Facebook Ads & the Apple IOS 14 Update
Donor Detectives Team
What Is IOS14.5?
The highly anticipated release of Apple’s iOS14.5 update which was launched on April 26th, 2021 has created a lot of buzz from the new privacy updates and how it will impact digital marketing data.
What Does the IOS Update Mean for Digital Marketing Tracking?
How will this affected Facebook Ads? If an iPhone user opts to allow tracking, there will not be any changes. However, if a user opts out of allowing tracking, it will change how advertising platforms, like Facebook Ads, are able to collect and utilize the user’s data. This will ultimately affect targeting and audiences in Facebook and reduce the amount of insight we have into our users.
What Is Changing?
The rollout of the update and the impact of the changes are developing in real time and it is not possible to predict how this will disrupt the nonprofit advertising industry overall, but we do know some major changes you will see and how you can prepare.
Change: A smaller number of conversions that will be attributed to ads. Previously, you were able to measure how many last-click conversions and view-through conversions came from your Facebook ad campaigns. Facebook will no longer be able to utilize most of these attribution windows.
Impact: Depending on your current attribution settings, you may see a drop in the number of Facebook reported conversions.
Fix: Adjust your expectations for future results, as conversions and revenue will not be as high as they have been in the past. It might take some time for these stats to level off and a baseline set.
Change: Due to less users opting in to allow tracking, you can expect to see smaller audiences from those that rely on pixel tracking. This includes retargeting audiences built on website visitors.
Impact: This will reduce audience sizes that are based on pixel tracking and limit retargeting to website visitors.
Fix: Utilize CRM lists for audiences and retarget those who engage with your social pages and ads. Segmenting ads by interests can also allow you to retarget those who engaged with specific topics.
Change: Because of the way Facebook is now collecting event data, they have removed the breakdown section for the demographics section of ads reporting.
Impact: This will reduce insight to audience demographics. This also leads into the announcement that they are removing Facebook Analytics as well.
Fix: Make sure your Google Analytics is on your website and active to collect as much analytical data from your visitors as possible.
"If a user opts out of allowing tracking, it will change how advertising platforms, like Facebook Ads, are able to collect and utilize the user’s data."
How to Prepare for These Changes?
1. Verify Your Website Domain
Verify each website domain you use in Facebook’s Business Manager. We recommend asking your website developer for assistance if needed. You will need admin access to your Facebook Business Manager and the ability to edit the code on your website.
Go to your Business Setting’s in your Facebook Business Manager. Click on the ‘Domains’ section under ‘Band Safety’. Click add if your domain does not appear automatically.
You have three options to verify your domain 1) DNS Verification, 2) HTML File Upload, and 3) Meta-tag Verification:
Send steps 1-2 to your developer and request to be notified once completed or edit the code on your website’s homepage according to the instructions if you can. Last step is to click “Verify” once completed.
2. Shift to 1 Facebook Pixel per Domain
After your domain is verified, you should then limit to one Facebook Pixel. If you have multiple Pixels on your website right now, you will need to remove all but one of them. To see how many Facebook pixels you have on your site you can install Google Chrome’s Facebook Pixel Helper.
3. Plan to Operate With 8 Conversion Events
Facebook requires that only 8 unique conversion events per website domain be used for campaign optimization. If you are running fundraising campaigns, you will want to make sure you are prioritizing the Purchase event.
Still have questions?
While these privacy changes create new challenges for tracking, we still recommend utilizing Facebook Ads as a low-cost way to reach a large amount of people digitally and boost overall fundraising. We can assist in implementing any of these changes for you, and we encourage you to have them done as soon as possible as completing these steps will ensure you are securely positioned for future fluctuations!