Attention Economy, Internet Enabled Retailers and Hypertargeting
Or should we rather say Blockchain based enablement of retailers and Hypertargeting
I have previously used the diagram below to show where the blockchain are in relation to the early internet growth. I stand by my point that all of us on the platform are early adopters. There are so many things that still need to happen on the blockchain, but it will be worthwhile the wait.
Image Credit for both the images above are embedded in the image.
I was very excited to see that we are moving into the right direction with a marketplace when I saw the Peerhub article I have written many articles about starting an incubation company to assist the Steemit community with business skills, funding, developers, marketing etc. You see, I was expecting a marketplace to pop up at some stage. I also believed that it should be an already established entity who just takes advantage of the new Steem currency and platform. In order to build a market place from scratch would just not be a viable competitor. I wish Peerhub and its creators all the best. This is huge :)
I actually want to emphasize various points, which is happening today on the pre-blockchain internet, as substantiation for the blockchain based market stores. For me the security aspect of the blockchain must be highlighted, and if you combine this with a distributed ledger and full audit trail, it will answer so many aspects of what we are still short on the internet today. The bonus of all of this is that it is underpinned by a crypto currency, which will also assist the Steem platform to have more value.
So what is happening in the Internet today
I will base my facts on the latest Internet Trends report released by Kpcb
Attention Economy
Attention economics is an approach to the management of information that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, and applies economic theory to solve various information management problems. Put simply by Matthew Crawford, "Attention is a resource—a person has only so much of it." In this perspective Thomas H.
Source WIkipedia
The attention economy, is based on the principle that "attention" is the most valued currency in the world today. The marketing industry then created what is called Hypertargeting.
Hypertargeting
Hypertargeting refers to the ability to deliver advertising content to specific interest-based segments in a network.
Look at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst and the likes, people are targeted to the n'th degree due to the information which is available for each of the users on the platform. Age, gender, what the person likes, who the person knows, etc. etc. This allow marketers to really sharpen their arrows.
Combatant Gentleman
These guys used hypertargeting to start a new very successful customer acquisition strategy.
Our customer acquisition strategy was Facebook. Our [target customer] typically spends a lot of time on Facebook...Every $100 we spent on Facebook was worth $1,000 in sales. For us, it was a simple math equation.’
‘We target based on [Facebook] likes...For example, we have a lot of guys in real estate who are climbing up the ladder. What we do is we put these guys into cohorts and we say, ‘These are our real estate guys.’
- Vishaal Melwani CEO and Founder, Combatant Gentlemen
Stance
Stance Website
After noticing that its Instagram placements were outperforming all other placement types in its Star Wars collection launch campaign, Stance decided to create a dedicated ad set to maximize its ad spend against this placemen & build upon Instagram’s unique visual nature and strong targeting capabilities.
Stance targeted the ads to adults whose interests include the Star Wars movies, but excluded those interested only in specific Star Wars characters. The ‘Sock Wars’ campaign generated an impressive 36% boost to return on ad spend.
Stich Fix
Fix Stich Website
Fix Stich has taken Micro Data Driven, Collection, personalisation and satisfaction to the next level, by applying Netflix and Spotify-like content discovery to the fashion industry. Each customer up to 99.9% different experience.
On boarding process
Stich Fix uses a data driven on boarding process which they call a mix between art and science. They Collect data points on customer preferences / style / activities. 46% of their active clients will provide Pinterest profiles. Their Stylists use Pinterest boards and mathematical algorithms to help improve product selection.
Shipments
They ship their fixes with curated items based on preference and style. Their customers are then allowed to try products in the comfort of their own home. The curated items were handpicked by stylists. Their customers can then return the items which they do not like.
Customer Feedback
At the end of the experience, customers are asked to complete an information survey which further interrogates the customer experience, which they then use to drive future product selection based on the specific customer requirements.
Conclusion
Blockchain is here to pave and underpin the future internet of value. We all want value right? An interesting fact which I wrote about a while ago, is the fact that people do not mind if their personal information is shared in the event that this information is used to improve their experience. Humans are creatures of habit, but also comfortable creatures.
We all have the ability to start a new life, right here, we must just find the appropriate product and then use our networks which we built through the history of all our experiences, to take a step in the right direction for the next big thing.
Hypertargeting did not exist and was not possible before the Social Media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst, Google and the likes. This created the ability to target with the sharper arrow. Just think what will be possible in the future.
Happy Steeming
If you enjoy my articles please follow me.
This is very interesting and makes me consider my "product" on steemit. While I've tried to keep junk posts to a minimum, I have noticed a trend in what gets clicks and what doesn't. We are all marketers on this platform to a certain degree.
I get the sense that hypertargeting is setting its arrow toward millennials and GenZ. My generation seems to be the last that want to touch, drive, or walk around something before we make a purchase.
@merej99 , I am with you. I also believe that it is primarily targeted at millennials and GenZ, but I am so excited about the future on earth and life as we know it.
A few years ago we would've said that the millennials and GenZ are "gullible" to this new economy... but everything changes all the time, even the things are used to. I am still at the point in my life where I believe that there is only "2 Absolute truths" in life. Those are that we will all die and things will change. I know that there are many on the platform with different views on this.
However, If you think about it, as technology grows and new "things" are found, the more it enables new technology growth and create the opportunity for new "things" to be found. Standard exponential equation isn't it..I find this very exciting.
Which generation were you born in, if I may ask?
Very interesting post ...nicely done. I only have one comment around hyper targetting. It is very innovative and as you state, extremely decent return on investment for marketing. The only thing I find is that they fail to identify an 'unusual' consumer pattern and frequently continue to target based on a one off event for a lengthy period. Machine Learning may be one way of utilizing big data to identify when 'NOT' to hyper target to a consumer... in other words identify the anomaly and suppress any related campaigns for that specific consumer . So in that sense it can still mature more. Hope this makes some kind of sense.
Excellent comment thanks @themagus . I fully agree with you. I have been in IT for many years and the rate which machine learning is progressing these days, we will be able to do exactly this, in the not to far distant feature. And again, the attention economy will force this, as more and more people will become pissed off with the massive amount of SPAM which will cause a bad reputation for the company targeting the customer. Reputation and Attention Economies is working hand in hand with this.
An exciting future ahead indeed!
Indeed @jdenismusic indeed :)