If content is king, who is queen? Data!

I'm sure by now we've all heard the line "content is king" in relation to this new world of social media marketing we are embarking on. People go to the web for three things (not in any particular order) 1. To be entertained 2. To search for good/relevant information 3. To socialize These three things have at lease one thing in common, they are all forms (one way or another) of content. So, if content is KING, who is Queen? DATA! These days we are creating data at such a fast pace, there are a few key questions to ask ourselves: 1. How are we storing this data? 2. Are we storing it in an efficient way as to be able to easily manipulate it, ask questions, and have it give us back the answers we are looking for? 3. How can the data we are storing be used to help us make more informed decisions? 4. How can we leverage our data to give us more leads, in turn, make us more money? If you are reading these questions and nodding your head because you have clear cut answers/strategies for the above questions, then you are ahead of the game. If your head is spinning, take a step back and a couple of deep breaths because you better start thinking about it. I can't tell you how many companies/individuals (large and small) don't have clear answers/strategies to those questions, it's A LOT. Why is it important that you do? It's the future! What is this data I'm referring to in all its different forms? It's impossible for me to make a complete list...this blog post would go on forever. I'll list a few and you can imagine the rest... * Customer/Potential customer information: company name, title, address, email address, phone, fax, cell phone, demographic information: are they married, kids (what schools do they go to), etc... * Client sales info: what did they buy, how much did they spend, where did they hear of you and your services, what are they interested in, are they a client for the future or "one timers", etc... * Marketing: what media channels are we using, what's their stated demographic, how much did we spend, what results were we looking for, what results did we get back (ROI), how many leads changed to sales, etc... * Website analytics: how many unique visitors, how many total visitors, what pages are they looking at, how much time are they spending on the page, are they using our contact form, where is the traffic coming from, etc... And it can go on and on and on... Whichever type person you are (you have clear cut content/data management strategies or you are "in-the-dark," NEREJ Tech LOVES to talk content and data strategies. Contact us anytime and we will do a free analysis for you. We will give you suggestions on how to move forward or tell you if you need to re-strategize. Stephen Hopkins is the biz development director of the New England and New York Real Estate Journals and director of NEREJ Tech, Norwell, Mass.