Technology.
To the ordinary person, updating your Apple device for most is just a pop-up notification that we click select and not give it a second thought until we realize we have some new emojis on our phone keyboard.
BY Nariman Azzam – Content Dream Team.
In this article, we will look at the latest Apple updates and what it means for us as marketers, and more importantly, Facebook ads agencies and what to check to ensure that you are operating in line with the latest update.
To begin with, let’s know a bit more about the fun updates in iOS 14.5. The camera updated the nighttime mode, and it will provide an option for the camera’s mirror version when taking selfies. If you never took an inverted selfie to see how the world sees you, you should try it! Another update is the new feature allowing users to control data that third parties collect. This was previously available for any user, but they had to search and manage the settings manually. Still, now, the user will be prompted for each application whether they prefer to allow data collection or not. Therefore, if the user denies this permission, the application will automatically reduce the visibility to track app behaviors via pixels. Continuing with the theme of privacy, Apple is making further limitations to the user’s information through location settings. This update will ask if sharing the exact location or just the general area. This will limit how marketers will have the ability to target their audiences.
Apple also changed the way users interact with the phone applications, where they’ll be informed of more satisfactory access levels like the camera and microphone. Applications will also have a preview via App Clips to show a portion and sample of the application. This will affect all the social media platforms, and Facebook will be directly involved.
How Will iOS 14.5 Affect Facebook Ad Agencies?
Unfortunately, due to this update, Facebook will lose sight of critical insights and information gained from non-Facebook websites. The pixels that were previously installed will opt to restrict access. Facebook is making changes for the pixel implementation and event tracking to Minimize the amount of data that might be lost. This is called ‘Aggregated Event Management.’ However, the loss of this data means that the targeted audiences are less precise with fewer signals, and it is almost impossible to categorize the user as directly as before. On the other hand, to make up for this data loss, Facebook should change its pixels, collects data, and build statistical models to fill in some gaps of users’ behavior; this is called ‘Aggregated Event Measurement,’ and it is why most pixel events are now restricted.
What Should Marketers Do?
There are several solutions that marketers can do to minimize the damage and ramifications of the update:
- Explore the opportunities available on other social media platforms.
- Verify your domain with the Facebook Ads platform as soon as possible. This is especially crucial for businesses with pixels used by several Business Managers or ad accounts. Domain verification ensures that no immediate disruption in the ability to configure conversion events.
- Make sure to have the correct pixel implementation on the website that depends on the domain structure, such as:
- .co.uk and .fr should have a pixel each
- .com/uk and .com/fr should share a pixel
- Ensure any extra tracking or attributions such as Google Analytics or Campaign Manager are in place and up to date regularly and accurately.
- Depend on First-Party Data Collection and collect data directly from your audience and clients. This can be made through your company’s website, email lists, social media, surveys, applications, and other first-party avenues because the more you rely on the data that you collected, the less you’ll be under the mercy of Facebook, Google, and different social media platforms rules and policies. You will own the information you collected, making privacy concerns minimum, assuming that you follow the GDPR and CCPA guidelines on your website.
While these changes can go unnoticed for marketers, it also changes the way people look at collecting data forever. Furthermore, with plans for Google to erase third-party cookies data from Chrome at the end of this year, this will not be the last time that we will hear about fewer data provided by advertising companies.
As Content Dream Team, we advise you to build affluent first-party data from the lists of current and potential clients that you already have channels with, such as emails. As time goes by, it will become harder to get third-party data across advertising platforms. To learn more or ask any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!
