Did you know that most influencer marketing campaigns rely on third-party tracking in determining ROI?
Here’s an example: let’s say you partner with an influencer to promote your skincare products. They post within their own social channels and push people to a link (often with a promo code) that attributes them as the source. You, therefore, are relying on external (or third party) attribution and reporting for your leads and customers. This is how you know whether you are seeing return on investment for your influencer marketing efforts. But often this method renders inaccurate, incomplete data.
You also likely have a cookie or tracking pixel on your website so you know the source of the consumer, as well as where they came from, what they did on your site, and where they went next. This allows you to create retargeting campaigns for related ads to follow them around the internet.
But with recent changes in laws (and consumer sentiments about their data and internet usage being monitored), third-party cookie tracking is becoming increasingly troublesome – and precarious.
In a recent Forbes article, Michael Caccavale, CEO of Pluris Marketing, explores the impending demise of third-party cookies. He speculates that between now and 2022, marketers will no longer be able to track the behaviors, device details, and other user-specific details that led an individual to click on an ad within another platform (like Google or Facebook).
That means the data we’ve grown accustomed to as marketers is at risk. Determining whether influencer marketing spend is worthwhile will become increasingly difficult to extract.
So what if there was an easier way?
By switching to a first-party attribution model for influencer marketing, you can avoid the imminent death of third-party cookies.
In a first-party model, all data comes into your own databases, so you own it. Data is cleaner, more accurate, and more actionable.
There are several ways you can do this right now… starting with some small changes to your own website.
Creating enticing pop-ups for contact capture, adding easy-to-use forms for lead capture, and setting up the right internal analytics for user data are just a few ways to gather information – and make the most of the marketing dollars you invest getting people to your site.
You can also start employing a strong content strategy with a focus on SEO to increase your website’s ranking in an organic search. Of course, SEO is a long-term investment, but content is queen and will continue to be so in the future. Investing in content development is key to staying relevant and visible.
An up-and-coming opportunity to generate more user data in a consumer-friendly way is to join forces with influencers to attract a new audience to you. This is a smart move regardless of whether or not your marketing strategy has included third-party cookies in the mix.
Influencer marketing is a fast-growing marketing modality – particularly among millennials and Gen Z. If your brand targets the under-45 market (or plans to in the future), influencer marketing is a very wise investment to explore right now.
2022 is just a few months away. And the more you understand the changes being made to third-party cookies marketing before they happen, the better off you’ll be when you begin (or rethink) your influencer strategy.
First-party attribution as the industry standard is coming… and when you make the switch can determine your ranking within your market.
There’s no better time to start investing in this new digital marketing model. If you’re wondering where to start, Creatable is the top platform for influencer marketing using first-party attribution.
The Creatable framework integrates natively into your own e-commerce platform, creating a seamless user experience. Instead of campaigns pushing data in via third-party platforms and relying on cookie tracking for user info, campaigns are created natively in the Creatable environment, then pushed out to social platforms. Users arrive at an influencer’s custom landing pace within your website, which means all sales and data are tracking via first party.
Not only does this offer you higher conversion rates due to fewer hoops for the consumer to jump through, but it also gives you stronger metrics to determine ROI of your influencer marketing efforts.
Creatable is the preeminent platform for connecting influencers and brands. Influencer marketing is not just the future… it’s the now. And brands need to be armed with as much data and ownership rights as possible in order to thrive in the coming days. Teams need measurable proof their influencer marketing is working. If you want to save time, market online more effectively, and boost your revenue, schedule a demo with us here. We’ll show you exactly how this will work for your company.
