How to harness ‘big data’ in PR

Analytics can be an extremely helpful tool in helping you deliver the message your audience wants.

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All that alliteration doesn’t get to the heart of the matter for public relations pros: What is it, really? Is it worth messing with? And how can we use it?

Big data’s true definition

A recent survey by Ragan showed that 54 percent of public relations professionals didn’t know what big data is. From an informational standpoint, big data is new information so large and complex that it’s difficult to visualize, share, analyze, and store. From a business standpoint, it involves “building new analytic applications based on new types of data, in order to better serve your customers and drive a better competitive advantage,” according to David McJannet, vice president of marketing for Hortonworks.

Big data means different things in different industries. For an in-depth definition, we recommend reading “Be a Big Data Marketing Hero,” an e-book focused on defining big data and making it accessible.

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