As we’ve talked about previously, Apple’s new iOS 14.5 update requires users to opt-in to targeted advertising, versus the previous method of opting out. The whole advertising world has been watching to see what the fallout will be. If you’d like to know more about the iOS 14.5 update, please read our past articles previewing some of the changes here, and here. 

Apple has now released their iOS 14.5 update and users have begun to update their devices. This means Apple is now enforcing a prompt by requiring apps to obtain permission to track users across apps and websites for advertising purposes through its AppTracking Transparency feature. 

What We Are Seeing So Far

So far, the opt-in rate has been minimal, with some outlets reporting as little as 4% of users opting in to targeted tracking. Facebook has not disclosed the opt-in rate they have been seeing so far, but it could be higher than that reported figure. 

So far, we haven’t seen many fluctuations in CPCs and CPMs. CPMs are up across the board by about 4%, but CPCs have remained flat. We are continually monitoring the data to ensure we are able to maximize impression delivery across our client’s campaigns.

Custom Audience Size 

As users continue to download the update and choose not to opt in to tracking, we are starting to see an audience size warning on our campaigns with a Custom Audience. This will affect Facebook Retargeting campaigns the most since we can no longer include website visitors that do not opt in to tracking on devices with iOS14.5 or later in Custom Audiences. 

Steps We Are Taking

Lookalike Audiences & Special Ad Audiences

To help with platform costs and Custom Audience size, we are adding Lookalike Audiences and Special Ad Audiences to our Retargeting campaigns. A Lookalike Audience is a way to reach new people who will likely be interested in your business because they will be similar to your best customers. A Special Ad Audience targets users in a similar way to a Lookalike Audience but is adjusted to comply with audience selection restrictions associated with your campaign’s chosen Special Ad Category. Special Ad Audiences are used for credit, employment, or housing ads. To create a Lookalike Audience or Special Ad Audience, we use our Retargeting Custom Audience as the source audience. This means Facebook will identify the common qualities of your website visitors and deliver the ads to an audience of people who are similar to them. 

When we add a Lookalike Audience or Special Ad Audience to our Retargeting campaigns, the audience size increases and prevents delivery issues. We’ve seen no decrease in performance from adding these Special Ad Audiences to our campaigns.

Steps You Can Take

Domain Verification

Verifying your website domain is one step you can take to optimize event tracking. It allows you to select the eight website events your business would like to track for iOS 14.5 users who come to your site via a Facebook or Instagram ad. Domain verification also allows you to prioritize which events are most valuable for your business to track. 

Please see our previous blog post, Facebook Domain Verification for iOS 14 Update for steps to verify your domain and for more information about domain verification

After verifying your domain, we suggest our clients grant us partner access so we can help set up events. Facebook has added the ability to share your domain with agencies through Business Manager. If you are a Conversion Logix client please follow these steps to assign us access.

1. Navigate to the verified domain you wish to add us to in Business Settings and click the Assign Partner button.
2. Enter our Business Manager ID,10153645749594875.
3. Click Next to enable sharing.

Conclusion

Overall, the iOS 14.5 update hasn’t resulted in dramatic changes to campaign performance. One thing to remember is that it’s still early in the roll-out, and things could change. All signs point to minimal disruption in campaigns other than small retargeting audiences. This is a good sign for advertisers who can rest assured that their campaigns are performing as usual. 

As an advertiser, make sure to verify your domain to ensure that Facebook’s platform can continue to drive meaningful results for your business. 

We’re continuing to watch performance on all accounts and will update you with any findings as they come in. 

The post iOS 14.5 Update – What’s the Latest On the New Apple Update appeared first on Conversion Logix.

Prepare for iOS 14 with Domain Verification

With the launch of iOS 14, website event tracking among Apple users on devices running iOS 14 will be limited to those who opt in to accept data tracking. In preparation for the changes iOS 14 will bring, advertisers can take steps to optimize their event tracking by verifying their domain. 

Verifying your website domain allows you to select the eight website events your business would like to track for iOS 14 users who come to your site via a Facebook or Instagram ad. Domain verification also allows you to prioritize which events are most valuable for your business to track.

Ready to verify your domain? Find steps for verifying your domain, details on how domain verification helps you track iOS users, and insights on setting up your event tracking below.

