Data Points for the Week of October 23rd: 5 Must-Read Articles in Marketing Analytics

The Genius of User Generated Content| How the Customer Funnel Became Defunct and the Model that Replaced It| Data and Rebranding- A Love Story

The week of October 23rd is National Marketing Week. Says who? Me. Let’s get started.

1. Ask the experts: Paid social media trends, challenges & strategy- When it comes to paid social media there is a lot to think about- from the implications of putting video ads online to the relevance of Instagram as a platform for “social shopping”. The good news is Econsultancy got a group of experts together to tell you what’s up. Take a look at their thoughts regarding burning topics in the field.
2. How to Grow Your Business by Doing Less Work with UGC- Content marketing has become so popular I wouldn’t be surprised if I found an article tomorrow claiming it can cure cancer. The hard truth is that it can’t but the slightly softer truth is that there are other forms of marketing that can be extremely impactful. User generated content (UGC) is one such kind that you don’t even have to create yourself. Take advantage of it.
3. Put Data Front and Center to Guide Your Rebranding- Making the decision to rebrand is not something to be taken lightly and should only be undertaken when the evidence says its the right way to go. The best kind of evidence is, of course, data. Using it as well as thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish, considering the competition, and asking hard questions will help you execute an effective rebrand.
4. The Smart (and Not-So-Smart) Ways to Use Vanity Metrics- Far too often we obsess over vanity metrics but in truth they tell us little about how business decisions lead to and affect ROI. With that being said, they’re not all bad and can be extremely useful in helping you optimize your actions. The key is learning which situations are the right ones to utilize them. This will teach you how how to tell.
5. Branding in the Digital Age: You’re Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places- The “customer funnel” has been a fundamental part of business theory and planning for a long time- too long if you ask McKinsey who advocates the new fangled “customer decision journey”. While the previous model was based on a progressive narrowing of options the new theory is more “iterative and less reductive” that is more reflective of how consumers currently behave. Make sure you’re making an effort where it counts.

Take your knowledge forth and educate the world (or improve your business, whatever you’re into).

This article was produced by Humanlytics. Looking for more content just like this? Check us out on Twitter and Medium, and join our Analytics for Humans Facebook community to discuss more ideas and topics like this!