How to get your Facebook advertising account ready for sweeping changes in iOS14.5For most brands and marketers, keeping ahead of an ever-evolving digital privacy landscape is a major challenge. Not only are governments and regulators constantly amending data protection laws, but digital platform companies also often change their rules to offer consumers better control over their data or, in a more cynical view, to tighten their control over the consumer data they hold within their walled gardens. Source: pixabay.com One development which promises to have a significant impact on the advertising landscape is a set of changes to how Facebook may collect and process data in iOS14.5, the latest version of the operating system for iPads and iPhones. The changes, which are meant to give Apple customers more control over how their personal data is collected, handled and used, may impact on measurement and performance of paid campaigns on the Facebook platform. Apple users are now essentially offered the explicit option to opt in or out of allowing apps like Facebook to keep collecting data to offer personalised ads across other sites and apps. This will affect the ways in which Facebook can process the data it collects using tools such as Facebook Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Facebook Pixel. What does this mean in practical terms? Here are three things each brand with an advertiser account on Facebook should consider:
How to adjust your Facebook ad account to cater for the changes in iOS 14 For conversion optimised app campaigns, brands should update to Facebook's SDK for iOS 14 version 8.1. This release supports Apple's SKAdNetwork API and enables measurement for app install ads. There are three steps to take for conversion optimised web campaigns:
Facebook has indicated that it may respond to Apple’s moves with iOS 14.5 by trying to encourage advertisers to stay within its walled garden. It is, for instance, rolling out native commerce tools across its family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Facebook hopes to provide more on-site conversion opportunities through initiatives like shops and click-to-messaging ads to mitigate the effect of Apple's new privacy settings. Brands should keep an eye open for what these new and upcoming features will mean for them. Facebook is not the only company that will be affected by the iOS update - it could also impact other programmatic platforms with Apple iOS apps such as Google. We can expect to see Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and others compete more fiercely for ownership of consumer data in the years to come. As such, we could see each of these players become more powerful because of the amount of proprietary data they will be able to collect about consumers. Each marketer should thus also be thinking about how they can collect and use first-party data of their own (with customer consent) to strengthen their relationships with consumers and deliver richer customer engagements. About the authorMario de Lima is head of digital media at DataCore Media |