13 Highlights in Data Analytics Impacting 2014

When it came to all things

and

2013 saw a big shift in public perception

of what data privacy means.

The roles of CTO and CMO began converging in a big way.

The roles of CTO and CMO began converging in a big way.

With technology budgets being shifted firmly into marketing.

With 2014 shaping up to be another newsworthy year in analytics, TagMan

looks back at 2013’s 13 data analytics highlights…

1. Spotify uses analytics to prove its worth to doubting musicians

1. Spotify uses analytics to prove its worth to doubting musicians

The music streaming service opened up free analytic services for artists. Giving even the most niche of bands insight into the potential to earn $17K/month through streaming and merchandise.

2. Twitter ranks tweet performance for free

on its analytics platform

2. Social got analytical when Twitter

opened analytic dashboards to the public, providing in-depth data

about users, as well as ranking the performance of recent tweets.

Twitter ranks tweet performance for free

on its analytics platform

3. Prioritizing Business Intelligence

According to Gartner’s latest CIO survey, the top priority for Chief Innovation Officers is enterprise growth, with analytics and business intelligence remaining their number one technology priority in 2013.

Following a major shift in focus which began in 2008, almost a fifth of CIOs now act as their enterprise’s chief digital officer (CDO), responsible for digital commerce and channels.

3. Prioritizing Business Intelligence

4. Data Privacy

Web security made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2013.

Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA’s widespread phone surveillance and governments put increasing pressure on tech companies to disclose their data collection processes. Google agreed to pay $7 million to settle charges that the company collected network data from user Wi-Fi accounts while its Street View vehicles passed by homes and businesses. Microsoft capitalised on public anxiety by creating an advertising campaign around the fact that it doesn’t snoop through its users’ emails – unlike arch-rival, Google.

4. Data Privacy

5 Marketing Agility Data-driven decision making became a reality. Marketers

made great progress in cutting through the data “noise” to

begin generating genuine ROI using first and third party data.

5 Marketing Agility In a survey into marketers’

attitudes conducted by TagMan, 60% of marketers agreed that Big Data can have a real impact on revenue and

profits.

Data is no longer considered a by-product, but rather is being actively used as digital currency.

Data is no longer considered a by-product, but rather is being actively used as digital currency.

Users have become increasingly aware that their personal data is valuable to advertisers and can

even be used to “pay” for services online.

7. Data visualization gets sophisticated

7. Data visualization gets sophisticated Marketing data visualization took off in an interactive, real-time

and increasingly advanced way in 2013.

Visual dashboards, advanced heat maps and attention maps are all designed to track how users interact with web pages and understand which are the most popular areas.

Google’s Hummingbird update 8.

Google’s Hummingbird update

Conversational search became the talk of the town last year and high-quality content has reached even more of a premium since Hummingbird came on the scene. The algorithm’s aim is to give meaning to longer search queries by paying closer attention to each word and ensuring that the whole sentence is taken into account. Time will tell whether it truly works...

8.

9. Google Search moves to becoming a fully-subscribed service

Marketers took a hit at the end of 2013 with the changes made by Google to SEO keywords. The dominant analytics player recently switched off organic search keywords referral data, meaning that an advertiser can no longer view which natural search terms visitors used to get to their website.

9. Google Search moves to becoming a fully-subscribed service

10. Rise in data partnerships Partnerships were forged in 2013 between a number of companies in the data and tag management sector, aimed at bringing even more flexibility for advertisers and value for money for online marketing tools.

Partnerships were forged in 2013 between a number of companies in the data and tag management sector, aimed at bringing even more flexibility for advertisers and value for money for online marketing tools.

In 2013 Facebook announced a number of partnerships as part of its Custom Audiences program with data providers like BlueKai, Datalogix, Epsilon and Acxiom, allowing advertisers to target hashed lists of existing and potential customers.

10. Rise in data partnerships

11. Cross-device tracking The next development in joining up the

consumer journey will be in near-field communication technology, allowing

augmented reality-style interactions with consumers when they’re physically in stores.

As data management companies develop new ways of puzzling out how users interact with apps and browsers on various platforms

throughout the day, advertisers started to reap the benefits of joined up marketing

campaigns.

11. Cross-device tracking As data management companies develop

new ways of puzzling out how users interact with apps and browsers on

various platforms throughout the day, advertisers started to reap the benefits of

joined up marketing campaigns.

The next development in joining up the consumer journey will be in near-field communication technology, allowing

augmented reality-style interactions with consumers when they’re physically in

stores.

12. Tag Management introduces the first ever Marketing Data Platform

12. Tag Management introduces the first ever Marketing Data Platform

The launch of the Marketing Data Platform provides marketers with access to real-time marketing data collected and unified by tags. By expanding marketers control to this new marketing data layer, marketers have the ability to collect, unify and distribute a clean layer of third-party and CRM data to technology vendors in real-time.

13. The Rise of Tech-Savvy Marketers

13. The Rise of Tech-Savvy Marketers

“By 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT systems

than the CTO” The rise of Big Data, technology and new tools

and developments during 2013 signifies the start of a real power shift within businesses.

The global conversation around security and data privacy is no doubt set to become an even more complex one in the next few months.

In the past, we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to data and analytics.

For users though, they should be looking forward to a more personalized digital experience across

the board, and more seamless interactions across mobiles, tablets, desktops, in games and beyond.

Here’s to celebrating an eventful and progressive 2014 in data analytics this time next year.

About TagMan TagMan is a leading global Tag Management System, Marketing Data, and Marketing Attribution provider. Since 2007, e-commerce professionals and digital marketers have relied on TagMan to improve website performance and harness third party vendor tags. TagMan's industry first Marketing Data Platform (MDP) provides access to TagMan’s marketing data layer collected in real-time and unified by tags. Marketers can now visualize the customer journey and path to purchase through comprehensive dashboards to reveal the true impact of advertising spend and drive revenue through tag-powered data. More than 350 enterprise websites across all major industries make TagMan their go-to partner including, Vodafone, Travelocity, John Lewis, Virgin Atlantic, The Body Shop, Air New Zealand, Debenhams, DIRECTV, TiVo and Tesco Mobile. Find out more at www.tagman.com.

TagMan’s Top 13 Highlights also featured in Smart Data Collective: tgmn.co/13