Think of the moment in The Matrix, where you’re Keanu Reeves, just immersed into the “real world,” standing before the computer to see a fast track digital chain of figures streaming down the screen. Recall the sheer overwhelming confusion of the intricate process that stood behind everything you thought was a routine day to day affair.
You’ll likely relive that experience when you visit 33across.com. You know it’s important. You know it’s powerful. But you have no idea how to grasp it.
And that’s what 33Across does – it connects marketers to a much deeper network within digital media. While most businesses are stuck on link building and comment gathering, 33Across takes the power of the web leagues further by graphing social networking behavior. 33Across doesn’t just fixate on links and stats; they calculate the likelihood of user preferences based on social patterns. They also plug into data patterns within an individual’s social network, so that advertisers aren’t just exposed to the individual but also to their extended network.
Extended networks matter, especially in a digital context where a growing percentage of the average American’s daily information comes from our social network rather than from outside sources or direct ads. You’re more likely to receive, respond favorably to and trust information that’s sourced from your trusted network. 33Across recognizes this, and advertisers like this. So that article that’s circulated to your chain of friends, or that comment left on your blog page, now has a lot more telling and selling power than it did before. 33Across tracks exactly this level of “social networking behavior” across over a billion users.
CEO and co-founder, Eric Wheeler, charts the pattern as “friendship analysis,” adding that “in some categories, people’s social contacts are more than five times as likely to click on the same ads, and buy the same products, as the general public. Mining these relationships (while steering clear of privacy backlash) could finally provide those companies and others with a social network business model.
Using their trademarked Brand Graph, the company is able to leverage consumer reactions. Social interactions aren’t simple interactions for heavy hitting marketers. Everything from what’s “read, purchased, shared, and recommended in real-time” is charted, calculated and graphed; in short, once puzzling social connects are now qualified and quantified for consumption through predictive technology that makes advertising digitally a more exacting process.
Most recently, 33Across launched “Social Personas” that offer over 50 break downs of social user types paired with real-time data. The move offers Fortune 1000 advertisers more refined and targeted reach, scalable reach, real-time insights and refined media placement that delivers “strategically to prequalified customers.” While small businesses don’t have the budgets of Fortune 1000 advertisers, they can reap benefits from the basic principles behind 33Across and their competitors, which include Rapleaf.
Aside from deciphering social patterns, 33Across is creating personalized connections between brands and consumers. Here is where small businesses have the upper hand over large corporations. Big business stumbles to connect socially for the very simple reason that it often is too big and too spread out to be able to reach out personally. Never mind the fact that big business suffers from its own set of red tape it has to clear before taking on any idea or procedures. It can’t act quickly – or personally.
Small business owners are unlikely to have that problem. They call the shots and they are often the visible faces behind their brands. Take advantage of your small biz status by reaching out to local and regional consumers as much as possible. You can also reach out to your industry or unique niche if applicable. Take advantage of festivals, farmers markets, community groups, local events, fairs, sponsorship opportunities and more. The more connected you are, the more likely you are to take advantage of social friendship.
