Big Data on steroids: Interesting Facebook Social Graph insights for Nigeria

So a good friend of mine Seyi Taylor (@seyitaylor) and his team at Bloovue have already done a deep dive into the juicy world of Facebook social graph. Below is the first infographic they put together. They plan to share more at the Social Media Week in February 2013.

 

In my first blogpost this year (see it here http://freshmarketingbuzz.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-2013-hiring-question-to-ask.html) I said one of the hiring questions for selecting marketing professionals this year must be an awareness/understanding of Big Data. Where can we gain insights on customer preference and proclivities to aide engagement plans? Well the guys from Facebook seem to have made our jobs easier…the new year gift of Social graph should play a role in bringing these insights to life.

We however need smart guys like the Bloovue folks to take that data and tell us a story. You see, having tons of data is one thing, stringing it together in a way that aids decision making is a task that separates mediocre professionals and ace professionals.

I would like to know what mobile phone features people aged 16-25 years in Nigeria find most critical in making a purchase decision? Do Nigerian married women feel a need to share the love for a particular brand of automobile on Facebook?  I do hope when Social Graph moves from “Beta” phase to “available to all ” phase these will just be the tip of the iceberg of insights we can derive from it.

I see a new revenue stream for consultants emerging: Proactively doing a deep dive on a target client's target market on Facebook via Social Graph and sell them the insights, benchmark their performance with close competitors, discover potential brands you can engage in joint brand campaigns etc

One funny stat though….we have 6 million plus Nigerians on Facebook and 5 million plus Nigerians  on the fast growing social network Eskimi.com. Who are the missing 1million?  Is this a generational migration from Facebook to Eskimi by young people freaked out by their mothers and far flung grand uncles joining Facebook? Is a generation loosening their ongoing use of Facebook?

Let the insight miners get to work  :-) 

The 2013 hiring question to ask a marketing professional

Professionals in the marketing function across major industries are faced with a challenge in 2013. How do we ensure our pride of place in the C-Suite ?

Speak to the average CFO or CCO and many of them would tell you they believe the company's marketing spend is too large for the corresponding ROI. This debate rages even in Nigeria where we see brand managers and marketing managers squeezing tight budgets to deliver on commercial targets. Fundamentally the role of marketing remains the engagement of profitable interactions and conversations with the spending public.

These engagements are no longer limited to marketing communications (advertising, PR, Events etc) but have in recent times branched into the production/sponsorship of TV reality shows, on ground canvassing and slowly but surely an embrace of digital marketing.

Needless to say, its a new day. The times require large corporates to think like nimble bootstrapping entrepreneurs. The exclusive "one to many" tools we had come to own are losing their strength to influence behavior change.

The tools of "many to many" engagement are now readily available to the small guy and to the big guys with large marketing budgets. The difference in results will arise from those with superior knowledge and deeper experience in their deployment

Those who will succeed in 2013 marketing activities will be those thinking digitally and those who develop deep understanding of their target consumer base. How well we understand the needs and current behavior of the Nigerian consumer will tell on our success.

In an increasingly data rich environment (yes, i believe Nigeria is quite data rich, you only need to know where to look) its up to your company to leverage knowledge to speak and win the war in the market place between competing products & services

What role will Big Data play in marketing differentiation in 2013? Plenty.

If you're thinking of hiring a brand or marketing manager in 2013, that should be the first question you ask in an interview

Have a great year.