Tag: Alpha

How to Use Wolfram Alpha for Marketing Research

Are you searching for new ways to make sense of the marketing data you’ve been aggregating?

With the continuous growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and the ever-collecting stores of data, there’s a better way to view and use existing marketing data.

While many online tools promise functionality to allow users to see data in a whole new way, search engine Wolfram Alpha actually delivers.

Through a combination of AI, algorithms, and an extensive knowledge base, this unique engine can provide marketers with valuable data points, as well as answers to complex computational queries.

Interested?

You should be.

In this post, we’ll explore Wolfram Alpha offerings and break down five ways the search engine can best benefit data-minded marketers.

What Is Wolfram Alpha?

Wolfram Alpha self identifies as an answers engine.

While the term engine may conjure images of Google’s search results, Wolfram Alpha wasn’t created to compete with Google—in fact, it has highly different functionality than the search giant.

Launched in 2009, the engine serves up lists and tables, providing users with specific, numeric-based answers to their questions. Given this emphasis on numbers and data, this engine isn’t necessarily for purchase-minded searchers; rather, it’s a data-driven engine that can provide insights.

Wolfram Alpha works through harnessing the extensive stores of collected expert-level data and algorithms to answer questions, conduct analyses, and build reports.

Versatile in its usability, this search engine can be used by students to solve equations just as easily as it can help you find nutritional information about M&Ms.

While you may not care about the caloric values associated with M&Ms, you should care about how these incredible data stores can benefit marketers.

While the free version of this engine is filled with useful actions, Wolfram Alpha Pro users can also upload data, get custom visuals for presentation, and access unique web apps.

Below, we break down the five top ways marketers can benefit from the unique tool that is Wolfram Alpha.

5 Ways to Use Wolfram Alpha for Marketing Research

While some marketers may love a deep data dive, some may detest it. Regardless of which camp you belong in, Wolfram Alpha can take the guesswork out of data analysis for you.

What’s more, the engine removes the guesswork from data points, providing more reliable figures than other sources.

Below are the five best ways Wolfram Alpha can help you optimize your marketing campaigns.

1. Upload Files for Automatic Analysis and Computation

Whether you’re tracking the success of your content, the performance of your social channels, or break-even analysis, aggregating all of your marketing data can be difficult.

With the Wolfram Alpha engine, the heavy lifting is done for you, letting you focus on other aspects of your marketing plan.

Check out this simple tool for calculating cost per thousand impressions (CPM):

Wolfram Alpha CPM Calculator

A breeze, right?

In addition to the engine’s standard calculators, you can select from hundreds of existing widgets from the Widget Gallery that come with a simple embed code that you can easily copy and paste.

These widgets operate as shortcuts for your most-used formulas or can be built into your site.

wolfram alpha - break-even analysis widget

Regardless of the computations you seek, Wolfram Alpha can complete simple to complex equations, making your job that much easier.

2. Research Keywords

As you most likely know, keyword research refers to the process of finding and analyzing terms individuals enter into search engines. This process lets marketers discover which terms to target to reach their ideal audience.

After you’ve identified the most important topics that relate to your audience and identified the related keywords, it’s time to dive deeper.

While you can certainly turn to Google’s “searches related to…” list that manifests at the bottom of your query page, you can also look to Wolfram Alpha to help you get creative about related terms that your audience may be searching.

Wolfram Alpha offers information about words that can be of particular interest to marketers. The two that top our list include word frequency and the thesaurus function:

  • Word frequency: This tool enables searchers to learn the historical usage of a word, tracking its ebbs and flows in popularity over time. This can benefit your keyword research, as it speaks toward a word’s popularity (or lack thereof) and can be a strong indicator of search volume.
  • Thesaurus: This feature not only allows users to search term synonyms but to either narrow or expand that search through hypernyms or hyponyms. Beneficial to marketers in its broadening and narrowing capacity, Wolfram Alpha helps you discover related terms you may have otherwise bypassed.

3. Visualize Data

While data for data’s sake is one thing, taking data and turning it into something consumable for your company or client takes data utility to the next level.

