Last year, around this date, I contributed to Klaas Knook’s Four Web Analytics gurus on key trends in 2011 at Search Engine Land. I caught myself referring back to this article in a recent conversation and thought it might be worth revisiting it. It also struck me how privileged I was of sharing my thoughts alongside the likes of Avinash Kaushik, Jim Sterne and Dennis Mortensen, for whom I have utmost respect.
1. There is no such thing as Social media ROI
In early 2011, my rant was about the risks of a “social media bubble” and I think it holds true to this date. ROI of social media remains mostly anecdotal; yet, disproportional resources are spent trying to improve such soft metrics as brand awareness, reach, resonance, generosity, influence… and a boatload of unstandardized, secret formula metrics. All this energy spent while on-site business processes often fall short of being optimized.
I have done several workshops on social media ROI and honestly, for most organizations, social media remains an acquisition channel leading traffic to the website. Simply put, I believe social media ROI can only exist when measured and clearly correlated against clearly defined business outcomes, be it on the website or offline. I’m a big proponent of online process optimization, so I often wish focus would be a little less social and a little more about process efficiencies.
- Don’t miss our very own Corey Koberg social media analysis presentation filmed at GAUGE Conference;
- I will host a half-day workshop about social media ROI myths with a slant on ecommerce sites at the eCom Montreal conference [March 14th];
- and a full-day workshop on social media during the 8th annual Innovations in e-Learning Symposium in Washington [June 5-7].
2. Big Data & more than Big
“Big data” is a buzzword which emerged in the 3rd quarter of 2010 and gained momentum by mid-2011 (as can be seen in the chart below, extracted from Google Trends). Traditional business intelligence (BI) is too cumbersome and tedious; on the other hand, web analytics in itself lacks core business data integration. In the coming months, expect all web analytics vendors to sprinkle “Big Data” everywhere they can & it has already started and sometimes it’s a long stretch.
More seriously, the ecosystem of data integration tools, powerful & flexible analysis, visualization and effective communications that are being built around Big Data will significantly impact the online analytics space. It won’t matter if your dataset is “big” or not, what matters the most is your ability to analyze and tie back your recommendations to the business.
I believe the slow death of traditional BI and web analytics as a distinct discipline is inevitable & expect more discussions around the fading frontiers of web analytics and the growth of business analytics.
- If the comments on The Ultimate Definition of Analytics I wrote at Online Behavior is any indication, it is clear web analytics isn’t well defined and is in search of a more appropriate home.
- John Lucker, Principal and Global Advanced Analytics & Modeling Market Offering Leader, wrote a very good piece entitled Business analytics: fad or fundamental? (link to pdf). Definitely worth a read.
3. Privacy – let ME tell you what I want YOU to know
The third trending topic is bound to be Privacy. While a lot of attention is justifiably spent on protecting user privacy – think EU directive – many a lot are happily sharing personal details through social media & think of the FTC probing of Facebook (article from Pierre DeBois, December 29th).
We can expect a growing number of biased, one sided views from the press where facts are intertwined with sensationalistic statements (think of headlines such as How companies learn your secrets). We can keep winning, trying to educate our audience, but ultimately, our responsibility as analysts is to abide by strict ethics of transparency and respect of our audience desire.
I envision innovation at both ends of the spectrum: cookieless tracking through browser footprints on one end, and greater transparency and user control through innovative solutions such as the one proposed by The Cookie Collective (thanks to Dave Chaffey for his excellent post on the topic at Smart Insights).
If we thought web analytics raised privacy concerns, you can expect more articles raising concerns over Big Data. As McKinsey puts it:
Several issues will have to be addressed to capture the full potential of big data. Policies related to privacy, security, intellectual property, and even liability will need to be addressed in a big data world. (Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity, McKinsey Global Institute, May 2011)
Wishful thinking
I wish 2012 will be the year where web analysts break out of the marketing, web-centric mold and mature to become business analysts of a new generation. Based on the vivid discussions around a simple topic such as a definition of web analytics and the skills involved, I think we have plenty of opportunities to learn, share and collaborate. The frenzy around Big Data will impact us. Analytics will remain a sought for job, let’s make 2012 a year of progress and keep having fun doing it!