Steps to Verify Your Domain

1. Go to business.facebook.com/settings
2. Go to the left hand nav bar > Brand safety > Domains > Add > [enter your domain]
3. Copy the TXT record into your DNS records (i.e. GoDaddy)
4. In your DNS records, select the TXT type, paste your TXT record, and save. 
5. Wait 72 hours, go back into Facebook Business Manager, and then click to verify your domain (you will do this in the same location where you entered your domain Brand safety > Domains > Verify).

Additional Resources:

• https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/domain-verification/verifying-your-domain/
• https://www.facebook.com/business/help/286768115176155?id=199156230960298
• https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/domain-verification/

Domain Verification Details

Limited to eight total event types

For iOS 14 users who choose to opt in to data tracking on your website, you will only be able to track a total of eight event types for those users. What does that mean exactly? There is a list of website events that Facebook tracks when a user reaches your website via an ad (i.e. Schedule, Submit Application, Contact, etc). From the full list of website events that Facebook is capable of tracking, you are able to select only eight events to track for all iOS 14 users who opt in.

One event type per engagement

Though you have the ability to track a total of eight different event types, due to iOS 14’s more stringent data policy, you will only be able to track one event type per engagement. That means each time a user visits your website via a Facebook or Instagram ad, you will only be able to track one event that they complete. If a user triggers a “Find Location” event, “Contact” event, and “Schedule” event in a single session on your website, only one of those events will be tracked.

In light of these limitations, Facebook is allowing advertisers to prioritize events. You will now be able to rank your eight events by the value they bring to your business. If multiple events are triggered, Facebook will record the event highest on your prioritization list. 

In the previous example where a “Find Location” event, “Contact” event, and “Schedule” event are all triggered, Facebook would reference your prioritization list. Let’s say that your prioritization list is as follows: 

1. Submit Application
2. Schedule
3. Lead
4. Contact
5. Subscribe
6. Find Location
7. View Content
8. Search

In this scenario, Facebook would only track the “Schedule” event. 

Event Selection and Prioritization

Choosing your events is a crucial, but fairly straightforward process. You should select the eight events that provide the most value to your business. After initial setup, you can change which eight events you decide to track or reprioritize your events. However, making changes to your event selection and prioritization will cause your ads to pause for 3 days. Avoiding long pauses in your campaign is vital for campaign health, so we advise carefully choosing and prioritizing your events so you can get it right the first time. 

Need help setting up your events? We’ve got you covered.

If you are a Conversion Logix client, we will work with your team to select the best eight events and set them up for you. Please reach out to your account manager. 

If you are not a Conversion Logix client, we are happy to answer questions you have about tracking events from Facebook traffic and getting the most from your social ad spend. Schedule a call anytime.

The post Facebook Domain Verification for iOS 14 Update appeared first on Conversion Logix.

In September of 2020, Apple announced that a future update of iOS14 will require users to opt-in to see targeted ads. In the past, users opted-in by default, but had the ability to opt-out of targeted ads if they chose to. 

Since this announcement, Facebook and Apple have battled over the best path forward. Apple is promoting privacy, while Facebook is defending the businesses that rely on their platform to find new customers. Ultimately, Facebook is following Apple’s rules and will be displaying the “opt-in” prompt on all their apps once the new update is released.

In December 2020, Facebook announced several updates to its system to stay compliant with iOS14. Every advertiser is going to see changes in their campaigns, but it will affect large companies and e-commerce businesses more than smaller, offline advertisers. 

Upcoming Changes

One change is the number of conversions that Facebook will support. They used to support a virtually unlimited number of actions to optimize campaigns against. Once Apple releases the iOS14 update, the maximum number of conversions that you can optimize toward is 8.

Smaller advertisers like Multifamily Housing, or Senior Living facilities, who are tracking and optimizing on contact forms, phone calls, and appointments scheduled, won’t see huge changes with their performance. Large advertisers who get extremely granular with their conversions (and measure conversions differently in each country or state they operate in) may see some changes in reporting and campaign performance.

Additionally, if a user opts-out on their mobile device, Facebook will no longer send data for every single action they take on a website. Facebook will report the highest-value conversion chosen by the advertiser. So if a user completes four different conversion actions, Facebook will only show the “best” one that they completed.

An example of this would be someone who views a floorplans page and then submits a contact form. Facebook will use the information from the contact form submission to optimize the campaign, even though both activities happened.

