The Network Harm and Economic Losses Caused by Spam in the Era of Big Data

 

 

Spam originated in the United States in the 1990s. According to SECURELIST (2014), global spam accounted for 73.3% of all mail in December 2013, and China ranked highest in spam sources (23.1%), followed by United States (19%) and South Korea ranks third (13.9%). These three countries account for 56% of the total spam in the world. A large amount of spam is used to spread advertisements, phishing attacks, pornographic information network rumors, cyber fraud, and computer viruses. It not only consumes a lot of storage space and other network sources, affects normal network transmission, and even directly threatens user rights, public safety, cyber security, and national security, which have caused a huge impact on the order of cyberspace virtual society.

 

 

On the other hand, spam also brings huge economic losses to e-mail users. According to SPAMFIGHTER (2009),  spam will result in the global expenditure of $130 Billion in 2009, with $42 Billion in the United States alone.  E-mail as an important resource for corporate business operations will be maximized in the era of big data. Without the establishment and perfection of a corresponding system to regulate, spam will become even more rampant. For the increasingly serious problem of spam, scientific and technological means is one of its main solutions. Every country is seeking to reject spam through technology.

 

In the world, it has become a trend to curb the proliferation of spam through legal regulations. According to Verticalresponse (2017), the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Australia have all established specific regulations for spam.

 

Therefore, exploring the legal basis of legislation on spam,  clarifying the rights and interests of the recipients and senders involved in the regulation of spam, and exploring the legal mechanisms for balancing the interests of both parties have positive theoretical and practical significance to promote sound interaction between science and technology and economy.

United Airlines – Optimizing Keyword Selection to Double Ticket Growth

During the first quarter of 2007, United Airlines took full advantage of search engine marketing methods to fully interact with consumers before making ticket purchasing decisions, and to make the most effective ticket information that consumers want to know in advance.It was conveyed that sales generated by search engine marketing more than doubled without increasing in advertising budget.

 

 

According to research conducted by United Airlines, 65% consumers make at least 3 searches before making travel decisions and 29% consumers conduct more than 5 searches. The information that the user focuses on is mainly reflected in three aspects: price, service, and detailed information about the airline. Therefore, the choice of keywords and the presentation of the results were optimized in term of these three aspects of information, so that consumers knew the relevant information before making decisions, thus promoting the sales of tickets.

 

My personal opinion is that search engine marketing is a sales process. From the decision of the target audience to the selection of keywords, to the attraction of the audience to the quality of the creative writing, and to the final conversion to the guidance of the landing page. The whole process needs to be seamless, and the data is used to increase the value.

 

Search engine marketing can inform the customer what the details are in the purchase period,which provide customer convenience and build a good brand image in the customer’s mind. And how to grasp these details, such as enhancing the ability to communicate with customers in the marketing activities. Optimizing the presentation of these information at all times based on the needs of customers, so that marketing staffs and users can maintain an interactive cycle, thus generating actual promoting significance for sales. As long as you can give your customers what they want, the company’s sales will rise naturally.

The role of big data in marketing

 

Big data is a collection of data that is captured, managed, and processed using common software tools within an affordable time frame.

Big data features:

1.Volume: The size of the data determines the considered data value and potential information

2.Variety: Diversity of data types

3.Velocity: Refers to the speed of retrieving data

4.Variability: The process that hampers the processing and effective management of data

5.Veracity: Quality of data

 

Is big data really so good? There is no doubt that big data is a valuable tool and has a crucial influence in some areas. For example, the success of artificial intelligence computer programs for nearly two decades, from Google’s searching engine to IBM’s Watson computer question &answering system,which have included a large amount of data processing. For marketing, based on big data, it can better do finer operation monitoring, more accurate user segmentation and personalized recommendations, more reasonable evaluation of marketing effectiveness, and make marketing strategy innovations based on the user’s life cycle. Specific attention in the following areas:

 

1. User segmentation through big data-based methods. We can find out better segmentation dimensions and make better segmentation for users to assist product operators in doing more accurate user segmentation and gain insights into the interests and consuming habit of each segmented population.  Making targeted planning and operation activities for each type of user.

 

2. Through the big data approach, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of different channels. If you only look at some superficial data, such as the click-through rate of advertisements, it is very difficult to measure the true effect of different promotion channels. If you follow the user’s channel behavior and follow-up product behavior, and build a channel quality assessment model based on this data, you will be able to better find the true quality of the channel, or find out how much of the promotion channel is false flow.

 

3. Accurately position audience by using big data. Through user behavior and preference, combined with personalized recommendations for different products according to the user’s different interests and needs, in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the promotion of resources.

