Dive Summary:
- Stephen Baker writes an opinion piece at The New York Times looking at the opportunities presented by big data in social media and rise of algorithms in agencies dominated by big ideas.
- Baker questions how social media marketing with evolve, however, since I.B.M. data on Black Friday showed only 0.68% of online purchases came directly from Facebook.
- He explains that advertisers are still figuring out what to count, and many see value in social media buzz preceding purchase decisions, even if social media shares perform poorly as links directly to purchases.
From the article:
"... Yet as these cyberskeptics crowed, a company called Overture Services was pioneering an innovative advertising application for the new medium. When Web surfers carried out searches, it turned out, they welcomed related ads. And if they clicked on one, the advertiser paid the search engine. Google soon implemented this system on a mammoth scale and turned clicks into dollars. Advertisers could calculate their return on investment down to the penny. In this domain, the insights of a Mad Man counted for nothing. Search ran on numbers. The quants rushed in. ..."
