market them and at what price in order to increase revenue and competitiveness. Big data also can help you identify your most profitable customers, boost cross selling and improve customer satisfaction and retention.<\/p>\n Get started with big data <\/strong><\/p>\n Before you invest in tools to help you retrieve and interpret data,\u00a0 there are free tools and resources you may already have to get your small business started on the road to big data. \u00a0Here are several:<\/p>\n Social Media<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have a page on Facebook – and as a small business you should \u2013 you have access to Facebook Insights<\/a>.\u00a0 It tells you about your followers and how much they like your content by virtue of liking it, answering a question, and sharing and recommending it. You also can find out who has unsubscribed from you page. Use Facebook Insights to improve you Facebook page with content that expands your follower base. Apply that knowledge to your marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n You also can mine Twitter for trends and to find out how your brand is perceived, how often your small business is mentioned and its exposure, that is, how many people are seeing the mentions. You can track the data over a set period – a few hours (something you might want to do after an announcement), a week, a month or longer. The data also can tell you what messages are resonating with your customers and prospects and what content gets the most response.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/b>Web Analytics<\/strong><\/p>\n