Coffee Talk: The Truth Behind the (Social Media) Mask

We’ve long known that social media is a deep data mine. It’s a space where (digitally speaking) communities gather, where people give of their personal information, and where companies can deepen their relationships with consumers through relevant content. That Facebook, our once favorite cat video- and baby photo-filled distraction from work, has become the central focus of election tampering signals a significant shift in our perception of social media as purely “social.” It is, in fact, a very powerful tool. Our CEO Michael Caccavale and I recently discussed this in more depth.

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Energy Series: Are Consumer Expectations Changing Faster than Your Marketing Plan?

Consumers are adopting disruptive technology at an accelerating rate and this is changing their behavior. Energy companies, historically slow in responding to changes in consumer behavior, reluctant to invest in consumer analytics systems, and unprepared to take advantage of their own customer data, are at a disadvantage. Energy companies must review their marketing strategies and develop their digital assets in anticipation of a changing competitive landscape and evolving customer expectations.

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When Consumption is Crowdsourced

Referrals have been around for ages. Whether it was where your neighbors bought their first television or where your best friend got his hair cut, we’ve always relied on peer feedback when considering purchases. Enter, digital and now we have access to online reviews for everything from nannies to neckties. And we trust it, right?

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Social Media: A Deep Data Mine

At this point, it’s no secret that marketers love and loathe data. Similarly, it’s no secret that people shamelessly share data (even – or perhaps especially – when they don’t even know it) on social media. When it comes to the social media data warehouse, even the “guess where I’m eating” food photos you posted Friday night are fair game.

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Facebook Digs Deeper into Privacy Concerns

According to a post in the September 23rd issue of the Financial Times, Facebook is partnering with a “controversial” data company called Datalogix that can “track whether people who see ads on the social networking site end up buying those products in stores.” Of course, this announcement has raised concerns with privacy advocates who have continually been concerned about marrying online profiles and presence with offline data since the purchase of Abacus (a Datalogix competitor) by Doubleclick (an online ad-serving company later bought by Google) in the late 90s.

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Sign of Apocalypse: Merchants Pay Good Money to Give Away Their Customer Loyalty

We all know over the last several years, a growing need for cutting corners – and coupons – has paved the way for sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and others to offer attractive discounts to consumers and – as their salespeople pitch it – equally attractive perks to participating businesses. It’s changed consumer behaviors, disrupted business models on the local level and it’s made a few people very wealthy.

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Loyalty is Not a Game, or Is It?

With all the new entrants and a different playing field, loyalty marketers are not ruing as they did in the good old days when they had the consumer gaming dynamic all to themselves. Quite the contrary -- there is palpable excitement surrounding what the growing shift in consumer behavior means for their programs. Armed with a seemingly endless choice of game mechanics, technology platforms and social networks to enable new programs and a new set of consumer experiences, the loyalty sector is now more relevant than ever.

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About this blog

At Pluris, we believe that we all can do a better, more efficient job at marketing to our most important customers. On this blog, we'll discuss how strategy, database management, offer optimization and analytics can help us all be better marketers. Sometimes, we may just talk about sports.

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