Web Analytics: Social Network Analysis Tools for Ad Targeting.

Executive Summary: Are you looking at social network based ad serving analytics tools? How do they stack up on the measures below?:
1. Are they mature enough to provide "error" analysis (say Type I/ Type II) on the targeting?
2. Can you compare the "error" from social network based analytics tools against the error using non social network based analytics tools?
3. Can you utilize the social network based targeting tools in conjunction with non social network based predictive analysis tools to minimize errors or optimize marketing spend?

Why is there no focus on cost above? Apply cost factor weights to the results from the questions above and you have your ROI!

How To Develop Criteria For Evaluating Social Network Analysis Tools
From the Blueprint-for-winning-Social-Network-Analytics-Orders Dept., the How-Do-I-Start-a-Competitive-Analysis-of-the-Marketplace desk.

What About Social Network/ Graph Analysis for Marketing?
I have tinkered with various "traditional" analytical tools, like applying predictive modeling for web analytics, to looking at web server log files to analyze "eyeball" trends during the early days of the Internet boom, so, a recent post below reignited my interest in social network analysis for serving targeted ads:
http://www.marketersstudio.com/2009/08/the-social-graph-ad-targeting-buyers-guide.html

The post referred to a Knowledge@Wharton article on Network Based Marketing:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1637

This article had some interesting insights:
Insight 1: Social Networks Help Us Find Like Minded Buyers
Another possibility is that because people often tend to talk to people like themselves, their buying tastes would be similar regardless of whether they ever discuss the product. "Social theory tells us that people who communicate with each other are more likely to be similar to each other, a concept called homophily," the researchers point out. "...Linked consumers probably are like-minded, and like-minded consumers tend to buy the same products."

Insight 2: Social Networks Help Target Buyers More Effectively
"In addition, analyzing the network allows the firm to acquire new customers who otherwise would have fallen through the cracks, because they would not have been identified based on traditional attributes."

The Power of Non Social Network Analysis Tools
I can attest to the fact that with non network based- a.k.a. traditional analytics- tools provide you incredible ways of reaching out to your target audience. If you have the data- various demographic, psychographic or geographic attributes- some of these tools can help you:
1. Target your audience effectively,
2. Give you a sense of the targeting errors (Type I/ Type II) with the model,
3. Help you rank order your targeting efforts by efficacy, and hence optimize your marketing dollar.

Comparing Social Network Based Marketing Tools vs. Existing, Non Social Network Tools
The first thought at comes to mind is whether social networking based ad targeting tools have matured to provide these features. Specifically:
1. Are they mature enough to provide "error" analysis (say Type I/ Type II) on the targeting?
2. Can you compare their "error" against the error using non social network based analytics tools?
3. Can you utilize the social network based targeting tools in conjunction with non social network based predictive analysis tools to minimize errors or optimize marketing spend?

Don't Forget Data: The Root of All Analytics
While it is easy to get lost in the tools and their trade-offs, don't forget the data. Your data- what attributes are available, access, usability and quality- may dictate the choice of tools.

In the Future Shock section of my previous post below:
http://randomjunkyramblings.blogspot.com/2009/08/sustaining-brand-conversation-behavior.html
The ability to develop customized brand metrics "will hinge on the data collection capabilities of social media platforms, and their ability to share it in a cheap, safe, anonymized manner with third parties for further analysis. Additional factors that come into play- quality of data, privacy concerns and analytics capabilities."

Data privacy currently remains an important factor- more in a later post.

Aren't You Forgetting Computing Power?
I am discounting computing power as a factor. I will not tell you why. :-)

Conclusions For Social Network Based Ad Targeting
Non social network based marketing tools are pretty powerful. The questions above give you some insight into decisions related with integrating your existing analytics capabilities with social network based analytics. For the service providers, this is your blueprint for winning orders.

What do you think?

--