In today's digital landscape, understanding your audience is crucial for driving engagement, growth, and revenue. Enter connected profiles - a game-changing concept that empowers organizations to truly know and nurture their audiences.

So, what exactly is a connected profile? It's a unified view that combines an individual's behavioral data (what content they engage with, actions they take on your site or app) with their contact information – typically an email address. By connecting these previously siloed datasets, you form a rich profile that reveals the full story of each member of your audience.

There are three primary types of profiles in Hum: 

  1. Anonymous: When an individual user lands on a connected property and you do not recognize them, a new anonymous profile is created. While
    waiting to identify that person (sometimes this can take a year or
    more!), the profile will learn about his or her interests and
    preferences.
    These profiles have mainly behavioral data. Sometimes lots of it.
  2. Identified: An identified reader or member is someone who your organization knows. Their information is contained in a CRM, marketing automation system, or event registration platform. These profiles have mainly identity, contact, demographic, and financial data.
  3. Connected:  Anonymous + Known = Connected. This means that you have a profile tied into a user’s browser (anonymous) AND that you know who they are (known).

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The value of a connected profiles cannot be overstated. With a comprehensive understanding of an individual's interests, preferences, and digital journeys, you can:

  • Deliver Hyperpersonalized Experiences
    Connected profiles allow you to tailor every touchpoint - from the content and messaging you share to the user experiences you design. With insights into what resonates most, you can serve up personalized recommendations, offers and journeys that boost engagement and conversions.
  • Drive Precise Segmentation and Targeting
    Rather than operating with broad demographic data, connected profiles provide a granular map of your audience segments based on their demonstrated interests and behaviors. This focused intelligence enables surgical targeting for campaigns across channels like email, web, app, and advertising platforms.
  • Nurture Relationships and Loyalty
    Having access to communication pathways combined with rich profile data means you can nurture relationships thoughtfully over time based on each individual's needs and journey stage. Guide members of your audience through personalized content journeys that foster trust and loyalty.
  • Unlock High-Value Activations
    Connected profiles position you to execute high-impact campaigns and activations, from re-engaging dormant audience members and reducing churn to cross-selling products/services, marketing events, and identifying your most qualified leads

At their core, connected profiles represent comprehensive audience understanding - a true 360-degree view. The message is clear: Building connected profiles centered around first-party data is no longer just a nice-to-have. It's a strategic imperative for any organization striving to deliver incredible audience experiences and achieve consistent growth.

>> Check out how IFT used live engagement campaigns to increase their total connected profiles by 10% 

Are you taking full advantage of the power of connected profiles and putting audience intelligence to work? The opportunities are virtually unlimited for those able to unify, analyze and activate this data. 

Not sure where to begin? Download a copy of The Complete Guide to Data & CDPs to get the scoop on what data matters most for publishers, and how to unlock it.