Apple’s iOS Update: What it Means for Your Facebook Ads?

What’s In The Buzz?

A lot is being talked about Apple’s iOS 14 update and how it will affect the Facebook ads. This was always expected but never happened.

But this time, the threat is rather crucial, and it can be understood by the response that Facebook is having towards the policy.

Read to know more about this.

iOS 14 Affects Facebook Marketers

Many resources are outlining the situation with iOS 14. Apple has announced changes with iOS 14, which is going to impact the way in which Facebook is able to receive and process the conversion events with the help of tools like Facebook Pixel.

In other words, the businesses that advertise mobile apps, which optimize, target, and report on Web conversion events, will be affected.

Apple is demanding all apps in the App Store to show a prompt to its users on iOS devices, essentially asking them for permission for the apps to track them outside the platform in different ways.

The new policy of iOS is going to prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people choose to track through this prompt. This is something that might sound similar.

Most websites with any form of cookie tracking rushed to establish prompts in response to the GDPR requirement.

Response Of Facebook on iOS 14

It is clear from the reactions of Facebook that they are very worried and might soon be panicking. This update is capable of bringing a drastic change to their revenue.

As per Statista’s reports, 79.9% of Facebook users only use the application on their mobile, and only 1.7% of users use apps on their desktops and laptops.

From that 79.9%, there must be a huge number of people who will be using iOS devices and will allow the app to track their data.

On the basis of popular documentaries named “ The Social Dilemma”, it may be assumed that a majority of iOS users will opt-out of Facebook’s tracking.

How Does iOS Update Affect Your Facebook Ads?

1. Businesses will be required to turn in subscriptions and in-app payments

It is related to Apple “not playing by their own rules.” It is simple, that they don’t get cut from Facebook’s ad revenue or other apps. When an app will be having in-product subscriptions, however, they do.

2. Less effective and efficient advertising

The update comes down to the ability to track events. If all the things will be done properly, Facebook Advertising Strategies will have some form of remarketing, conversation tracking, or looklike generation.

When the user will opt out of the tracking, the Facebook Pixel will be of no use for that user.

3. Fewer website sales from ads

This assertion has been made after the Facebook “Studies” through their data. The trend of de-personalizing the ads is going to have an impact on those who are looking to boost sales through Facebook.

4. A major drop in the Facebook install ad revenue

The loss of personalizing an ad will possibly bring a drop in revenue by 50% resulting from Facebook app install ads.

Plan Around the iOS 14 Update

Other than the above effects, some simple workarounds for the updates in the future would be:

Exclude iOS devices from campaigns with conversation objectives

This is obviously not a permanent solution to running paid advertising on Facebook in the future. Doing so can give you an insight into what you can expect while the update will take place.

Create campaigns outside the objective of the conversation

This means running web visit campaigns using the website’s internal tracking to determine if a sale occurred as a result of the ads.

Create an extra layer or think of breaking down your conversion flow on your landing pages

By this, we mean that the users give you information about themselves earlier in the process. Things such as first name, last name, and e-mail can be retroactively uploaded into Facebook to generate a custom audience.

The Future Of Facebook Ads

We don’t think that this is going to be the end of Facebook advertising, and we are going to be optimistic about the impact.

We have a strong belief that there will be more workarounds in the future to help the advertisers, whether the storm. Meanwhile, there are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for the upcoming change.

Doing so will put your business in the best position to succeed from an advertising perspective. You can explore ways to get more out of other advertising channels like Google, Bing, and LinkedIn.

We believe there are going to be solutions to mitigate the damage. Let us hope to get more solutions.

About The Author