hugeinc.cominfo@hugeinc.com45 Main St. #220 Brooklyn, NY 11201+1 718 625 4843

October 2, 2013DataWeek: Oh no, I’m running a data-driven cult!

Leala AbbottSenior Content Strategist

Huge Inc.

Oh no, I’m running a data-driven cult.

Leala Abbott is a Senior Content Strategist at Huge, helping to shape, define and interpret metadata and taxonomical needs into content structures everyday. She holds a Masters Degree in Information Science from Rutgers University.

“Story and Data need each other.Data without Story is Mythology.

Story without Data is Propaganda.”- Huge / Content Strategy Motto

Propaganda.

What is propaganda?“information of a biased or misleading nature, used to

promote or publicize a particular point of view”

Media Propaganda by: Trosious

Data as propaganda.

refine

hunches

hypothesis

testresults

hypothesis

testresults

The scientific method. The big data method.

Gaming the system

Susceptive to fallacy.

What story are you telling?

Many clients use the end of the

quarter to crunch all the data

and re-enforce a narrative

with senior management.

• Put data in the passenger

seat (not the drivers seat

or the trunk).

• Use data to guide, not just

narrate.

• Reporting needs to be

ongoing, fluid, and light.

• Leave the artfulness of the

quarterly report behind.

Open to truth.

The question you have to ask yourself is if data tells you

something that goes against the current gospel, do you share

these truths?

Repent.

The path.

Give instruction.They aren’t drowning in data, they are

waving for help. People need guidance and

proper insight into interpreting the data.

Some of the concepts used in attribution

are so technical and arcane that the

marketing lead simply doesn't know the

right questions to ask.

Have a goal.Lack of the proper filtering mechanisms,

both from and human and tech

standpoint to abstract the signal from the

nose. The frequent metaphor people use

"is drowning in data”. Big data wont

magically solve your problems, you’ve

got to have a clear objective.

Ask technology. Data is being created at breakneck

pace. So correlating, interpreting and

analyzing it needs to happen just as

quickly. This is where the technology

comes in as humans can’t do it fast

enough, or older systems just aren’t

structured to do it efficiently. You need

flexibility and innovation.

1 2

4Balance cost / accuracy. Everyone talks about the role of 3rd

party data targeting, personalization and

optimization but not all data is created

equal. We need to do a better job

balancing the cost of the data with actual

accuracy it provides.

3

Establishing new goals.

Your approach to data should grow and

change as you do.

Find inefficiencies.Your architecture (and

your org) should support the efficient

filtering of data.

Create efficiencies.Bring structure to

your data or provide an interpreter.

Start converting.

Establish new goals, new teams, and more refined and efficient data, to deliver the real truths to

your organization.

Business change

Salvation.

Turning data into information.

Planning.

Put together a strategic plan, which can be used as

a guideline for your approach to working with

data.

Structure.

Audit to find LHF. Whenever feasible give the

data deeper, semantic meaning through

structures prior to it being collected.

Targeting.

Don’t try and take it all in at once, target specific data

sets the meet primary goals, and objectives first

to start modeling.

Prioritization and measurement.

Prioritize within your targeted data sets and determine LOE. Start

small. Is it measurable is it valuable?

Consolidation and aggregation.

Gather and house the data in a centralized repository.

Don’t have customers emails across 4 databases.

Integration.

Enable the data to be integrated into business systems and decision

making processes. End the ownership fighting.

hugeinc.cominfo@hugeinc.com45 Main St. #220 Brooklyn, NY 11201+1 718 625 4843