At adHOME we are always keeping up to date with any changes happening in the industry. For example… Have you heard of App Tracking Transparency (ATT)? Every Apple device has a specific number called an “advertising identifier” that is used to identify your device for the use of ad targeting and tracking. This identifier allows app developers to build very detailed notes about how you use your Apple devices within apps and across the web. If you are on IOS 14.5+, this update now asks the user for permission to track instead of just tracking without your acknowledgment.
“We believe those restrictions from Apple are designed in a way to carve out browsers from the tracking Apple requires for apps. So what that means is that search ads could have access to far more third-party data, for measurement and optimization purposes, than app-based ad platforms like ours.” according to Meta.
During this change, Meta’s ad adoption declined three percentage points to 82.8%. Why should this concern you? It proves that this new update has negatively impacted the way your digital ads can be served depending on what an iOS 14.5+ user has selected in their privacy/tracking settings.
It’s no secret that these iOS privacy changes will impact all social media networks, apps, and other digital marketing ad-serving/tracking tactics. For decades, Apple is renowned for ensuring their customers remain within their Apple ecosystem due to hardware and software compatibility, etc. This move is yet another way to increase their customer base for those users that are concerned about security and tracking. In addition, it will increase Apple’s share of digital revenue from ads since they can now serve ads via their App Store, Apple News, and Stocks to name a few.
This will have a huge impact on social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Snap). 34% of users use iOS devices therefore the ATT is negatively impacting Meta’s digital ad revenue when iOS users select “Ask app not to track” when prompted. The Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) is another privacy tactic that Apple has implemented with these software updates. MMP offers iOS 14.5+ users to opt-in to this feature which blocks email senders from seeing any information/data on how the recipient interacts with emails. MPP uses false IP addresses and/or re-routes emails to ensure no real data is being received. This creates false open rates and negatively affects the overall validity of data marketers are receiving from their email deployment systems such as MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, etc. What does this mean? We now need to focus on click-through rates and conversion points on our owned digital properties to help ensure the accuracy of data and results. At adHOME, we have navigated these changes for multiple clients to help ensure they receive the business results and accuracy of data expected when running campaigns. Have questions? Please reach out to us anytime to connect and we’ll address any concerns you may have.
4 Ways Marketers Can Navigate and Succeed In The Storm of Privacy Changes
1. Focus on your first-party data
Personalization and contextualization will be more difficult to achieve with the new iOS update. Although we can work around it by focusing on meta demographics, interests, and more. Another way to look at your targeting is to reflect back to your most loyal clients/customers to learn more about their data. Leverage Facebook audience groups that you can create. This option will help you gather data based on how people interact with your ads, social posts, website, and more.
2. Focus on conversations
Conversion-level data is a primary tool to measure performance. The iOS conflicts within Meta can make this measurement far more difficult. You can work around this by using tailored events in your Facebook Performance Measurement data.
3. UTM Tracking
This tactic is the best way to know how your campaign is running. By creating unique UTMs for all of your digital tactics and leveraging google analytics, you can see the parameters of the user’s insight from click-through rates, location, and more. How do you create a UTM by using a campaign URL builder? Fill out the needed information such as website URL, campaign ID, campaign source, campaign name, campaign medium, campaign term, and campaign content. Once the UTM URL has been created, upload it to the backend of the Facebook ads manager within the campaign and paste it into the URL link.
4. Leverage Google Analytics
Once you have linked all of your social ads with UTM’s you can now create a goal in google analytics that aligns with the action and results you want to focus on for that campaign. Within google analytics, you can also tailor goals to fit within your performance metrics. Any decreases or changes will now be visible which can help you optimize and improve your strategy during and after the campaign. As a Google Certified Digital Marketing Agency, we can help you set up your digital analytics if needed.