Third-party cookies are dead, thanks to Google and Apple. Act quickly to transition away from third-party cookies.
Marketing & Growth
January 11, 2024
In 2024, third-party cookies are dead, thanks to Google and Apple. Those two companies have ended support for these cookies in their browsers, which account for most of the world’s browsers. If you act quickly, you can transition away from third-party cookies and thrive in the new environment.
There are a few key terms you should know to navigate. The following definitions will help you to understand what’s changing.
Gathering first-party data is a priority for several reasons. First, gathering a significant amount of first-party data means you’re less reliant on the major social media companies. Second, your efforts to gather first-party data will also help you focus more on keeping your audience engaged.
For publishers and brands new to first-party data, it is vital to create the proper foundation. Once you have these elements in place, you’ll find it much easier to accelerate your growth.
Simply gathering massive data about your audience will not accomplish anything for your business. This data collection effort needs to support your goals. With that alignment, winning buy-in for first-party data will be easier.
To build alignment, ask your team the following questions:
The next foundation step is to identify your first-party data assets. In many cases, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that you have significant data already. For example, consider the following examples to get your inventory started:
The final preparation step is to brainstorm a few first-party growth ideas. It helps to frame this question as a value exchange. Ask yourself what valuable content and experiences you can offer your audience in exchange for their data.
Your historical data can offer clues to point you in the right direction. For instance, look at your website analytics (e.g., Google Analytics) and social media accounts to see what topics and themes resonate with your target audience. When reviewing these analytics, aim to develop a list of at least ten topics. You’ll use this list in the next step.
There are many kinds of first-party data, so focusing your efforts on them is essential. It is generally best to focus on growing engaged website visitors and email subscribers as a starting point. If you have larger audiences and resources, gathering additional forms of first-party data may be achievable.
To gather first-party data, you must convince your audience to trade their time, attention, and data for something of value. One of the best options is to offer a live community experience. These experiences help to deepen audience engagement at the same time.
Offering a live experience to your audience is tough unless your team has the right tools and training. Fortunately, getting the right tools in place is easy. You can install Arena on your website in less than 10 minutes.
As you plan training sessions, look for team members with experience organizing conferences and live events. Many of those event skills will translate to the digital sphere. Once you gather a few people, it’s time to plan and launch an internal event. For example, you might host a live event for employees only to discuss the year’s priorities.
For the best results, assign one person to act as the moderator and another to act as technical support. You’ll quickly get a feel for how Arena Live Chat works. For example, you can use moderation tools to keep the discussion focused.
Once you complete a practice session with an internal audience, it’s time to plan and launch a live chat experience for your audience. Refer to the list of topic ideas you generated in the “Identify First Party Growth Ideas” ideas. For example, you might host a live chat event before a significant voting day if you cover political news.
Including a special guest like a columnist, academic, or influencer in your live chat event is smart because they can help you promote the event. For example, you might invite a sports medicine doctor to join an event focused on helping older people succeed in fitness while minimizing injuries.
Offering an event like this will help you gather first-party data because the live chat session will happen on your website.
You’ve done all the preparation work to offer compelling experiences to your audience. If everything has come together, you will now have more first-party data! So, what’s next?
The next step depends on your business model. An online publisher can use their new first-party data insights to engage advertisers. Other brands can use first-party data to improve the relevance of their online advertising efforts. For example, you can improve the relevance of your advertising by sending a targeted message to your most engaged audience members.
Getting started with Arena is fast and easy. There’s no software for your audience to download, and Arena is designed for speed! Book a demo to see how Arena can help you to grow!