Marketers are always looking for ways to use large amounts of data, and large amounts of data are produced every second. In fact, the data itself does not generate value. How to analyze and use big data to help the business is the key. With the development of data science, it is now possible to analyze most of the material and eventually turn it into a productive marketing strategy.

Ice Bucket Challenge: Successful Viral Marketing

 

Zero cost, and break the Internet in a short time, “Ice Bucket Challenge” is a successful viral marketing. Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, the famous e-commerce consultant in the United States, believes that viral marketing encourages users to spread marketing information to others, and create a potential growth and increase it geometrically for exposure and impact of information.

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In the summer of 2014, ice bucket challenges swept the world. This philanthropic activity initiated by the American Association of ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). Association requires participants to publish online videos of their icy waters and then name others to participate. Invitees either accept the challenge within 24 hours or choose to donate 100 USD. Kennedy, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Kobe Bryant, Justin Black and other celebrities accepted challenges.

With the continuous celebrity effect, the headquarters of the ALS Association received 2.3 million US dollars in donations from July 29 to August 12, while donations received during the same period last year were only 25,000 US dollars. As of August 20, the number of donations had reached 11.4 million US dollars.

“Ice Bucket Challenge” is a successful viral marketing. Even if we can no longer see such a social storm, the secret of the success of the ice bucket challenge is worth our discussion.

 

The right time

The challenge took place in June and peaked in August. Its timing was perfect. For the northern hemisphere, it is summer. In hot weather, many people may be willing to pour cold water on top of their heads. Summer is a popular time for vacations and many are able to enjoy a more relaxed work schedule. School is out and extended hours of sunlight allowed people to participate in the Challenge and video their super soaking after work.

Celebrity effect 

The participation of influential people is one of the keys to its success. In the “Ice Bucket Challenge”, many famous people in the world have been named. Their popularity is a huge communication force.  In addition, the method of pouring ice water allows the public to see the “Interesting” moment when well-dressed celebrities are being poured ice water. It satisfies the crowd’s onlookers and spectator’s desire in the entertainment era.

Communication mode

 The rules for relay names and time-limited challenges are instruments for rapidly growing “viruses.” The viral marketing of the “Ice Bucket Challenge”  in the name of charity allowes participants to stand on the moral high ground and make the named person have to fight. The Internet has also provided an efficient channel for ice bucket challenge. Its low cost, openness, timeliness, and interactivity have provided a platform for the participation of celebrities and the general public. Although many people criticize the “ice bucket challenge” for creating an eyeball effect and it is a celebrity show,  it has undeniably raised the awareness and concern of the global public for ALS disease, and has successfully raised a large number of donations. Its innovative viral marketing is undoubtedly successful.

 

Viral marketing often has a certain period. When the public’s attention is reduced, the “ice bucket” really cools down. How can ALS charity continue effectively? Perhaps, continuous innovation and creation of new “viruses” can arouse public concern again.

Social Media: The New Direction of Advertising

With the Internet has become more and more developed, more and more people are beginning to enjoy using social media. If someone stand up, someone will fall. The rise of social media has directly led to the decline of the broadcast media. The obvious manifestation is that fewer and fewer people turn on the TV or radio. And with the decline of the broadcast media, advertisements in broadcast media are bound to have a huge influence: High advertising costs but no many audience, the effect of advertising has become minimal. At this time many companies’ advertising has discovered a new platform — Social Media.

In addition to social media has a large number of users, the user’s love of visual content is also an important reason why companies choose to put advertising on social media. According to Sensis Social Media, due to our love for visual content, the usage on Instagram (up from 31% to 46%) and Snapchat (up from 22% to 40%) have increased，with Twitter also seeing an uplift (up from 19% to 32%) after moving to a more visual layout. Therefore, why a creative, eye-catching ads can not attract users?

This is Adidas’ Instagram video for the promotion of new football shoes. The spokesperson is football superstar Leo Messi. If the user who is using Instragram is a football fan or a fan of Leo Messi (Leo Messi has 88.2 million fans on Instragram)， then it may be attracted by this advertisement or even click on the relevant link. Therefore, it appears social media advertising or sponsorship is gaining greater acceptance as a marketing tool for brands.

 

Furthermore，virtually everybody in our sample uses the Internet and more than half (56%) do so more than five times per day. The average number of Internet-enabled devices owned is three. There was also growth in the frequency of using social networking sites with 59% doing so daily (up from 50%) and 35% checking in more than five times per day (up from 26%). For nearly six in ten (57%), social networking is one of the first things they do each morning. This behavior has increased yearly since 2012 when it was 33%. The use of high-frequency users will definitely increase the exposure of advertisements, thus increasing brand awareness and image. This is the company’s most desired result.

In summary, social media has a huge flow of people，users love visual content and do not reject advertisements even willing to see advertisements. It shows that social media is the direction of company advertising in the future.