In March, Google announced that would stop using cookies to track customers. This came on the heels of an announcement last year that Google is phasing out third-party tracking cookies completely by 2022. Both statements were a shock to businesses that have relied on tracking cookies for years to gather data on their customers and create tailored marketing campaigns. As we enter the second half of 2021 with only six months before Google completes its plan, how can businesses survive in a cookie-less world?

Cookies 101

Cookies are used for a variety of purposes, such as saving your passwords and keeping track of your browsing history. Google’s move to ban third-party cookies is to prevent businesses and other organizations from tracking your data to build profiles for targeting marketing. While other browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, made this change years ago, Google is now taking action because they have the market share with their Chrome browser. This will Bring Google in-line with other browsers, as well as established privacy policies in the EU, along with emerging legislation in the United States. Fortunately, the decision for Google to ban third-party tracking cookies opens up a number of opportunities to gain advantages by leveraging social media and content in their marketing strategies.

Starting with a Clean Slate

Cookies worked for a long time, but consumers and even casual users did not like the potential invasiveness and bloat of accepting cookies when visiting sites. Yes, phasing out cookies means businesses will have to run their own analytics, but it also gives them an opportunity to really dig into the data to build more tailored marketing campaigns that truly resonate with their audiences.

The Power of Social Media

People have been using methods to browse websites anonymously for as long as there have been cookies. However, if there is one realm where people actively participate while they are verified and logged in, it’s on social media platforms. Businesses of every type are getting a strong foothold in the social media space to take advantage of the robust marketing tools and data for both marketing, engaging, and building loyal audiences to drive more sales than they did by relying on cookies.

Nothing Beats Content

Tracking cookies – apart from being invasive clutter in the eyes of consumers – enabled laziness. There are businesses with abandoned sites or sites that have not been updated in years that were relying on cookies to do all of the heavy lifting for them. Since the market shifted to a “publish or perish” model, savvy businesses are creating new and engaging content to get high SEO rankings. By proliferating that content from their own site to social media, businesses can get a much farther reach with deeper analytics to build audience profiles.

Direct Engagements

One of the best ways to get data from your traffic and followers is through engaging content and social media posts. No one wants to put content behind a paywall, but requiring people to authenticate accounts to access or comment on content yields a lot of information, which allows businesses to create tailored, segmented marketing campaigns and build email contact lists. Compelling content attracts people, but asking them to authenticate their accounts before engaging gives them the agency and consent audiences are looking for in a post-cookie world.

People Want Stories and Information

A catchy and shareable social media post, an informative video, or an article that tells a good story will get far more traction and conversions than intrusive ads and cookies. The average digital media consumer is smarter than when cookies first took hold 25 years ago. If they are looking for products and services, they will research and compare. In many cases, among a group of competing businesses, the ones with higher quality content and those who are willing to directly engage with their audiences win out over those who rely on one-way posts.

Outpace Digital Marketing helps businesses to stay ahead of the curve by creating digital marketing strategies for engagement and growth. In a cookie-less world, our team leverages the latest technology and standards to help businesses and organizations in every sector develop tailored marketing campaigns to build their audiences, drive traffic, and get the conversions they want. Contact Outpace Digital Marketing today to learn more about repositioning your marketing to survive the cookie-less revolution.