The hunt for data is on. In order to position themselves adequately in the Digital Revolution, companies think, eat and drink Big Data. But what about Small Data? Does the smaller brother have no use anymore?
Do gigabytes of information have irremediably relegated a smaller, immediately usable and scalable intelligence to obsolescence? Understanding data and how it influences business strategy is a straight-up necessity in today’s world, and chances are the modus operandi related to gathering, analyzing and exploiting data is quite blurry. Big data is a common topic of discussion but when was the last time you thought about big data’s little sibling, small data?
What is small data? And how does it compare to big data?
Small data is everywhere. Social media alone offers an array of small data about buyer decisions and the customer lifecycle. In fact, anyone with a computer or smartphone creates small data every time they log into Facebook and click an ad or search for a product.
Small data is data small enough (in terms of volume, format & velocity) for human comprehension.
“Big” does not always mean “better.” Depending on your organization’s type and goals, big data could mean massive social media statistics, machine data, or customer transactions collected daily. On the surface it is intricate, complex, and difficult to manage. Because of
this, big data can be understood as “raw” data. It is information your business can use, but it requires some polishing first and the amount of information itself makes it difficult.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use big data; it simply means you’ll need to organize it properly before you can turn it into something more valuable.
If big data is complex, does that make small data easier to tackle? In a way, the answer is “yes.” On the other hand, small data requires the right tools and a data-savvy mindset to make it work for you. It is, in some cases, a little bit easier to get your hands on and whole lot easier to translate into actionable insights.
The benefits of using small data
Small data immediately translates into business intelligence. The bridge between small data and “how can we use this to reach more customers” is short. By nature, small data is easier for humans to comprehend. It is actionable. This means you can use small data to benefit your business almost immediately.
More businesses are using small data. More than ever, companies are beginning to understand the value of data-driven marketing decisions. By using small data, you can stay ahead of the curve in your marketing and business intelligence strategies. Big data is still important, but combining big and small data is the first step to reaching customers in a meaningful way.
Consumers are on board, too. Whether they realize it or not, your customers also value small data. Whether they want the lowest price on plane tickets home for Christmas or enjoy the ease of a personalized shopping experience from their favorite store, the people your organization wants to reach are already actively engaged in marketing initiatives that use small data.
Small data focuses on the end-user. It’s no secret that focusing on this area is one of the best ways to understand what they want and need from your business. Small data is closer to the end user and focuses on an individual’s experience with your company. Thus, small data can help you achieve an “end users come first” approach.
Small data is simple data. When you turn big data into small data, you make it easier for stakeholders and decision makers to understand. Big data often requires expert interpretation, but anyone can understand small data. This means small data can help your company reach its audience by helping stakeholders understand how to turn that data into a real strategy.
After downsizing, what do you do?
Small data serves as the foundation necessary to implement big data efforts into business plans, so a core understanding of small data is key before moving onto using big data.
This information allows communicators to gain a more targeted, detailed view of their business and how its customers interact with it. Smaller data sets are more accessible to the average person, who may not have experience in analyzing larger data sets.
Your business already collects tons of small data sets. Tools your communication team uses, such as Google Analytics, CRM platform, and media monitoring tool, aggregate this information and allow for easy review.
If, for example, you want to produce customer profiles to identify key audiences for your market, you could export your CRM database. Depending on the size of your business and its database, you could choose to export all customers or a sample size.
Review the profiles of your current customers and prospects to understand key pieces of information about them. Analyzing and gathering information identifies trends that emerge from your existing customers and provides insight on key demographics you should be targeting with your communications campaigns.
Although confusing at the outset, data, like any other communications measurement tactic, provides deeper insight about business and communications decisions, allowing for better, data-driven decision-making.