Talking about other people is second only to the need to talk about ourselves. If you are thinking this couldn’t possibly be me, think again. Facebook’s gazillion users talk to a “Wall” about themselves. Blogs, Twitter, and more, give us the cheapest and largest megaphones ever to shout about ourselves. What this says about our society or the compulsory need to mimic Narcissus is beyond the scope of this argument. The point is there is a treasure trove of intimate marketing and demographic information on the Web for all to see.
Up until this point, marketers had to rely on market research and demographic information to determine the typical profile of the “customer” and design expensive advertising campaigns around that information. The motion of acquiring, filtering, and interpreting, the raw data was expensive. An unbelievable amount of personal information can now be gathered instantaneously over the Internet. We can use Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple Evangelist and technology advocate, as a case in point. What does social media tell us about Guy’s interest?
- From LinkedIn
• Current and past companies include Apple, Fog City, Forbes, and Garage Technology Ventures
• Personal mantra is “empower entrepreneurs.”
• Went to school Cal and Stanford
• Author of 8 books
• Joined to only one group – Next Gen Market Research - From Twitter
• 200,000+ followers
• Co-founder of Alltop – Magazine Rack for the Internet
• Guy was recently at the SXSW conference in Austin, TX - From Facebook
• Photos including cow reverence in India?
• Being from Hawaii, Guy is a fan of Hamura Saiman restaurant on Kauai - From How to Change the World blog
• Guy was at the winter Olympics in Canada
Social media can gather invaluable insights into a persons life that can translate into 1-to-1 marketing. If you were opening a Japanese style noodle house in the greater San Francisco area, you would want to send Guy an invite. The direct mailer could say “Hamura Saiman without the travel!” A hotelier in Whistler, BC, could send a brochure inviting Guy to visit this coming winter without the crowds of the Olympics. A startup venture could ask for a connection from SXSW. The possibilities are infinite.
The printing industry, like many others, has yet to fully capitalize on the information freely available in the social media playground. Imagine the level of print personalization that is possible if the right software ecosystem were assembled. Relevant text, graphics, and pictures, could be sliced into pinpoint targeted data about any individual. Such as system would become the digital asset management platform of individuals. The only question is who will make it easy to dig up this buried treasure?
