What are the iOS 14 changes about and how will they impact your Facebook ads?

Your heart rate increases. Sweat beads start to form on your forehead and your foot taps on the floor at a bpm of 110…

If you’re a Social Media Manager and work across Facebook Ads, then you would have felt this sinking feeling when opening up your ad accounts and seeing the below notification last year;

So if you don’t work across Facebook ads, you may be wondering what this means for you and your business? 

Thanks to Apple’s newest iOS 14 update, from 2021 Apple will be showing all Facebook and Instagram app users a popup message allowing them to opt out of data tracking across apps and websites owned by other companies. 

Whilst obviously we don’t know how many people are going to opt out (not me because a. you can send targeted ads my way any day of the week and b. well, it’s my job and I’m biased, duh), we do know it’s going to impact our Facebook ads. The update will now make tracking pixel actions such as purchases, leads and custom conversions from Facebook ads difficult. Why? Because it will underreport actual numbers due to people opting out of tracking. 

This can also cause issues when optimising ads for these events (hello Purchases campaign and Dynamic Retargeting, see ya later ROAS). This means the learning phase is going to be more difficult to exit for these campaigns. 

Also, our reports are going to be impacted, with costs across the board likely to rise (website purchases conversion value, it was nice knowing you) and attribution even more difficult to, well, attribute. What is most concerning will be the longer-term impacts of optimisation or lack thereof. Retargeting and building custom audiences is going to be more difficult and thus our campaigns are likely to suffer. 

Another key update that will impact our ads is the removal of conversion windows, with Facebook only tracking 1-day click, 7-day click (default), 1-day click and 1-day view and 7-day click and 1-day view. 

Now we’ve probably got you all fired up but take a breath because like all things, it’s not as bad as it sounds! We promise it’s not all doom and gloom. 

Firstly, the above updates only apply to iOS devices when they update to iOS 14. So people who don’t opt-out or are using an Android or desktop device will still be able to be retargeted.

Also, it’s not just Facebook. ALL advertisers are being impacted including Google, Pinterest, YouTube and more. 

You will still be able to get leads, purchases and other events from your ads, you just won’t be able to track or optimise as well as previously for these events. 

If you’re an advertiser or your company is currently advertising on Facebook, DON’T PANIC! Get your ads ready for these changes by; 

1. Verifying your domain: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/245311299870862 

2. Run a report on how many purchases or key events are from iOS devices to understand how significant the impact could be. 

3. Choose your 8 conversion events (Facebook will automatically choose these for you based on your website’s data, but you can manage them in Events Manager).

If you’ve been in the Facebook ads game for a while, then this is just another one of those inevitable changes (remember when they removed third-party data from our audience targeting). So, we’re dabbing the sweat beads off our foreheads for now and getting back to work, ready to roll and adapt to whatever happens next.  

Have any questions or want help getting your business ready for iOS 14? Reach out to us at maddison@squeezedmedia.com.au or contact us here.