Today, the issue of data collection of online users remains a controversial issue.
Today, data collection of online users remains a controversial issue. However, for many businesses, it isn't an issue of violating customers' privacy but is a way to ensure that the business has the best chance at success. The question remains where and how data collection comes into the picture.
According to a new study from Skynova, 64 percent of business owners collect your data from their social media sites, with Facebook accounting for 72 percent of the data collection, while Facebook-owned Instagram came in second at 59 percent. They were the most popular social media platforms in terms of collecting customer data based on page likes, shares, and follows.
"Twitter and LinkedIn were definitely reviewed often as well. While scouring them for data, companies collected information related to page likes, shares, and follows the most," the study noted. "Social media data collection plays an especially important role in optimizing a company’s marketing strategy – from it, you can better optimize your social content, update your SEO strategies (which are crucial in the social media world), monitor your brand image, and start targeting influencers to help promote your offering."
Purchase history and interaction with business websites were reportedly the data that business owners found most useful according to 23 percent of survey respondents. Many of the businesses also conducted the data research themselves, while some 34 percent also opted to bring in a third-party for data collection and integration-related labor.
According to Skynova, almost half of the surveyed business owners and executives said that they collect data at least weekly, and the more people a company employed, there was a higher chance that the data was collected on such a regular basis. Many companies utilized their social media pages for valuable data, as well as their own website and online databases, including website visits, sales data, and customer service logs.
"One of the more interesting discoveries from our research found that Facebook is the most popular source businesses use to gather customer data, followed by website visits and Amazon," explained Joe Mercurio, the project manager who works on behalf of the research team at Skynova.
"Engagement data was the most collected data type, while attitudinal data was the least gathered data type," said Mercurio via an email. "Looking at social media platforms specifically, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most popular, respectively. One-third of companies do the legwork themselves, but 34 percent opt to bring in a third-party company for data collection and integration-related labor. Data collection is clearly beneficial, even if these extra resources are needed. Our research found that 43 percent of business owners use data for all of their business decisions."
The collection of customer data is actually as old as business itself, it is just how it is being obtained today.
"Companies have always tracked who bought how much - you need that to send an invoice and for tax purposes. The webpage interaction statistics are very easy and cheap (if not free) to collect through Google Analytics, Facebook, and the like, and there is no real downside for a company to collect it," said technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.
"I would venture most small businesses capture the data but never even look at it, even fewer act upon it," Entner added. "Sending an email to your customer and asking them about usage and satisfaction has also become very easy and cheap."
However, privacy concerns still need to be addressed.
"Companies can ask their customers what information they are comfortable with sharing," Entner explained. "In the European Union, due to GDPR, companies are required to ask customers about what webpage data gets collected and used."
