I suppose this needs a bit of explanation.
In the e-world, I probably have a slightly larger-than-average footprint in the arenas in which I choose to engage. I say this from the perspective of one who aspires to have a relevant e-footprint in these certain arenas. I also say this from some purely gut feelings based on relevant new Twitter followers, favorites and adds to lists. For me, rightly or wrongly, I do not include e-spaces that are not on my personal e-radar. These spaces include Instagram, Pinterest, Imgur, Snapchat and more than likely a few others which are currently popular but do not come to mind immediately for me.
Now, to claim a larger-than-average e-footprint in the E-VENUES WHERE I CHOOSE TO BE NOTICED, I need to have a game plan of sorts. And I do.
Gameplan:
* "ENGAGE PhD's" *
Pretty bloody simple, right? Well, I'm fairly certain the best plans of battle are often the simplest. Yamamoto, the genius Japanese Admiral who commanded the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN) Combined Fleet in the first part of the Second World War, was know to be brilliant. However, he was also known to be a gambler, and seemed to love intricate plans. His greatest plan was his greatest failure: Midway.
Which was an incredibly costly, miserable failure.
Unlike Yamamoto- who truly was a genius in his field- I am not a genius and I base my e-plan on the tried-and-true KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) methodology. And although I don't even think I'm anywhere near Yamamoto's intellect or skill, I think I stand a better chance at success in my chosen endeavor- and here's the how and why:
As stated, "ENGAGE PhD's" is my plan. How and why? Well, the platform I've chosen as my e-soapbox is Twitter, and the venue I've chosen to play in is DATA SCIENCE. For those uninitiated, this is not a field for the clueless, the uninitiated, the easily intimidated by technical terminology or the unenthusiastic. To that end, I follow stuff that many would find boring: the Internet of Things (a.k.a. The Internet of Everything), agriculture, petroleum, manufacturing, education, and retail (in fact, anything that generates large numbers tends to interest me).
So, why engage PhD's? Especially if you're not even an achiever of a bachelor's degree?
Well, for starters- times have changed. Sometimes the best person for the job doesn't have quite have the qualifications your Dad or Mom's generation would have required- especially when it comes to data. In the "good old days", a "college degree" was a "must", and data used to be pretty black and white. For example, in my industry, the typical (and most critical) pieces of data might be:
"Mr. John Smith
"123 Main Street Apt 1
"Anytown, ST, 12345-6789
In direct mail, we take these bits of data, assign each one a length (in bytes)- as well as a starting position and an ending position- and define them as variables, thus the data becomes something like this in our software-
<prefix>|<fname>|<lname>
<address1>|<address2>
<csz>
This is the second simplest form of direct mail, with the simplest being a blanket mailing like this:
"Resident
"Chicago, IL, 60606
This is almost the equivalent of the "relative of" direct mail that no one talks about. This is pure saturation mail; the intent is getting the mailpiece in every mailbox in a given ZIP code. It's brute force mail, and as the cheapest postage out there for mass-mailings- it can be pretty cost effective. I see this class of mailpiece come through our office once or twice- maybe- in a year. Most of our mailings, though, have a certain amount of customization (personalization) that is a value-add for our clients.
That's an insight into what we do, but what does that have to do with "Engage PhD's"?
Quite simply, even though we do a good job at what we do, oftentimes the data we receive is so crummy that I have to ask myself what the point is.
And this is where PhD's and data come in. In direct mail, a very large paintbrush is used, and generally without any logic other than "demographic" == "ZIP code". In the "good old days", this was probably good enough. Today, though, data can be simply and effectively parsed, so that even though Robert Smith lives in a predominantly Hispanic ZIP code, he can receive a mailing in English touting the benefits of a product in English rather than in Spanish, which is what his neighbor Jorge Rodriguez might receive.
Now, honestly, I don't really know what Robert Smith and Jorge Rodriguez like to watch on TV. As far as I'm concerned, I'd like to watch Formula One racing or Rally on any given Sunday afternoon. But I get an odd feeling in my gut when I'm working on a mailing that touts Mexican league football to Robert and an NFL package to Jorge... based solely on a single data point: ZIP code.
I don't control the data; neither does my employer. The owners of the data, though... with one or two filters, could make their databases so much more powerful! Lead off with NFL for Richard, and then offer futbol, and then likewise offer Jorge futbol and then offer an NFL package. It's not "rocket science"... it's simply a bit of science applied to marketing.
But it can mean increased $$$'s for everyone.
And this is one reason why I aim to "Engage PhD's". Examine the friends you interact with on a normal basis. Are they like you? Probably. Do they share your beliefs? Probably Are they better than you in some way? Probably NOT.
And here's where the tough get going. I've stated I'm not degreed. I do, however, have a ridiculously high proportion of Twitter followers that are PhD's- offhand, I'd say close to 3%. I'm fairly certain that even among college graduates, 3% of one's contacts being PhD's would be a huge number.
Why, again?
To be candid, a person with a PhD has achieved something and unlocked a few doors that would be inaccessible to most "normal" people. It's just plain fun when someone like D J Patil mentions something you've tweeted in a note (and if you don't know who D J Patil is, look him up)! And as much as I cherish those, the real kicks come from folks who post back to, thanking me for a retweet of something they're passionate about.
This sounds like IRL Pokemon, but the folks I'm engaged with on Twitter- I really want to engage with. So thanks, to Carla, Kirk, Lee and a few others who got me started down this road.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging about data analysis and management so you don't have to.
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