Facebook in its publication announced how Apple’s updates with iOS 14 will influence how we receive and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel.
The digital ads ecosystem is extremely dynamic and keeps changing. Whether it’s new government regulations or tech company policies, changes have been recorded in the past and will happen again in the future.
The already implemented Apple iOS 14 update will impact your brands and your Facebook Ad strategy, but in this article, we will discuss a few adjustments you can make to drive your message to your customers and future ones.
According to Facebook, users who employ Facebook business tools will be affected; this includes businesses that promote mobile apps and those who optimise, target and report on web conversion events from any of its business tools.
Apple’s iOS 14 update will require that all apps including Facebook, would have to request permissions from its users before consumer data can be obtained. This is new and is bringing a whole lot of disruption to data, advertising, user experience and a whole lot that is still unfolding.
The announcement was made in June of 2020, we learned that all apps, including Facebook, will, with permission from iOS users, collect data through the identifier for advertisers, or IDFA.
Working under the AppTrackingTransparency framework, this requirement would come in the form of a pop-up that would prompt users to either opt-in or opt-out of data collection and sharing. The result of this is that the online activity taking place outside of the Facebook family of apps, for those who decide to opt out, will essentially go dark.
Apple’s iOS 14.5 privacy update has had an industry-wide impact on businesses that use web conversion events to optimise, target, and report using Facebook’s business tools, such as the Facebook Pixel.
The update will allow users to opt out of having their activity tracked across other companies’ apps and websites.
How does this impact advertising?
If certain users’ activity can not be tracked thanks to the iOS 14 update, there’ll be reduced options for monitoring the effectiveness of your advertising strategy. With limited data available, marketers won’t be ready to make informed recommendations and optimisations, which could weaken overall campaign performance.
Effects include, but are not limited to, the inability to do the following:
- Target the right audience with the right message at the right time
- Allocate budget efficiently to produce the lowest cost per acquisition or return on ad spend
- Get the same amount of data and granularity of reporting to inform decision-making
Despite these daunting changes, personalisation is not at a total loss. Facebook Ads will remain an effective advertising channel if you rethink your current strategies and best practices.
If you plan to use Facebook Advertising as a lead driver and revenue generator, the following four steps will be vital to run conversion campaigns due to Apple’s upcoming AppTrackingTransparency framework for iOS 14.5 users.
Although the updates have affected how much consumer data is available as well as how much targeting marketers can do with Facebook, it’s not entirely a killjoy as valuable measures can still be taken to ensure you get the desired result from your marketing.
Because of these new changes, brands and their promoters must understand how they can adapt their strategies and get the most out of their social media marketing tactics. Here are four things you need to do now and be aware of to prepare for the iOS 14 changes:
Split Android and iOS Users:
Consider if your ads should be segmented and support what mobile devices your audience uses. When creating ad campaigns, Facebook allows you to choose whether your audience includes iOS device users, Android device users, or both. Whereas these tracking changes will affect the effectiveness of the iOS users in your audience, Android users won’t be affected.
Analyze previous campaigns to figure out if your audiences are heavily tilted toward either OS. If an enormous majority are Android users, targeting Android only would help maximize the effectiveness of your ads. However, if your audience heavily comprises iPhone users, your ad strategy could be successful. While targeting Android only will end in additional accurate data, it’d be harmful if you aren’t reaching the majority portion of your audience. If this is the case, splitting the targeting and allocating the budget accordingly could also be a useful workaround. This way, you’d still be reaching members of your key audience, but you’ll limit the budget spent on those users.
Identify the 8 most vital Pixel Events:
Before optimised the update, marketers were ready to add as many Facebook pixels as they wanted to an internet site, with the simplest practice typically being to put a pixel on every page to properly track activity wherever the users may go. However, the iOS 14 update means advertisers are going to be restricted to not quite eight-pixel events on one domain, limiting the quantity of tracking data available.
In response to the present change, it’s best to conduct a radical analysis on what specific pixel events and conversions got to remain in your strategy. Base your decisions on what information is most precious to your business, also as what has proven to be more successful for analysis or retargeting.
This is also a useful process for identifying the foremost prioritised action on your website. For several brands, users may trigger multiple pixel events in one trip to an internet site. By prioritising these conversions, these users are going to be grouped and support the foremost important actions they take.
Check Your Audiences in Current Ad Sets:
If you have ads currently running to audiences that involve targeting that will be restricted, they will most likely be paused automatically. If this is the case, you’ll have to make some changes to your audience to maximise effectiveness in that specific ad set.
Start by considering other ways you can broaden the audience parameters to ensure you’re still reaching as relevant of users as possible. While certain activities won’t be trackable for users who opt-out, you can still build audiences based on other qualifications, such as email addresses. If you have contact lists that do relate to these specific audiences, build lookalikes based on them to maximise your reach among qualified users. Other options include targeting users who have interacted with posts and ads on Facebook and Instagram. This targeting won’t be limited by iOS 14, so it can still be valuable for reaching users who have expressed interest in your content.
However, if your brand or client consistently promotes various products and services that don’t always overlap, this targeting may include users who don’t meet your ideal criteria. Consider a few different alternative options and test them out to decide on what targeting parameters help you to best reach the right audience.
What Does This Mean for Marketers?
Surveys show 83% of people have concerns about businesses monitoring or collecting data from their mobile devices. This shows that people value their privacy and want more control over how their data is collected.
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