Apple iOS 14 Update: How It Impacts Your Facebook Ads

There’s been a lot of talk in the digital space about Apple’s iOS 14 update and how that relates in particular to Facebook advertising. Understanding these updates and how (and why) they might impact Facebook ads can be time-consuming and confusing.

So, in this post, we will:

• Demystify exactly what the iOS update entails.
• Clarify how it may affect your Facebook advertising.
• Help you plan and strategize in response to the update.

Read on if you want to continue getting the most out of your marketing and advertising efforts on the Facebook platform and with LOCALiQ.

How iOS 14 Affects Facebook Ads

There are plenty of resources outlining the situation with iOS 14, particularly from Facebook itself.

To summarize, Apple announced changes with iOS 14 that will impact the way in which Facebook is able to receive and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel. So in essence, any business that advertises mobile apps, in addition to those who optimize, target, and report on web conversion events will be affected.

In short, Apple is requiring that all apps in the App Store show a prompt to its users on iOS devices essentially asking the user for permission for the app to track them outside the platform in different ways:

This new iOS 14 policy will prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people opt into tracking on iOS 14 via this prompt. This may look or sound relatively familiar as most websites with any form of cookie tracking on their website rushed to establish prompts in response to the GDPR requirements. If you’re unfamiliar with what we’re talking about, you’ve probably seen one of these on a news site or blog that you have visited:

If iOS users elect to opt-out of Facebook’s tracking, the domino effect that will result from this will be as follows:

• If Facebook is not able to track user behavior, the effectiveness of the tracking pixel and all of its implications will be diminished. This results in limited reporting for conversions and less access to data.
• Targeting options won’t be as robust as it was previously. That means your ability to create hyper-personalized ads for audiences may be hindered.
• Less targeting options means less access to optimizations for Facebook ad campaigns.

How Does iOS 14 Affect Your Facebook Ads?

There are a variety of ways in which your ads will be affected by this update. A few that Dan Levy, the VP of Ads and Business Products at Facebook, has pointed out are:

Less targeting and optimization options for ads.

As mentioned, this comes down to the ability to track events and behavior like you used to. If done properly, all Facebook advertising strategies will have some form of remarketing, conversion tracking, or lookalike generation — these all rely on the effectiveness of the Facebook tracking pixel. If users opt-out of tracking, that limits the information that Facebook can see about the user, which limits the data that can be used to target users or optimize ads.

Fewer reported conversions.

Because Facebook will have less visibility into conversions, fewer will be reported as a result. Advertisers can set up to eight events based on priority in Ads Manager, and any events outside of those eight will no longer be reported on.

A change in attribution reporting.

Attribution will now default to 7-day click and 1-day view at the ad set level. Advertisers can prepare for attribution window changes using the “Comparing Windows” feature in Ads Manager.

No more segmented breakdowns at the ads level.

The segmented breakdowns that typically accompanied conversion reports (age, gender, etc.) will also be removed.

Smaller custom audiences.

Because Facebook will have less information about users who opt out, custom audiences and lookalike audiences may be smaller or take longer to build.

How to Plan Around the iOS 14 Update

As mentioned, the main component of Facebook advertising that is going to be affected by this is pixel tracking. That means remarketing lists, conversion events, and so on will be impacted, but campaigns outside of the conversion objective (sales optimization, web visits, and more) will be less impacted.

Facebook has provided some guidelines to help your business prepare for this update to continue seeing success with Facebook ads.

Run Smart Social and Smart Social with Sales Optimization ads.

While many advertisers running campaigns with the conversion objective will be massively impacted, LOCALiQ will continue to run Smart Social and Smart Social with Sales Optimizations ads for our clients. We’re still the only digital marketing agency offering this type of optimization that allows you to optimize campaigns to find exactly what is best for each client.

We’re able to run multiple objectives at once, whereas regular Facebook ads run on singular objectives, and the budget is not optimized to the best performing objective. And, Smart Social with the Sales Optimization goal is powered by offline and online sales data, so we can continue to track who is clicking on your ads and then use that attribution data to optimize budgets to what’s driving results. Lead Ads campaigns will continue to be a great option here as well.

Additionally, attribution data can be found in the Client Center dashboard, so our clients aren’t losing full visibility into who is engaging with their ads like many other advertisers.

Determine your eight conversion events to track.

As mentioned earlier, Facebook will measure the top eight conversion events you note in Ads Manager, so it’s extremely important to identify and set those so you can measure the information that is most important to you. Work with your marketing agency to choose these conversion events wisely.

Create an extra layer or break down your conversion flow on your landing pages.

What I mean by this is to require that users give you information about themselves earlier in the conversion process. First name, last name, or email addresses can be retroactively uploaded back into Facebook to generate custom audiences for retargeting purposes. This is a very roundabout way of approaching the issue but may allow you to rely more on folks who are willing to give you some information rather than the pixel fires from simple page views.

If you’re running Smart Social Ads with LOCALiQ, you can layer in Infinity Audiences and help amplify your search marketing budget. LOCALiQ’s cross-solution targeting using your PPC leads to create a data-informed lookalike audience across Facebook and Instagram so you can continue targeting interested audiences.

The Future of Facebook Ads

With the right preparation, the impact of Apple’s iOS 14 update can be mitigated, and Facebook can continue to be an important part of your marketing plan. As always, the best marketing strategy includes a multichannel approach that allows you to continue reaching and engaging with your audience no matter what updates are made.

Take this time to ensure that your SEO, PPC, and display campaigns are working together with your Facebook ads so you’re covered across the web.

If history has taught us anything it’s that humans are highly adaptable, and the same goes for tech companies. As this change from Apple is rolled out, Facebook will continue working with its marketing partners, like LOCALiQ, to determine the right approach to allow advertisers to excel on the platform.