The impact of blockchain technology in digital marketing
Digital marketing is a very important part of any business. To make a brand more visible in this diverse society, a business must be able to use various online platforms effectively to advertise. One of these online platforms is social media. Nowadays digital marketing is growing rapidly. But another technology that is advancing rapidly is blockchain, which is set to change the world of digital marketing in a new way.
Understanding blockchain technology
The blockchain is a digital, decentralized technology that is growing and making a mark in different industries such as digital marketing. Blockchain keeps a record of the transactions that take place on the peer-to-peer networks. The list of records continuously grows. These records are stored securely in numerous decentralized systems that are interconnected. As the blockchain doesn’t have a centralized point, it doesn’t have a single point of vulnerability, and hence is less vulnerable.
Now it is also growing in the digital marketing industry, adding a new revolution to the relationship between consumers and businesses. Blockchain aims to increase transparency in all sectors of a business as the information is stored digitally. This information can’t be tampered or deleted. This enables the companies to see the exact use of the funds and if the audience receives them or not. To get more idea about blockchain, one can always refer to several online blockchain tutorials to get a good grip in this area.
Affecting data privacy
Blockchain can affect digital marketing in many ways, and one of the predicted changes is in the sharing of consumer’s data. One of the most serious issues in online activities is privacy. Companies have profiles for every customer based on visited sites, searches made, products purchased, and various other things.
Hacking and leakage of personal data online are commonplace. But these could all be prevented through the use of blockchain technology. When a person uses an app or visits a site, then the company can no longer access the data, and all the personal information remains with the consumer. Due to blockchain technology, all the personal data of consumers remain safe.
Through this, the users will have control over the data and can determine how much data to share. This also means companies will also have to rely on different ways to collect data from consumers. Previously they automatically received data from consumers - now they will have to rely on consumers for receiving their data.
Changes in digital advertising
Digital marketing is a type of marketing that still has a ways to go. Consumers always have one irritating issue faced by them - ad overloads. Companies always show and send users a load of advertisements instead of sending fewer advertisements. The main reason behind this is the lack of understanding of companies about their audience.
As they don’t know the taste of their audience, they just send numerous ads hoping one will catch their interest. Most of the time, these companies annoy users by popping ads on a page that consumers visit which takes up most of the screen, which can be extremely frustrating and intrusive for the consumers.
Not only are they annoying but these large ads can also drain the battery life of devices and take up bandwidth. Blockchain-based companies are introducing apps such as Basic Attention Token (BAT) that bring changes to the interaction between advertisers, users, and publishers. The steps involved in this are:
- Advertisers can buy advertisements using the app on the brave platform.
- Users will be able to decide the type of ads they want to see. Rather than dealing with an unwanted and unnecessary number of ads, they will be able to see the ads that peak their interest most. If a user sees an ad, then they will be paid with a certain small portion of what was paid to buy the ad by the advertiser.
- As consumers receive a commission from BAT, the publishers are also paid, but the amount they receive is larger than what consumers receive.
As blockchain is a decentralized technology, it assures the digital marketers that their transactions are secure by improving cybersecurity. Also, it is not controlled centrally - in simple words, nobody owns or controls the blockchain. With this, companies or businesses will be able to avail of the numerous advantages provided by blockchain.
What about using cryptocurrencies? These are the new digital currencies that work based on blockchain technology. These are not physical or actual coins or cash but are used in the digital world, where these are stored in a digital wallet a person as coins. Just like in the real world, the values of these digital currencies are also affected by supply and demand and many other things.
No intermediaries
Beyond cryptocurrencies, blockchain offers a world of opportunities. It can affect the digital marketing industry greatly. One of this is the elimination of depending upon a middleman or intermediary in digital marketing, such as social media sites or Google. This can add more value to the ad campaigns of the companies.
Traditionally, marketers depend on these middlemen for the transactions made and also for the launch of ad campaigns, but with blockchain, there is no need to depend upon them. Blockchain eliminates the need for companies to communicate with website owners through a medium whenever an ad is going to be published.
Previously this job was done by sites like Facebook or Google to make the communication between site owners and digital marketers. But with blockchain, there is no need for intermediaries when users sign a contract related to advertising. This ensures a significant increase in the income of digital marketers due to the cutting of cost that went to intermediaries previously.
Transparency
Previously advertisers knew very fewer details about the use of ads by publishers, which led to high expenses for publishing ads and also in some cases ad fraud. But, with blockchain, the process is more transparent - also they can learn who is seeing their ads and know if it is marketed to the right audience or not.
Clearly, blockchain is a very useful technology that is revolutionizing various industries, and it can also have a great positive impact on the digital marketing industry.
Saurabh Hooda is the Co-founder of Hackr.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)