Note that this will not affect how conversions are reported through Google Analytics. In the example above, both of those actions would show as conversions in Google Analytics reporting. These are specifically the actions that are set up in Facebook’s platform for optimization.

The second change that will affect advertisers is targeting custom audiences. Right now, some advertisers have specific creative that targets a granular audience, and then exclude that audience from other campaigns. For example, targeting males who live in Reno with a specific t-shirt on an e-commerce site. Once the new iOS14 update is live, Facebook won’t have as much data to use (depending on opt-out rates), and it will be harder to tell who belongs to one audience but not another if mobile users are opting out in high rates.

Businesses of all kinds might have a harder time targeting website visitors depending on how many people opt-out on mobile devices. However, unless they have specific audiences for certain actions on a website, their performance should remain similar.

So what should advertisers do?

At Conversion Logix, we focus on delivering quality results for our clients. For our Multifamily Housing customers, many of the advanced targeting and optimization strategies outlined above are not allowed due to the Fair Housing Act. This makes the impact on our clients’ campaigns smaller than it would be for other types of businesses.

We do expect to see some changes with retargeting campaigns depending on how many users opt-out of the ad targeting. We will be looking at different audiences like Facebook’s Fair Housing approved special ad audiences to help reach new prospects.

We believe that paid social campaigns are still going to drive immense value for our clients, and don’t recommend any strategy changes at this time.

The post What Apartment Marketers Can Expect From the iOS14 Update appeared first on Conversion Logix.

A couple of weeks ago, Apple announced that in iOS14, app developers will be required to prompt their users to opt-in to targeted advertising, rather than requiring an opt-out option instead. 

This sent shockwaves throughout the tech industry among advertising platforms, online publishers, and app developers.

What Does This Mean for Advertisers?

If mobile app users do not opt into online behavior tracking, ad targeting reliant on this data will become less relevant and ad rates will likely drop as a consequence. In 2017 Apple launched a similar change to its Safari browser and publishers saw ad rates decline for Safari users by 60% in the two years following the change.

Who Will Be Impacted by iOS 14?

Facebook announced that this would have a significant impact on its audience network revenue, potentially decreasing it by 50%. 

While it sounds like a doom and gloom scenario for advertisers, the change isn’t likely to have as big of an impact on Facebook advertising in industries outside of app development.

Facebook’s audience network is driven by mobile in-app ad placements, and is used heavily by developers to target mobile app users using Facebook’s “app download” campaigns. One of the most common use cases for audience network targeting is mobile game advertising where game developers target gamers inside of popular mobile apps.

The groups that will be hit the hardest by this change will be publishers and app developers who make most of their revenue selling ad placements and advertisers in the mobile app space who utilize audience network targeting to reach their target audience in Facebook.

While advertisers outside of mobile app development use Facebook’s audience network to reach their target audience across a wider variety of ad placements, this type of targeting makes up a much smaller portion of their overall campaign. Most of the impressions delivered on Facebook’s ad platform are delivered across placements in Facebook’s collection of apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger).

How Will This Affect Conversion Logix Advertisers?

At Conversion Logix, we don’t see this change having a significant impact on our campaigns. 91% of all of our ad impressions are delivered outside of Audience Network. Most of our ad placements within Facebook and Instagram go to users scrolling the feed. 

Following the announcement from Apple, Facebook said it will not elect to collect Apple’s identifier for advertisers (IDFA) on their own apps on iOS 14 devices. This means that app users on Facebook’s apps won’t see the message asking users to opt in to be tracked across apps and websites owned by other companies. In place of this Facebook is releasing an “Off Facebook Activity feature” which gives users a summary of the information other apps have sent Facebook and presents them with the option to disconnect future off Facebook activity from their account. Users can elect to disconnect from all outside activity or remove specific apps and websites. 

At the end of Facebook’s announcement to partners, they said they expect less impact to their own advertising business, and will remain committed to supporting advertisers and publishers through these updates. 

While we may see a ripple effect of prices increasing across Facebook ad placements outside of audience network, the impact should be minimal. 

When Will the Change Take Place?

Apple originally announced that this change would take effect when iOS14 launches in October, but after hearing from Facebook and other publishers, it decided to push the effective date until 2021. 

Additional Sources

Vox

Ad Exchanger

Ars Technica

The post Facebook’s Response to iOS 14 and How it Will Impact Advertisers appeared first on Conversion Logix.