The year was drawing to a close but not before NetFlix made streaming history.
The world’s biggest streaming service released a Black Mirror episode where viewers could make decisions on behalf of the characters. (I didn’t watch this. I’m afraid I couldn’t muster up the courage to watch Black Mirror after the prime minister and the pig.)
Not only was this a unique moment for interactive TV, but it turns out the entertainment giant was also collecting data.
And so it slipped into another sort-of dark moment for how corporations use our data.
We know it can all go horribly wrong.
But what about the good stuff?
As industries of all types turn to data, your business blog can benefit from the spread of information freely available online.
In this post, we’ll look at how you can use data in your business blog and the tools you can test to get started.
Big Data is Business Data
Seems we’re all obsessed with data right. And how can you not be?
New data is being created all the time. By us, and all around us.
Take a look at the following numbers curated by Raconteur:
- 500m tweets are sent every day
- 294 billion emails
- 95m photos and videos shared on Instagram
- 65billion messages sent over WhatsApp
- 5 billion searches every day.
In this Ted Talk, the inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, speaks about the interconnected way of the web and how the data could lead to progress in all sorts of spaces.
Let’s think about data for a bit. Data comes in fact in lots and lots of different forms. Think of the diversity of the web. It’s a really important thing that the web allows you to put all kinds of data up there. So it is with data. I could talk about all kinds of data. We could talk about government data, enterprise data is really important, there’s scientific data, there’s personal data, there’s weather data, there’s data about events, there’s data about talks, and there’s news and there’s all kinds of stuff. I’m just going to mention a few of them so that you get the idea of the diversity of it, so that you also see how much unlocked potential.
Tim Berners-Lee
Now in marketing, more and more professionals are turning to data to shape their strategies and it’s paying off. Two-thirds of leading marketers say decisions based on data are better than those that rely on instinct, according to a survey by Google and Econsultancy.
Increased access online gives organizations of all sizes access to helpful data you can use to build business blog posts and content strategies.
How to use Data
Here we’ll dig in to a few practical ways you can tap into data to tell better stories on your business blog.
Numbers Don’t Lie
In a blog post on Moz, Matt Gillespie, said marketers can benefit from the volume of data available now to tell more credible stories.
“Plotted points are more trustworthy than written words (especially by brands!) Great data content is both beautiful and easy-to-interpret. Every company has a (data) story to tell
By the time you’re done, you’ll have gleaned a better understanding of how data visualization, from simple charts to complex interactive graphics, can help them tell a story and achieve wide visibility for their clients.”
You may get your data based on findings from customers who have used your product, or it may be qualitative and drawn from customer feedback.
Point is when you make a bold claim, now you can back it up with stats and blog about it.
Have customers saved time or money because of your product? Find the transformation and quantify it.
Taking it one step further, you can use data you have access to help your customers and further establish yourself as an industry leader.
Take Kaspersky for instance. They’re an anti-virus company that shares a real-time threat map that’s directly tied to their business goals – get you to download/purchase their software.
Find out What Customers are Talking About
Part of the data story is unfolding during the constant exchanges online. Some of these discussions are taking place in the digital communities our customers are building.
You can use a tool like HootSuite to follow a specific industry tag. Be alerted or check what the data has to say.
But the tech can also be used to drive storytelling that is relevant and part of the conversations your customers are already having.
Adweek
Help Customers Interpret Data
So we spoke about the data and how much is generated. This is, it’s a lot. And while the data might tell a story, it’s need to be interpreted before it can be told.
You can help your customers understand what the trends and stats mean for them. This can be going through a new industry and reporting on the major trends your customers should be aware of and why.
Or, check with Google Scholar, are there any research reports your audience will value?
There’s also ways you can tell this story through visualization. Not only infographics, but charts, data and maps.
http://old.seattletimes.com/html/specialreportspages/2020216578_coffee-in-india-part-two.html – graph
LINK here to financial report with maps
Use Data to See what Content Works
Now data also works behind the scenes to make your business blog content more relevant. Check your site analytics. Which blog posts are performing well? What’s driving shares and other forms of engagement online?
The beauty of being online is that you can even split test things like headlines or CTAs and review your data and change as needed.
Data Tools
Now keeping those ideas in mind, here are some tools that will help you easily execute some of these concepts.
Ok, there’ll be a few Google ones on this list. The company records 3.5 billion searches. In short: they know a lot about data.
Google Trends a great platform to see what’s trending in search and can also help you predict which keywords will be big around a certain time of the year. This is a potential tactic to consider when plotting SEO and your annual business blog calendar. To learn more about Google Trends and how to use Google to generate content ideas, read my blog post.
TalkWalker is a social media monitoring tool that lets you listen on social media conversations about your industry and brand.
Use Google Alerts to stay updated with your industry and be one the first to act on any new research or trends. It’s like a free – less powerful – TalkWalker. If you’re on a small budet, it does the job of keeping you updated.
Facebook has come under fire for its mishandling of our data. And when you really
Google data set is a handy way of gathering publicly available data. You select a term and it will show you the results from a range of sources. The dataset is rich and updated.
For example, if you’re a mobile marketing company, you may want to plot the growth of a mobile revolution into a graphic that goes along with your blog post. This can help you customers plan their marketing efforts and postitions you as a helpful authority in your industyr .
Drive Better Business Blog Posts with Data
Like with any new approach, start simple. Analyse a new industry report, check out Google Trends. There’s several ways to use data to tell meaningful stories that can move your customers forward.
