iOS 14 privacy update and what it means for advertisers

  • The Marketing Studio

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This blog is an overview of an article written by Marly Broudie via Social Media Examiner - How Marketers Can Respond to Apple’s iOS 14 Privacy Update.  


There’s a lot of talk about Apple’s iOS 14 Privacy Update and how this will affect Facebook advertisers. In summary:

Apple is making a dramatic change to how it’s allowing tracking for iOS 14 device users.

Stats show that around 80% of Facebook users accessed the platform ONLY via a mobile phone

Apple wants to give users a more transparent choice to protect their privacy and information.

With the iOS 14 update, app users will be able to turn off data sharing from their iPhone

They can choose to either allow tracking or ask the app not to track anytime they download an app. The assumption is that many iPhone users will make the choice not to share their data.

The update applies all Facebook-owned apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Additionally, it will impact apps that use Facebook’s Audience Network for monetization.

Facebook currently tracks user activity on other websites and in other apps via Facebook pixels, (pieces of code installed on a website or app). When a user visits your site and takes an action the pixel notifies Facebook where that information is stored as data for your campaigns.

You can use the information gathered from pixels and other tracking methods to determine which ads work and don’t work and get insights that can help you improve your ad campaigns.

It also allows you to retarget certain groups of users such as website visitors who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.

With the iOS 14 update, you’ll be only allowed to place eight pixel objectives on a single domain, which will significantly reduce the amount of data you can collect, report on, and leverage.

Keep in mind that users who opt out of the data sharing permission won’t be trackable by pixels.

If Facebook is unable to track user behavior, its targeting function will be diminished and the amount of data it collects will be reduced. Your ad spend will become less efficient and effective and likely more expensive.

Additionally, businesses depend on this data to personalize ads to specific users. Without it, ads will be less personalised and therefore less effective. This could lead to fewer leads generated by Facebook ads to drive sales.

Reporting will also be impacted by the update. Because the data won’t include users who denied permission for tracking and will only track a small number of objectives, reports will be inaccurate.

Yes, it all sounds daunting but will it be the end of Facebook advertising? We think not. It will be about navigating new ways to plan and implement your Facebook ad strategy. It’s going to be a really interesting road ahead…

We believe social media marketing should only be part of your marketing mix and not relied upon to solely promote your products or services. If you would like to discuss your overall marketing strategy please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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