What is Hadoop and why should your company use it?

Highly scalable.

The Hadoop architecture consists of four main components: the Hadoop Distributed File System (a file system that provides better data throughput), Yet Another Resource Negotiator (which manages the cluster nodes), MapReduce (a framework that makes it possible to do parallel computing in data) and Hadoop Common (provides the necessary Java libraries).

Can Hadoop be useful for advertising?

The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Simply put, Hadoop allows advertisers to target potential customers with very specific and personalized content. Think of it this way: without this user data, your advertisers are practically running dry. They have no idea what's trending, how their customer pool breaks down, what their customers need/want, where their customers are, and which markets are hot.

With the help of Hadoop, you can process this data in a way that makes it exponentially easier for your advertising department to get granular with advertising. So instead of doing general marketing, you can be highly specific in your efforts. Even better, much of this process can be automated. Because of this, by the time your advertising department gets its hands on the processed data, it is already divided in such a way that it can create highly targeted and structured ads that are best suited for today's audience.

Hadoop in Digital Marketing

Let's say, for example, that within your advertising network you have hundreds of thousands of clients and thousands of projects. Along with these products, you have all the necessary media files, subscriptions, applications, tracking information, clicks, views, and descriptions.

Imagine your digital marketing department having to understand all this information. Not only would this be an insurmountable task, but it would also take forever to accomplish. With a framework like Hadoop, this insurmountable task is greatly simplified and the time involved becomes quite manageable. Hadoop can perform a large data dump and quickly process it into assets that your digital marketing team can use.

And because large collections of behavioral data can be accessed and used, your team can generate accurate models that focus on customer needs, wants, tastes, and location. Being able to target your digital marketing efforts very specifically will not only improve your targeting accuracy, but it will also help improve your click-through rate (CTR).

Ultimately, Hadoop can greatly help your marketing and product managers understand your customers better, which equates to more robust, accurate behavioral profiling and greater retention, conversion, and monetization.

What company doesn't want that? And because Hadoop is open source (and free), this is a win-win for every department in your company.