Wolfram Alpha doesn’t just compute metrics; it can chart them too.

Do you have some marketing results you want to see charted over time, with the ebbs and flows of success reflected in an easily consumable manner?

Plotting functions with Wolfram Alpha is super easy: Simply enter the particular function you want to graph and let the engine do the rest for you. The number and type of graphs that Wolfram Alpha can build are seemingly endless.

If you find yourself overwhelmed, here are three standard graph types Wolfram Alpha can help you build that are incredibly effective or digital marketers:

  • Stacked charts: These can help demonstrate cumulative composition throughout a time span, such as leads from marketing channels.
  • Pie charts: They are incredibly versatile and can help demonstrate everything from budget allotment to the percentage of users using respective social media channels.
  • Distribution graphs: These allow marketers to show a single variable with a multitude of distribution points.

4. Use Localization

Perhaps you’re interested in doing some out-of-home advertising for your latest campaign. You want to be sure that the population in the area you’ve identified as a potential site aligns with your audience.

You could turn to Google, but you should turn to Wolfram Alpha.

While Google can serve up different results to queries depending on where you’re physically standing, it can’t make every site it aggregates data from do the same. Wolfram Alpha, however, does not rely on other sites for its wealth of data, which makes the engine’s localization analysis more accurate to your query.

Let’s return to the out-of-home advertising example: Imagine you want to know the per capita income per a specific area to know if your product will work within the parameters of the population’s budget.

While Google will give you pretty decent results, Wolfram Alpha will provide you with more precise ones with accompanying information (like currency) reflecting your current location.

wolfram alpha - average nyc income

5. Compare Data

With the advertising revenue function of Wolfram Alpha, you can determine the projected outcomes of your advertising campaigns, as well as all the associated metrics.

Okay, maybe not that impressive. However, you can also compare campaigns to one another, identifying areas for improvement and relative and collective successes and failures.

The search engine’s comparison function doesn’t end here.

While on traditional search engines like Google and Bing, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sales tax comparison for three United States cities, but Wolfram Alpha serves up this data quickly and easily.

In addition, if you’re in need of a comparison between two data sets, Google has to have a relevant site indexed to provide that information, or you have to manually compare the sets. With Wolfram Alpha, you can compare multiple data sets for results. The engine also generates graphs, historical data comparisons, ratios, and tables.

If we continue with our ongoing out-of-home advertising example, you can compare regional information regarding population age, income, and various other helpful demographics that allow you to make informed decisions about areas for potential advertising.

How to Use Wolfram Alpha for Marketing Research

Regardless of what data points you’re searching for, the Wolfram Alpha answers engine has an algorithm for you. What’s more, savvy marketers can harness its incomparable data stores to dig deep into metrics, conducting better research for better results. Areas that can benefit marketers include:

  1. Uploading files for automatic analysis and computation:

    With Wolfram Alpha’s insane computational ability, you can input almost any equation and gain instantaneous results.

  2. Researching keywords:

    Tired of your go-to keyword research tools? This engine can help you dive deeper into your understanding of which words resonate with your audience.

  3. Visualizing data:

    Pie chart? Scatter plot? Wolfram Alpha can help you see and present your marketing data in new, simple ways.

  4. Using localization:

    Get better data about your consumers from Wolfram Alpha’s deep data stores. What’s more? The engine automatically translates that information into the most relevant representation of your location.

  5. Comparing data:

    With Wolfram Alpha, you can compare almost anything through the engine’s deep data stores. Compare locations, audiences, and outcomes for improved marketing success for all your campaigns.

Wolfram Alpha for Marketing Research Conclusion

While Wolfram Alpha isn’t a traditional search engine that will send marketers scurrying to rank on its pages, the engine can still provide marketers and individuals alike with a plethora of knowledge that can help drive your next digital campaign.

As you explore the inner workings and functionalities of Wolfram Alpha, be sure to keep an eye on how the engine can help you dive deeper into data that will allow you to understand your audience, deliver effective presentations, or simply conduct better research.

