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We have all been anticipating the iOS 14 privacy update and it’s finally here now. What this update essentially means is that people now have the authority to opt out of data sharing or tracking by platforms such as Facebook, etc.
The talk about user privacy is not new and people have always raised concerns about digital platforms gathering information and tracking users without their consent. Apple took it a notch further and with this new update gave authority to users for opting in or opting out of the data sharing.
This is big news for iOS users as they now have more control of their information. However, this means that the advertising practices being used by digital marketers and advertisers, especially for Facebook have become somewhat redundant.
The reason is that advertising heavily relied traditionally on user-generated data and with this new update and with approximately 96% of users opting to not share their data, advertisers will have fewer data to use.
This compromises the whole process by hitting the targeting capabilities for all platforms. The impact might not be that big for Google advertising because it relies on what people search. However, platforms such as Facebook have been heavily affected. The reason is that advertising relies on audience personas and user interest for targeting. Now that data sharing has taken a hit, advertisers are facing a dilemma.
There are two sides to this privacy debate and it really doesn’t matter which side you’re on. If you are an advertiser, you’re bound to scratch your head while figuring out ways to gain the targeting capability that you used to enjoy.
Now that I’ve explained the problem, I must say that this is not the first update and it definitely won’t be the last. Marketers have adapted to changes in the past and will do so in the future as well.
Tips to Get Advertising Rights After iOS 14 Update
In this blog, I will share some key tips on how you can get your advertising right after the iOS 14 update. Of course, we are all facing a huge problem but these tips would allow you to minimize the impact of this update on your advertising strategy.
Let’s get straight into it.
Facebook and Instagram Page Interactions
A traditional approach is to launch a prospective advertising campaign to first increase brand awareness, use the same audience that has interacted with your ads in some way and then retarget them. However, with this update, we will have fewer data to rely on. What this means is that the audience size for the retargeting campaigns will be much smaller.
It has been noticed that because of this smaller audience size, the ads frequency rates are much higher. The frequency rate is the number of times your ad has been served to an individual. This means that your ad is being shown to the same person multiple times and not to unique users. Now, if this frequency rate is too high, it could compromise the campaign’s performance.
Here is what you can do to tackle this. You can target people who have interacted with your Facebook or Instagram pages. This would potentially increase your audience size significantly and would keep the frequency rate low and steady.
Try going broad
Advertising agencies in Dubai and around the world recommend that you should mirror your actual audience using multiple options available on the Facebook platform. This has worked for many and still is a good enough starting point. Facebook gives enough options to choose and edit.
What’s important to note here is that you should not aim to go granular when setting your target audience. Yes, it has been a rule of thumb to not go too broad but now that Facebook has less data, it might impact your campaign performance.
That is why you should keep the audience a bit broad so that the algorithms have enough room to test and learn audiences. It would help you optimize your campaign later on as well by understanding what audiences are responding to.
One thing to always keep in mind is that you should not go into the yellow and red zones in the Audience Definition section when setting the audience. As long as you’re in the green section, you can go as broad as you can, surely a bit more than you would in normal circumstances.
Facebook Conversion API
If you are still not using Facebook Pixel, you’re definitely missing out on a lot of advantages, especially when it comes to campaign performance. Using Facebook Pixel can help you optimize your targeting and you, as an advertiser, should be making use of such an important tool.
We all know about Facebook Pixel but there is another tool that you can utilize. That is Facebook conversions API. It is allowed to be integrated with Facebook and it works alongside Facebook Pixel to maximize tracking and generating data.
You might ask if there is a difference between Facebook Pixel and Facebook conversions API. Yes, there is a difference. Facebook pixel is a browser-side tool and it tracks users through the browser. One downside of Facebook Pixel is that it can be blocked by cookie blockers.
Facebook conversions API is a server-side tool that does not rely on cookies to track data. It tracks data using server events and that is why it can’t be blocked as well.
Use these two tools wisely to track data and then use it to target an audience that is bound to act upon your advertisements.
CRM Data
If you have an active CRM, you can easily upload this CRM data into Facebook and create a lookalike audience there. This data includes info about people who have made a purchase or have subscribed, etc. This data can be uploaded to Facebook pretty easily. There is a catch though. The data you are trying to upload should have at least one of these eight indicators:
- Facebook app user ID
- Facebook Page user ID
- First name
- Address
- Phone number
- Mobile advertiser ID
- Surname
It is as simple as it can get. It should have the minimum required information but the more the info, the more the chances of finding that person on Facebook. Once it’s done, you can then create a lookalike audience and use it in your campaigns.
Utilize Google Analytics Data
Now after the iOS 14 update, Facebook doesn’t have enough data for a conversion breakdown in terms of segments such as age, platform, gender, etc. You can surely see the breakdown in terms of impressions, clicks, etc. but detailed segmented data is not there anymore. This is a huge constraint when it comes to campaign optimization and growth hacking.
Now what you can do is to get this data using Google Analytics. If you have UTM tracking active on your campaigns, you can use it to access segmented information using the Google Analytics platform. This also includes gender, age, location as well.
Now, you should know that Google analyzes data differently and it would not match exactly to what you see on Google but you will get enough insights that you can use to optimize your Facebook advertising campaigns.
Use external sources
Always crosscheck the conversion data on Facebook by using external platforms such as your CRM. If according to Facebook your conversions have decreased, you should crosscheck it from your CRM If the data doesn’t match, that means Facebook has not tracked some of the conversions from paid campaigns.
To wrap it up, we understand that Facebook advertising has been so effective because of the detailed data that Facebook has about its users. Now after this iOS 14 update, that has taken a huge hit and it has definitely impacted Facebook’s targeting capabilities and eventually decreased the effectiveness of Facebook advertising campaigns.
Conclusion
However, advertisers have to be dynamic and always ready to adapt and evolve. This is the only way of surviving in the competitive advertising landscape. We understand that similar updates are bound to follow and we will figure out ways to move forward.
Now, if you are a business owner and your advertising campaigns are not performing well after this update. Reach out to Prism Digital, the best advertising company in Dubai and our expert advertisers will help you create effective advertising strategies that would allow you to reach the targeted audience effectively.
About The Author: Lovetto Nazareth
Lovetto Nazareth is a digital marketing consultant and agency owner of Prism Digital. He has been in the advertising and digital marketing business for the last 2 decades and has managed thousands of campaigns and generated millions of dollars of new leads. He is an avid adventure sports enthusiast and a singer-songwriter. Follow him on social media on @Lovetto Nazareth