How the IOS change affects Facebook Ads — Six Month Review
This year saw Apple’s privacy updates affect how advertisers and marketers use Facebook. The changes began in January 2021. Now, halfway through the year, I am going to examine what effect they have had.
Apple said it’s 2021 privacy policy was about protecting customer privacy. In practise this means that a customer now has to opt-in to being tracked on their Apple phone. Previously, if you had the Facebook app on your phone, it would just track your browsing anyway (did you know that?!) You may have noticed that nearly every app you go onto recently is now flashing you up a message about cookies and browsing permissions. This is the privacy update in practise.
Incidentally, Apple says that these changes are being made to protect user privacy. While cynical marketers (like me!) are speculating that Apple will soon be running its own ads using the Facebook model, the fact is that the sixth biggest company in the world is no longer sharing its data for free with app providers like Facebook. As a matter of principle this isn’t going away and long term we can probably expect privacy protocol to become even tighter.
How does the Apple iOS Update affect Facebook Ads?
The Facebook pixel made it easy for marketers to track user behaviour. This was an incredible gift as it took away a lot of the guesswork involved in targeting ads. We could see exactly where our target users were browsing and tailor our ads accordingly. We could also track purchases, cart-abandonment, and post-click behaviour i.e. where the user went after they had finished looking at the ad.
For those marketers who were creating ads solely based on tracking info, this update has been a real problem. Not only because they are now forced into both collecting and relying on first-party data — i.e. info which the user has freely provided — but also because measuring an ad’s effectiveness is a little bit harder.
Is the iOS 14 Update the beginning of the end of Facebook Ads?
Absolutely not! Facebook ads still potentially give businesses huge growth.
Facebook is a global platform and can reach almost anyone, anywhere. There is no other advertising medium that gives you that much ‘bang for your buck’ and allows you to compete head-to-head with the giants in your industry.
All this update really means, to my mind, is that we need to be a little more creative with how we target and measure. There are different ways to measure the success of your ads without the help of third-party trackers, and it is now time to revisit elements of ‘old school’ pre-internet marketing.
How to target Facebook Ads following the Apple Update?
· Tracking URLs
If you’re over 40, you might remember the old 0800 numbers that advertisers used to plaster all over their ads? Well, this was a form of tracking! The advertiser could tell which ad had generated your call. The modern version of this is sending users to a unique URL. When the user goes onto the page, you can see where they have come from.
· A lead-in, or loss-leader option to capture user details
Most of us are familiar with ‘lead magnets’. The lead-in strategy works in a similar way and is most useful for those selling high-end or more expensive products.
The idea is simply that the user is offered a smaller or less expensive item in return for their email or postal address details, and potentially some other useful info, from which an advertiser may effectively target them with a more expensive offer. You sometimes see this strategy in newspaper or magazine competitions, where you will be asked a few questions about your likes and dislikes, when you submit your entry.
· By Sharing a Unique Coupon Code
This is another ‘old-school’ marketing favourite which is still used very successfully by the restaurant and hospitality industries (think ‘Groupon’!) Tracing back to where your user found your coupon’s unique code, will show you which of your placement channels was the most successful.
It is still very possible to follow your customer’s journey, it just takes a little more tracking as you follow them through each of the touchpoints. It also requires a bit more patience because the journey is now longer. This means we might have to wait a little to start seeing a good return on our adspend.
In Summary, Facebook remains one of the best marketing and advertising platforms around …
… for the lowest cost.
There is still no substitute for the pre-ad groundwork where we determine who our customer is (this was always the case!) and spend time niching down on what they want and what our offer is. Ultimately, success with Facebook ads will always be determined by good research, strong writing, good graphics, and a clear targeted offer. Apple’s update hasn’t changed that.