As the platform continues to evolve, keep an eye on the blog to learn about the new advances and offerings the platform is creating that can help you harness the power of data to supercharge your next campaign.

What’s the most effective way you’ve used Wolfram Alpha for marketing research?

Who is Generation Alpha, and Why Are They Important to Marketers?

Every new generation brings new customs, behaviors, and cultural phenomena that shape the world as we know it.

Baby boomers brought significant economic influence.

Millennials taught us new ways of viewing our socio-political world.

Generation Z showed us what the intersection of technology and humanity looks like.

Now, we have Generation Alpha, a demographic of tech-savvy, racially diverse, and unapologetically influential children who will start entering adulthood at the end of the 2020s.

But, they’re children. They aren’t our buyers. Why should marketers care about them right now?

Studies have shown children under 12 can influence parental purchases of $130 to $670 billion a year. And, it won’t be long before they are the buyers.

It’s never too early to prepare. In fact, since the oldest kids in this generation are starting to hit middle school, we may even be cutting it close.

Let’s take a look at the climate shaping this upcoming generation and what we can expect from them in the future.

What Birth Years Are Considered Generation Alpha?

Generation Alpha covers those born between 2010 and 2024. Most of their parents are Millennials.

Every nine minutes, a new member of Generation Alpha is born in the United States. By 2025, this group will reach a worldwide population of more than two billion.

infographic of generation alpha births

Generation Alpha Culture and the Future of Marketing

Although some Gen Alpha babies haven’t been born yet, there are a few things we can predict about them.

For starters, Generation Alpha will be the most technologically advanced generation to date, growing up with mobile devices, AI, social media, advanced healthcare, and robotics as parts of their everyday lives.

They will be digitally literate and adept multi-taskers as a result.

Gen Alpha also stands to be the most materially endowed generation of all time. This means they could end up being able to spend more on nonessentials than previous generations.

They also stand to be the most globally informed group so far, and they will have the longest life spans.

Generation Alpha Technology Trends

As Generation Alpha evolves, so will their familiar technology.

We’ve already seen the effects of exponential technological growth on current generations, and these effects will continue to grow.

It’s expected that AI and robotics will be completely integrated into modern life by 2025. We can also expect machine learning, natural language processing, and smart devices to change, improve, and further connect us in the coming years.

Gen Alpha may find themselves interacting with robots just as frequently as with humans.

For marketers, this means speaking to an astute audience that may know the ideal product better than we do.

Similarly, we can expect Gen Alpha to reject traditional forms of marketing, much like their Millennial parents did not long ago. An increasing interest in personalization, humanized messaging, and social shopping should be assumed.

Generation Alpha Education Trends

Generation Alpha stands to be the most educated generation to date.

Access to education is at an all-time high, with most countries reporting twelve or more years of schooling for every individual citizen.

According to UNESCO, each additional year of education increases a person’s earnings by roughly 10%.

With improving digital resources and the increasing availability of technology, Gen Alpha will have better access to long-term education than any previous generation.

That said, the way they view education will likely be different. There may be less emphasis on formal degrees and, instead, a focus on skills.

The Eduniversal Evaluation Agency (EEA) put it this way:

In an age where every other tech CEO and startup founder dropped out of college and now rakes in millions, it’s hard to argue that moving forward, a degree will remain an absolute prerequisite for success.

In addition to these trends, we’ll see the continuation of highly personalized instructional content.

A generation used to instant access to information is unlikely to succeed in three-hour-long lectures. Instead, we can expect an increase in online learning, especially tutorials, which will further the technological proficiency of Gen Alpha.

Generation Alpha Social Media Trends

Young people are increasingly drawn to social media. With the introduction of social media e-commerce, social media has become one of the most essential tools for marketers in the modern age.

One survey found 49% of 16- to 24-year-olds look to social media for purchase inspiration. This is higher than older generations—their parents may only do this 20% of the time, for instance.

As more Gen Alpha kids grow up immersed in social media, we can predict social media usage will become an increasingly inextricable part of their lives.

