Imagine a world without cookies! No, not the tasty kind — rather, those digital cookies used as online trackers. In the digital world, cookies leave “crumbs” that provide a beneficial trail showing which sites and webpages are visited.
Source: DeviantArt
More specifically, cookies track which articles or blog posts are read, and even which product/service pages are visited most. Third-party content that’s read can be tracked as well.
Tracking cookies work like this:
- Tracking cookies are picked up from a favorite shopping/e-commerce website or blog
- The cookie has a unique ID that identifies the web browser, but not the individual searcher
- The owner of the site or blog pays for an advertising platform (e.g., Google)
- Google sees the unique cookie ID for a particular site and shows ads for that site on the searcher’s computer or device
The collected information is, as suggested above, usually used by marketers to keep visitors to their websites interested and engaged. But growing privacy concerns have made cookies an endangered species.
But it’s still possible to create a content marketing environment that fits into the new limitations with cookie-based data collection. Here are the possibilities of content marketing in a world without cookies:
Managing Cookies with Laws and Regulations
First, think about why third-party cookies are becoming an endangered species. One reason is because of recently enacted legislation. For example, in the EU, per the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), non-complying businesses both inside and outside of Europe could face heavy fines for third-party data violations.
GDPR guidelines require consumers to consent to personal data collection. They also have to know what the intended use is. In the United States, similar data privacy legislation is becoming increasingly commonplace.
Lawmakers in several states have responded to consumer privacy concerns with domestic and international data privacy laws or regulations. While intended to be good for the general population, such restrictions also make the content distribution process a bit more challenging.
Colorado, for instance, enacted far-reaching privacy and cyber security legislation in 2018. It also requires the implementation of vendor management programs to ensure documents containing confidential consumer info are disposed of properly.
New York is working on similar legislation. And Massachusetts has written information security programs that apply to any company that owns or licenses personal information. The Equifax data breach inspired similar regulations in Vermont. Meanwhile, California’s Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 extends the definition of “personal information” to include:
- Browsing history
- Search history
- Inferences drawn from certain personal data
Cookies Don’t Always Tell the Full Story
It’s not just new laws that are putting third-party cookies on life support. Online searchers are also taking steps to retain their privacy, as evidenced by plans already in the works for cookieless browsers. Firefox and Safari have, in fact, already disabled these trackers.
But a content marketing diet based solely on cookies isn’t a healthy one in terms of getting an accurate picture of audience behaviors and preferences. The truth about cookies is that in today’s world, where there are multiple ways to engage digitally, cookies don’t tell the whole story.
Ben Campbell, Director of Advertising & Data Products at Nine, Australia’s largest locally owned media company, notes that “cookies have been an imperfect tracking mechanism for some time.” Campbell points out cookies are device-level identifiers, but they aren’t personal-level identifiers.
Plus, cookies don’t work in all digital environments, like mobile apps or Internet-connected TVs. And now that browsers are phasing out cookie tracking, this type of data is quickly becoming even less accurate and reliable.
Finding a Happy Medium
Jessica Muñoz, the VP of product marketing at Live Intent, believes content marketing should be focused on looking at how target searchers are “engaging with content across multiple publishing brands.”
In other words, now is the best time for marketers to go beyond cookies when it comes to gathering useful target audience data. An efficient way to accomplish this goal is with an AI-driven content engine such as those developed by Vestorly, Uberflip, Curata, and others. This is a way to use learning-based algorithms that find patterns in data to better manage content distribution.
The concept of finding a happy medium should also apply to the types of content distributed. Besides, the engagement that comes from a healthy content mix can result in even more useful data specific to content interaction and related behaviors.
Lastly, marketers should still use cookie-based data when it’s available. But it shouldn’t be the only source of consumer data used to build and fine-tune content marketing strategies. It should also be used and collected responsibly.
Transitioning Away from Third-Party Cookies
Many top content marketing firms are already moving away from third-party cookies in response to increasing regulations and browsers restricting cookie data access. For instance, the data connectivity platform, LiveRamp, has developed what they call Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS). It’s based on various brands’ first-party data.
A content marketing executive from UM Australia points out that the structure of digital marketing agencies is changing as well in response to the need to find new ways to gather and use target audience data.
One change of this nature involves more client interaction. In some instances, clients are now embedded in media and marketing teams. What this does is allow them to be more hands-on with data acquisition and analysis.
The popular Mac browser, Safari, is also offering added cookie collection protection. Depending on the amount of traffic a site currently receives from this browser, companies have likely already been missing attribution data from extended user journeys for a while. And in early 2020, Apple added full third-party cookie-blocking capabilities to Safari.
On the positive side, there are other tried-and-true ways marketers can gather useful data to streamline content distribution efforts. Simply asking for personal data, for example, is surprisingly effective. Millennials, in particular, tend to be more willing to provide personal details, such as email addresses, if they know they’ll get more personalized brand interactions in return.
Giving Online Searchers a Choice
As noted above, younger consumers tend to prefer personalization when interacting with brands. In fact, a recent Harris Poll survey revealed that 63 percent of consumers expect personalization, so this desire isn’t limited to the younger generations.
At the same time, consumers, regardless of demographics or how they prefer to interact with brands they like, have a right to make a choice about personal data tracking. Facebook does this by giving users the option to select “block third-party cookies and site data” if there is a desire not to be tracked.
The bottom line here is to not be afraid of a cookie-free world. It’s still entirely possible for markers to gather useful data and make content marketing work in a way that engages the desired audience as long as multiple and relevant methods and sources are utilized.
Key Takeaways
- Growing privacy concerns have made tracking cookies an endangered species.
-
A content marketing diet based solely on cookies isn’t a healthy one anyway in terms of getting an accurate picture of audience behaviors and preferences.
- Many top content marketing firms are already moving away from third-party cookies in response to increasing regulations and browsers restricting cookie data access.
In addition to the above suggestions, another way to accomplish this goal is with an AI-driven content engine. This method uses learning-based algorithms that find patterns in data to better manage content distribution.
Check Out The New Martech Cube Podcast. For more such updates follow us on Google News Martech News
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Goobich, Head of Marketing, Vestorly & Monthly Contributor Martech Cube
Joel Goobich the Head of Marketing at Vestorly Inc., a technology company whose content management engine leverages the power of web content for increased engagement, brand trust, and business intelligence. As a seasoned entrepreneur, business founder, executive and management consultant, Joel has worn almost every hat in the business person’s closet. Joel is a contributing writer to Forbes, a veteran podcaster, published author, and a recognized industry thought leader in the areas of video marketing, content marketing, entrepreneurship and business leverage. His recent book, HyperLeverage – Do More With What You Have For Exceptional Results, was published in January 2020.