IBM’s new version of Weston Analytics includes a free version which will make big data analysis available to all.

Big Data, an ever-popular marketing buzzword, really means crunching data to find useful trends, and getting to know your audience better.

Big Data techniques are important to content marketers because they could give useful insights into how and where content is consumed, and better insights into the impact.

The senior vice president of IBM’s Information and Analytics Group, Bob Picciano, said, “Watson Analytics is designed to help all business people – from sales reps on the road to company CEOs – see patterns, pursue ideas and improve all types of decisions.”

Big Data number crunching has typically been the preserve of large companies with big budgets. This removes that hurdle.

“We have eliminated the barrier between the answers they seek, the analytics they want and the data in the form they need. The combination of Watson-fueled analytics to magnify human cognition, the vast potential of big data, and cloud-scale delivery to PCs, smart phones and other devices is transformational,” said Picciano.

IBM hopes the freemium version of the product will encourage upgrades to paid versions, but the system will work without.

IBM claims to offer Watson as a package that can do everything – you should in theory be able to port your existing analytics over to it and “cleanse and refine it, discover insights, predict outcomes, visualize results, create reports or dashboards, and collaborate with others”, reads the blurb.

It also features predictive analysis. That means it can find patterns for you that you might not have even consider looking for.

Finally, it aims to do it all simply, without jargon.

Another possible use for content marketers is how the tool can dump data into useful graphs and charts easily to make visual storytelling easier.

To take advantage you need to register with IBM’s Cloud service, or click here.