What You Need To Know About Third-Party Cookies Disappearing
You’ve probably heard at least some conversation around Google’s plan to block third-party cookies. Did you flag it as something to investigate at a later time? If a significant portion of your digital marketing strategy is reliant on retargeted online advertising, now is the time to get up-to-speed.
The Basic Facts About Cookies
Cookies, in general, are files placed on a user’s computer to remember website configurations such as language preferences and login information. They also power web analytics and a more personalized web-browsing experience. There are mainly two types of cookies, first-party and third-party cookies.
First-party cookies are usually in place to improve the user experience. They are created by the visited website.
Third-party cookies are usually used for cross-site tracking and ultimately retargeted advertising. With third-party cookies, a domain outside of the current website creates the cookies.
So, What’s The Fuss About?
In early 2020 Google announced they will phase out third-party cookies within Chrome in 2022. Safari and Firefox did away with third-party cookies in 2013, but because Chrome accounts for over half of the browser market, Google’s announcement has received more attention. Marketers that lean heavily on retargeted ads are nervous about what this will mean for their future marketing strategy.
First-party cookies are not impacted by this change. However, that makes your job of clearly communicating the value of your site upfront more crucial so that your visitor consents to your first-party cookies.
Targeted Online Marketing Is Not Going Away
No need to fret. With cross-site tracking no longer at your disposal, there are still very effective ways to get in front of your ideal audience.
Having a clear understanding of your key customer profiles, their influencers and their affinities will give you plenty to work with. Find target customers where they are on any of their social channels and you’ll notice you can reach a larger audience than you could with retargeted ads. All it takes is thoughtful content and key social insights.
Discover what you need to know before you go out and hire your first influencer
In this decentralized media landscape, brands are depending more and more on partnerships with influencers to reach audiences with their messaging. However, it’s often a struggle to fully understand the value and impact of that investment.
How do you pick the right influencers to work with or understanding if an influencer campaign is lifting your own social media channels? What do you need to determine ROI or monitor the up and down popularity of partners? Brands need answers to these types of questions, and we’re here to help.
If you’re looking for concrete answers on how social analytics can optimize the performance of influencer campaigns, this is the report for you.
Using Competitive Information to Plan Seasonal Campaigns Webinar
The combination of your historical campaign performance, competitor intel, and what consumers are saying can provide 360-degree insight into what elements of a social campaign have been successes and failures in the past.
Collecting these insights allows your campaign to be data-backed and sets you up for success in the following areas:
Measuring your own successes/failures from prior years The industry leaders from prior years – what worked/didn’t What general consumers are talking about Potential influencer partnerships
Which Fashion Brands are Dominating Social Media?
6 Brand Takeaways From April Fools’ Day Pranks This Year
There are very few days of the year that are seen as showcases for brand messaging, and while Super Bowl Sunday is the most prominent example, April Fools’ Day is another rare instance when the internet is actually looking forward to hearing what brands have to say. So which brand pranks this year earned a laugh and which earned a groan from the social media audience? Based on what ListenFirst’s data analytics unearthed during the 2021 go around, here are the Top 6 insights for brands around April Fools’ Day.
Insight #1. If Nothing Else, A Name Change Prank Will Be Talked About
The most high profile brand prank of 2021, was Volkswagenclaiming on March 29 it was changing its name to Voltswagen, a full three days before the April 1 holiday. The gun jumping decision was widely panned, after VW stock initially rose around the name change which could lead to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into manipulating stock with false statements. However, in terms of generating social media interes the bait and switch did have some level of success. Volkswagen earned 3,483 New Followers on Twitter between March 29 – April 1, up from 104 new Twitter followers between March 25 – 28, 2021. Meanwhile in the same time period, there were 37.1K page views of the Volkswagen Wikipedia page, an increase of 480%. While Volkswagen would take back the prank if they could, there appears to be value in a name changing joke, provided it’s actually made on April 1 and not earlier.
Insight #2. Make Jokes That Only Make Sense For Your Brand
Tiffany & Co. gained 17,983 New Fans on social media on April 1 around changing their signature Tiffany Blue color to yellow, while Paddington Bear generated 15.2K Likes on Twitter saying he doesn’t like marmalade anymore. These jokes are extremely simple but effective because they play off the audience’s existing knowledge of a strong brand identity.
Insight #3. Offer Products That Actually Would Be A Good Idea
Lego gained a whopping 105,776 New Fans as they talked upSmartBricks, which are Legos that move out of the way when you’re about to step on them. Duolingo gained 1,850 New Fans on April 1, which was an increase of 1,401 New Fans from the previous day around Duolingo Roll, which is toilet paper that teaches you another language, an idea that definitely would move product, should it ever exist.
Meanwhile, Dunkin’ Donuts got 24,810 responses for a TikTok video showing an arm attachment bag/cup holder that Ben Affleck totally needs. Even Teletubbies pitching TubbyCoin in a Tweet that got 44,367 responses may seem like an absurd idea, but it’s no stranger than real cryptocurrencies like Cthulhu Offerings and Burger King’s Russia’s Whoppercoin. Of course people would buy TubbyCoin.
Insight #4. Make A Clear Connection In Product Mashups
— Fan of sports 💔🇺🇦 (@jackdeucesuited) April 1, 2021
Outback Steakhouse lost -155 social media fans on a day they shared their LipSteak lipstick pitch while Green Giant gained only 15 New Fans on April 1, around their Cauliflower flavored Peeps bunnies joke. It wasn’t overly clear what the connection between lipstick and steak was and when Green Giant has green in the title and Peeps is normally yellow, it seemed strange that they’re talking about white colored cauliflower.
On the flip side of that, Durex gained 2,141 New Fans on the day they posted about a Smart Condom, that counts every thrust. As sex is a form of exercise, a Fitbit joke made sense to their audience. April Fools’ Pranks by brands where two things unexpectedly make sense together are a lot more effective than pranks where two different products make absolutely no sense together.
Insight #5. Don’t Be Randomly Gross
It wasn’t a great year for brands that decided to share disgusting versions of their products. For example while Bud Light gained 967 New Fans on the day they shared pizza flavored Bud Light Seltzer that was actually -681 from how many new fans they generated during the previous day. Meanwhile Gatorade had a net loss of -433 Fans on the day they shared the newSwamp Punch flavor, Velveeta only gained 74 new Fans on the day they shared a post talking about a new Velveeta skincare product, and Heinz Ketchup had a grand total of 4 New social media fans on the day they shared Cravy, which is a ketchup/Ocean Spray cranberry mashup flavor,
Insight #6. QA Test Your Prank With People Outside Your Social Media Team
On April 1, Subway lost -335 net Fans on social media around an April Fools’ Day Tweet that said “we finally did it”. While they quickly clarified that they were just joking, it was less clear what Subway was joking about. It was possibly a reference to a March 31 Tweet saying “we do this together. #RestoreTheSnyderverse” but it’s still not clear what the joke is and the audience can’t be expected to put in that much research trying to figure it out. Just like a standup comedian would never go on television and tell jokes that haven’t already been tested in front of a nightclub audience, social media teams need third party feedback to make sure their prank will actually land as intended.
