How To Use Big Data To Create Valuable Content?

How To Use Big Data To Create Valuable Content?

Big Data is a buzzword that has infiltrated in almost every industry that has a digital dimension. Although it seems like a paradox, content creation for marketing and awareness purposes should be driven by data, not intuition. Of course, experience and knowing your niche and target consumer help. Yet, nowadays markets are so dynamic that sometimes it is hard to keep up with trends and preferences. That is where numbers can make a difference.

Google Analytics is Your Friend

A free source of Big Data available to anyone who has a website is the insights offered by Google Analytics (assuming you already have it installed). By glancing at the top reports or drilling down in the content, you can start creating a detailed profile of your client.

Find out where they live, so that you can tailor your content to offer locally relevant tips. Their age and gender could act as the starting point for adapting your brand’s voice to match their expectations. You could even include in your content cultural references that might be relevant to people who are of a certain age.

The traffic from the organic search report shows you what their interests are. Look for the keywords they use to get to your page and create more content on those and related topics. This could help you establish yourself as a subject matter expert.

Social Media Listening

Another excellent source of free data to use as inspiration for your content creation efforts is the back-end of your social media pages. Some of these include information similar to that from the Google Analytics suite, like demographics and behaviors.

Use listening tools to analyze the way followers perceive your brand. Aim to get overview reports and also look at individual posts, both your own and from competitors. Identify those which generate engagement, mainly regarding positive reactions (likes, haha, wow, love) and the number of shares.

Try to create more content within those lines without becoming repetitive or a copycat if you emulate a competitor. Also, set your tools to follow and analyze top social media influencers to have a larger pool of data regarding preferences and trends.

For the next quarter try to generate your editorial calendar starting from data, and not hunches.