Gen Alpha already uses social media differently than their parents. They’re less likely to be on Facebook or Twitter, favoring Instagram and TikTok. Brands that stay on top of the newest technology stand to see greater success with this burgeoning generation.

engagement table of generation alpha

Generation Alpha Data Sharing Trends

Gen Alpha may be warier of providing or allowing access to their data to social media giants, search engines, ad agencies, and so on. We’re already seeing this trend today, with more and more countries instituting data privacy laws such as the GDPR.

By the time Generation Alpha reaches maturity, they’ll probably have a deep understanding of their data and how it’s used. This could lead to higher levels of criticism and questioning when consenting to data usage—they might read that fine print.

Companies looking to leverage consumer data should consider what they give back in return. Often, an equal exchange is enough to encourage consumer consent.

Brands doing this incorrectly risk losing their rising audience.

Generation Alpha Healthcare Advancements

Much like their millennial parents, Gen Alpha will likely spend more time finding medical information online. Self-service and convenience will continue to be driving factors for Gen Alpha’s healthcare.

In addition, younger generations are increasingly aware of mental health and are more likely to seek help for challenges with theirs when needed. They’ll likely expect their workplaces to offer mental health coverage and resources.

On the brand side, this means staying compassionate and aware of mental health can greatly improve overall brand integrity.

The Bell Let’s Talk movement is a strong example of a brand doing this right.

Healthcare Advancement for Generation Alpha

Generation Alpha Media Literacy Trends

Gen Alpha will have the best media literacy of any generation. They’ll be able to separate fact from fiction and more likely to identify conspiracy theories or fake news circulating on the internet.

For marketers, this means speaking to a well-informed audience that isn’t likely to be persuaded by traditional marketing tactics.

It also means engaging Gen Alpha in the arenas they prefer. Podcasting, video content, and gamification will become increasingly important when delivering information.

Additionally, personalization in marketing will continue to grow in popularity. For Gen Alpha, it won’t be enough to simply push a sale. Marketers will need to connect with this generation in an ongoing way.

Generation Alpha Diversity Trends

The US is becoming more diverse, and younger generations are increasingly aware and accepting of challenges based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Gen Alpha’s patience for inequality will almost surely continue to decrease as they grow up.

Children of this generation are unlikely to work for a company that doesn’t reflect their values. In the same way, they won’t buy from brands that go against what they believe in.

Brands championing diversity and social issues while embracing widespread change will flourish. Brands that don’t evolve will be left behind.

Generation Alpha Economic Trends

Generation Alpha first came into being during an economically tumultuous time as the world recovered from the Great Recession.

They’ve gone through some pretty interesting ups and downs since then, and significant political and social issues will continue to affect their economic standing.

We can be reasonably sure that they’ll be largely invested in the experience economy, including live entertainment, amusement parks, spectator sports, and tours.

This economy has largely been fueled by social media and technology, as people share the fun they’re having and others want to have adventures as well.

Additionally, Gen Alpha is predicted to be the longest-living generation of humans so far. Because of this, they’ll likely stay in the workforce longer, meaning more money over their working years.

As marketers, we need to plan for all of this. Our consumers face a bit of a question mark in terms of the economy. But, we know what they want—experiences—and that they’ll be educated and in the workforce for a long time. Catering to a changing climate and meeting their needs and desires throughout their lifetimes is essential.

Conclusion

Generation Alpha represents a fascinating, technologically advanced evolution of the human species.

People in this generation are digital natives growing up with smartphones, social media, and AI. They’re entering a genuinely advanced world where automation and innovation rule.

Additionally, their purchasing influence is already present, and they’re influencing their parents buying decisions even now.

Marketers who pay attention to this generation now will be better prepared to out-market big competitors in the coming years.

We can expect to see a well-educated, digitally fluent, socially-conscious generation. We need to keep up.

What predictions do you have for Gen Alpha?

The post Who is Generation Alpha, and Why Are They Important to Marketers? appeared first on Neil Patel.