Today’s webinar plunged into the orderly world of data aggregators. This is definitely one of those topics where most marketers can say, “I know a little about data aggregators. I think.” It’s a topic that is often best left to the experts, and luckily, we found a great one.

Our fount of information was Joe Lazure from Infogroup, along with webinar host Josh Ades, Connectivity’s Content Marketing Manager.

Check out the recorded presentation below or scroll past for key takeaways and slides.

Here are some key takeaways from the webinar:

Webinar Takeaway #1: Data Aggregators Are After the Big “T”

Trustability. It turns out that data aggregators are very concerned with their data being clean and correct. Joe told us that if a mobile user goes to a coffee shop that’s closed but the website for the coffee business says it’s open, the user has a bad experience. The data isn’t correct. But what if the coffee shop was closed just for one day for repairs? Good data aggregators need to figure out how to capture information like this; their trustability is riding on it.

Here’s a definition of a data aggregator:

Data aggregator is a type of data and information mining process where data is searched, gathered and presented in a report-based, summarized format to achieve specific business objectives or processes and/or conduct human analysis. Data aggregation may be performed manually or through specialized software.

Why do data aggregators exist?

> Create a master database of all businesses in a given geography

> Bring it all together, clean it up and make sure it’s classified/categorized properly

We learned from Joe that there’s a very human element to the data aggregator business. QA teams monitor database compilation and phone verifications, among other tasks.

Fun Fact: Infogroup makes 30 million phone verifications per year.


Webinar Takeaway #2: Enhanced Content Makes Your Business Stand Out

Joe helpfully informed us the more information businesses provide, the easier it is for people to find their businesses and communicate with them. At this, we heard cash registers ringing all over the land.

Make listings stand out with:

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Webinar Takeaway #3: Optimize Your Online Presence without Magic

Joe taught us that data accuracy is super important. So, what’s a business owner to do? Definitely getting your house in order is the first step. This means claiming online profiles (or use Connectivity to do it for you!).

Additionally, here are three “taking care of business” tips to help bring more customers to the door:

Sites such as Superpages, Citysearch, YP.com etc. have more weight than others.

Listings with enhanced data such as hours of operation, payments accepted and storefront photos can help both in terms of rankings and in terms of customer’s choice.

Search Engines crawl the web and compare data from multiple sources. The more the data agrees, the higher your ranking.

 

Connectivity Webinar: How Data Aggregators Bring More Customers to Local Businesses from ConnectivityInc


Did you attend the webinar? Tell us your favorite takeaway in the comments!