Whether you’re an Apple addict or an Android aficionado, the iOS 14 update is probably going to affect how you personally will see ads on your own Facebook newsfeed, as well as how your business may benefit from them. This has been big news in the digital marketing world, and if you’re a little bit unsure about what all the jargon surrounding this means, we’ve outlined the deets for you in this blog!
Why is an Apple update changing the way Facebook Ads work?
Facebook ads can be very helpful for your business because they allow you to gain data on a customer via a pixel installed on your website. This data includes what pages the customer has viewed, if they added a product to their cart, and what exactly it is they’re adding and (hopefully) then purchasing after clicking an ad. This is extremely useful for Social Media Managers as it helps them to understand who to target in order to maximise your revenue.
With iOS 14, once a user installs an app to their iPhone or iPad, they will have the option to decide whether they want be tracked or not when they use said app. This, of course, then limits the amount of data Facebook can provide a business with when a customer visits their website through a paid advertisement.
These changes have been a topic of debate since August 2020, with Facebook delaying the launch of the update until now. Naturally, we’re sure you’re curious as to what this may mean for you.
What Facebook Ad features will be affected by iOS 14?
Three key areas of Facebook’s ads platform are affected by this update–
- Ads Manager
- Ads Reporting
- Ads Insights API.
Attribution Windows
One of the most significant of the changes due to the iOS update is to attribution windows. 28-day view and click attribution windows are no longer available in Facebook Ads. A 1 day view attribution and up to 7-day click attributions are still available. This will affect conversion reporting, with Facebook reporting conversions when the conversion event actually occurred rather than when the ad impression happened.
When creating ads, you will be limited to tracking only 8 conversion events (of your choice) per domain. Whether you choose to do this with pixel-based or custom conversions, the key take-away here is that 8 is the maximum. The majority of advertisers do not track that many conversions, but it’s something to remember when deciding what your marketing goals are. Your conversion actions will now be ranked based on priority, with purchases understandably being ranked highest.
Along with this, you will still be able to target ads geographically, but you won’t be able to see a report breakdown by these factors.
What Our Expert Recommends Doing
To continue getting the most out of your Facebook ads even after these changes, we recommend the following three actions:
Verify your domain
Verify your domain with Facebook as soon as possible! To do this, go to your Business Settings > Brand Safety > Domains > Verify.
Pick your most valued conversion events and include them in your 8
As mentioned, this generally isn’t a massive issue, but just be certain to ensure that the 8 most important events you want to track are completely optimised.
Change your ads attribution window
Your ads should have updated automatically to the new 7-day attribution window, but if not you can change this in the ad set level.
Unsure how the iOS update will affect your Facebook ads? Why not leave it up to the boffins and use a social media ad agency! Drop us a line at hello@onefeed.co.uk
