Another breakout session during the recent NAMA Fall Conference focused on “Big Data’s Effect on Marketing.” Discussion led to how data can influence messaging, new markets, media strategy and customer relationships.
Jay Harrison, Data Mining Innovations Director at Maritz, sat on the panel and later chatted with Chuck about how social and content-based data can guide strategies for marketers.
Chuck asked, “How do we deal with all the metrics we receive and what can we do with it once we’ve got it?” Jay advices to look at many different sources of information. Things said on Facebook may be different then on Twitter or mainstream news. He added to go beyond likes, retweets and shares. Look at what people are actually saying and try to measure the emotions expressed.
“One big takeaway is for people to realize the importance of reputation and social media to the agricultural industry. There may be a perception out there that social media is just for kids or it’s just for following celebrities, fashion and TV shows. But in fact, agriculture is one of the hot beds of communications and social media. People are very passionate about knowing things like where their food comes from and how sustainable it is. It is one of the most vibrant, controversial of the industries we track.”
“Another one we discussed today was what topics are being discussed most in social media. Farmers among themselves may discuss things like the weather, seed prices, conditions overseas that effect markets. But in social media we see something different. We see that the main topic of concern is food safety. We also noticed some new evolving issues that come up with legislative and regulatory oversight.”
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Jay here: Interview with Jay Harrison