A recent study shows that 3.96 billion people are currently using social media—that’s more than half of the world’s total population.(1) The increase includes more than one million new users since July 2019 which is 12 new users every second.(2) The data to create new leads from these new users could be a boon for any business but Sky Cassidy, CEO of MountainTop Data, says it is imperative that businesses have correct, clean data.

“Having the correct data can be a game-changer for any company,” Cassidy explains. “Data is sometimes described as the lifeblood of a company—it helps businesses to thrive. Data, used properly, is no longer a nice-to-have, it is a must-have to compete in any industry.”

Unfortunately, the data companies rely on is often incorrect—corrupted by duplicate information and inaccuracies. This dirty data can have a negative effect on a company’s bottom line, with some business leaders estimating erroneous online accounts have cost them 12% of their overall revenue. In addition to lost revenue, dirty data can result in wasted time, missed opportunities, ineffective marketing strategies and poor engagement.(3) Overall, poor data quality has cost the US economy approximately $3.1 trillion annually.(4)

In some cases, the methods that businesses use to collect data can cause an increase in incorrect information among their client list. Billions of people look at social media daily and many businesses rely on it for lead generations,(5) but the top social media outlets report that millions of profiles on their platforms are fake.(6)(8) According to MountainTop Data, the most common fake name in business data is Joe King and 25% of people have admitted to creating a fake social media account which means if marketers blindly collect information from social media, they could be damaging their bottom line.(9) These fake accounts can cause marketers to waste valuable time and money chasing leads that aren’t there.

In order to get reliable and correct lead generations, Cassidy recommends regular ongoing data maintenance including email verification, data normalization, phone verification, duplicate identification, and general data cleaning for existing lists. He also suggests that upgrading in-house data with more complete information can help companies generate quality leads. “The element that separates one data intelligence company from another is the accuracy of the data. Among various data intelligence companies, accuracy is not a given,” he says. “MountainTop Data uses a 16-step Proprietary Data Verification process that digs several levels deeper than the verification processes of other data companies including identifying and removing ‘Joe King’ contacts.”

To ensure data is up-to-date and correct, businesses need to monitor the following on an ongoing basis:

  • Contacts—identify and remove bad contacts
  • Databases—format and standardize internal databases
  • Social Media—weed out any fake leads
  • Email Addresses—make sure you are not sending information to unopened or fake addresses

Better quality data has a wide range of benefits for businesses including increased productivity, faster sales cycles and access to information to help management make more informed and better decisions.(7) Companies that rely on clean, accurate data have an estimated lead-conversion rate of 68-1 compared with 143-1 for those that do not. On average 79% of companies that use personalized marketing campaigns exceed their revenue objectives. But correct data in the first place is essential to personalization.(3)

“The bedrock foundation of every thriving business is their marketing data,” says Cassidy. “Accurate, up-to-date and clean marketing lists are what great companies are built on. Any fracture in the ‘data foundation’ causes other functions of the business to faulter, resulting in dried up leads, plummeting sales and overall revenues diminishing. MountainTop Data’s email verification and data scrub services can weed out inaccurate information, fake accounts and duplicates to ensure messages reach the right audience.”

About MountainTop Data:
MountainTop Data, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, has been providing data services for B2B marketing for almost two decades. With an unrelenting commitment to quality they were the first company to guarantee the accuracy of their licensed data and business emails.  They provide marketing lists, data cleaning, data appending and data maintenance services. Their data services have been used by some of the world’s biggest brands across a multitude of various industries from multi-national telecommunication companies to office technology, to PR firms and more. For more information visit: https://www.mountaintopdata.com

1.    Kemp, Simon. “More than half of humanity now uses social media – here’s what that means for brands.” TNW, July 21, 2020, thenextweb.com/growth-quarters/2020/07/21/more-than-half-of-humanity-now-uses-social-media-heres-what-that-means-for-brands.
2.    Ahmed, Arooj. “3.96 Billion People around the World Now Use Social Media Platforms, According to This New Report.” Digital Information World, July 24, 2020, digitalinformationworld.com/2020/07/half-of–the-global-population-now-uses-social-media.html.
3.    Noonan, Tom. “How Dirty Is Your Data?” Chief Executive, August 6, 2020, chiefexecutive.net/how-dirty-is-your-data.
4.    Fatemi, Falon. “Best Practices for Data Hygiene.” Forbes, January 30, 2019, forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2019/01/30/best-practices-for-data-hygiene/#3221323b2395.
5.    Ndukwu, Daniel. “Social Media Lead Generation: How to Do it Right.” Business 2 Community, July 29, 2020, business2community.com/social-media/social-media-lead-generation-how-to-do-it-right-02331352.
6.    Hutchinson, Andrew. “Facebook Publishes Latest Update on Content Removals, Fake Accounts, Hate Speech and More.” Social Media Today, August 11, 2020, socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-publishes-latest-update-on-content-removals-fake-accounts-hate-s/583330.
7.    “Data is a valuable asset.” Media Update, July 24, 2020, mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/149079/data-is-a-valuable-asset.
8.    Zakrzewski, Cat. “The Technology 202: LinkedIn reports takedowns of fake profiles, violence and even child exploitation.” The Washington Post, November 21, 2019, washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-technology-202/2019/11/21/the-technology-202-linkedin-reports-takedowns-of-fake-profiles-violence-and-even-child-exploitation/5dd587c288e0fa10ffd21082.
9.    Griffith, Eric. “One in Four People Have a Fake Social Media Profile Somewhere.” Entrepreneur, November 21, 2019, entrepreneur.com/article/342776.