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News & Trends
New research from the Annenberg Institute finds that a majority of Americans are resigned to giving up personal data. This conflicts with the common perception that Americans are willing to give up personal data in exchange for discounts, goods and services. This should be a cautionary note for marketers not to abuse the personal data you collect. Don’t confuse acceptance with willingness.
Special Guest: Greg Johns, SVP and Senior Director of Digital Strategy at Initiative
“It’s a misnomer that people don’t trust the media,” says Greg Johns. “The truth is that people rely on paid media quite a bit to make decisions, and they rely on brands to help guide them.”
As an expert in paid digital media services, Greg should know. In this interview he digs into some of the details of how paid digital marketing works, particularly in social networks. The recipe for success in both B2B and B2C paid media is similar to the formula for success in earned media – it’s about knowing your audience, he says.
But that doesn’t mean knowing them to too fine a level. Data mining firms like Acxiom and Datalogix “probably know more about us than we do,” he says. They specialize in personalizing communications without violating privacy guidelines, and they are remarkably good at it.
Social networks like LinkedIn have introduced a new dynamic because they have profiles of specific audience members. That’s enabling their advertisers to personalize messages to an unprecedented level and contributing to the rapid growth of social networks as ad platforms.
New data mining technology is even enabling advertisers to correlate behavior online and in physical stores. But in all cases, use caution, Greg advises. “When used for good, targeting is capable of providing value to customers,” he says. “But we need to be introspective about our behavior.”
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