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Interview by FIBEP (The International Media Monitoring Association):

FIBEP invited Brian McCarthy, Sales & Marketing Director at Newsaccess Media Intelligence, Ireland to discuss how Big Data effects company staff and how to educate employees and clients. Brian is the Sales & Marketing Director at Newsaccess and was previously Head of Insight. Brian works directly with brands to develop effective media evaluation strategies, based on their organisational & communications goals.

MarComm: How to build a Big Data winning team

BMc: In the Media Monitoring industry there’s no question that Big Data is having a big impact. The evolution of the media landscape has meant that there is now more information than ever for us to monitor. Technology also means that we can interrogate that data in many different ways, providing our clients with powerful insights. I believe it's important to be open to hiring new expertise, to invest in retraining existing staff and to build partnerships with complimentary third parties. In order to build a Big Data winning team you must have a clear goal and assess how your team is prepared in terms of knowledge and skills. It’s important to fill any gap in skills that may exist and behind the team there must be a leader and a clear plan of what you are going to achieve.

MarComm: How Big Data is being used in the leadership and management field

BMc: Today Big Data is being used by managers and leaders as the basis for educated decisions. The higher the quality of the information you have, the clearer the picture will be. For example employing Big Data tools can deliver a much greater understanding of a target market, right down to their individual preferences. This kind of information allows organisations to segment their market and to position products and brands more effectively. There are literally hundreds of tools such as Facebook Insights, Google analytics and CMS software which can be used to feed into your organisations planning processes.

MarComm: Do leaders need to see Big Data as a strategic asset?

BMc: Absolutely, I think to ignore the impact of Big Data is a mistake as you can be sure that even if you don’t see its value, your competitors do. Big Data represents an incredible opportunity for those organisations who recognise its power and integrate it into their business model. When harnessed correctly the insights which Big Data provides will allow organisations to use resources more effectively and increase their rate of success. In our industry I believe we understand that knowledge is power and Big Data insights represent the next step in our industry’s future.

MarComm: When you speak with your customers what are the typical use cases and requirements they have?

BMc: Our customers want us to tell the story that is hidden within Big Data. Simple and effective insights are what they want from us. Although our clients are familiar with the traditional media, relatively recent media sources such as Twitter and Facebook represent new channels for communication. Our customers want us to evaluate their presence on Social Media in order to identify their key influencers, emerging trends and brand sentiment. Ultimately our clients want to know how people feel about their brand and who is doing the talking. What was the impact of their latest PR campaign and what is the cause & effect relationship between their in-house actions and external results are all important to our customers.  For many companies the very idea of Big Data is intimidating and it's our job to educate our clients and provide them with practical insights (especially from a media evaluation perspective). Newsaccess is definitely seeing increased demand for monitoring & evaluation of content across Social Media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube!

Ends

Newsaccess is the leading provider of media monitoring and media analysis services in Ireland, more information is available here