The most basic use cases of a data management platform (DMP) for publishers include audience targeting, or behavioral targeting, meaning the ability to show ads to a particular audience, rather than all readers of a particular webpage. However, the business cases for a DMP go far beyond just targeted advertising. In this post, we’ll uncover 5 extraordinary uses of a publisher’s data that break the mold.
1. Letting data dictate content
Using data collected in a data management platform, or DMP, publishers are able to do something they were never able to do before: collect and analyze the profile of their users at an aggregate level and a micro (single article) level. These insights allow them to see what common traits their readers exhibit from one article to the next, or one content vertical to the next. Are there commonalities in the type of audience that share, comment on, and generate social buzz around articles and produce that highly sought after viral quality?
Publishers using insights and analytics from a DMP are able to understand the key demographics, interests and motivations of the users that engage with their content. You get to know your audience like never before, and as a result you are able to tailor the style and structure of your content around those audiences to maximize their user experience.
2. Personalizing the experience
Everything today is customizable, from your clothes to your coffee to the settings on your mobile phone. You experience everything in a completely different way to those around you, even though your day-to-day routines are probably quite similar.
Why then do you not see a different version of the same website based on your preferences, historical use and interests? User experience in today’s market can be defined in one word: personalized. As a publisher seeking to improve their users’ experience in order to encourage increased readership, the words “personalized content” have never been more important.
Integrating a DMP with your Content Management System (CMS) is a great way to deliver more bespoke content and recommendations to users based on their past behaviors, declared demographics or current interests. Even using this type of dynamic content optimization very broadly to differentiate between men and women could be a great start in making better, more tailored article recommendations. One Lotame client decreased bounce rate 854% with content customization; read how they did it.
3. Growing readership
The best publishers are becoming marketers, promoting their content, driving social engagement and increasing their overall readership. In doing so, they are increasing uniques, page views and impression volumes. These publishers harness the power of their 1st party data, and follow the “Field of Dreams” strategy – if you build it (and market it smartly) they will come.
Through smart, data-driven promotion of content in social, search, display, video and mobile, publishers are able to prospect for non-endemic but like-minded users, and turn them into readers. Publishers using the DMP and their 1st party data to effectively grow their user base enjoy increased traffic levels, improve campaign scalability and support higher levels of demand.
4. Building 2nd party partnerships
Publishers are able to collect and combine much more than just their own 1st party data to create audiences. The most successful publishers think laterally around their data assets and look for new and innovative data to feed into their data strategies. This includes the use of 2nd party data (collected by an independent party but shared on an open and 1:1 basis) to “fill gaps” and address tactical campaign opportunities. A few examples across our client base includes:
- Working with advertisers to incorporate their data assets
- Ingesting location-based data to build profiles on users’ patterns in movement
- Working with other publishers to share mutually beneficial data assets (e.g. vertical content data)
5. Using complementary 3rd party data to supplement
Demographic data is far and away the most common 3rd party data asset used by publishers, and the rationale is quite simple. Most publishers collect a wealth of data on content consumption and the interest of their readers, but generally lack the same breadth and depth of demographic data on their user base, and capture little in the way of declared age, gender, household income, etc, which is most commonly collected through a registration/login process.
Even in today’s dynamic and audience-focused market, most brands and agencies still plan and buy on sociodemographic data, and age and gender remain salient proxies for ad targeting. A significant volume of briefs received by publishers will involve some level of demographic targeting, and this is where 3rd party data can become a very powerful tool in enriching a publisher’s 1st party data assets.
Would you like more information on Lotame’s DMP? Set up a free demo to see the platform in action, or to talk with one of our data strategists to see if it’s a good fit for your data strategy.
