How the New iOS 14 Update Impacts Digital Marketing for 2021

The newest iOS 14 update to Apple devices featured a massive overhaul of the iPhone user interface. Featuring redesigned widgets for device Home Screens, additional features for Messages, Maps, and much more, iOS 14 has a few secrets and surprisingly big changes that could affect digital marketing for 2021. Here is everything you should keep in mind about iOS 14 for the upcoming year!

With iOS 14, Apple made a big change to data tracking permissions, meaning it has a huge impact on app features and notably Facebook advertising and publishing. Facebook themselves even stopped collecting identifiers for advertisers (IDFA) on their apps for iOS 14 devices. However, considering the new limitations on data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns, Facebook has advised creating new ad accounts dedicated to running app install ad campaigns for iOS 14 users. Going forward, apps will be required to get permission from users to track and access their iOS device advertising identifier. This might seem like a positive change overall but will most likely have a harmful impact on small businesses moving forward by making their advertising less efficient, effective, and overall, more difficult to target.

So, what can small businesses do to achieve marketing success on Facebook moving forward? Luckily, Facebook has already started to implement changes to its platform to help advertisers adjust to iOS 14 in early 2021. Since Facebook is expecting a major loss of conversion reporting, the platform will look to utilize modelling to help suffice with statistical modelling for certain attribution windows and/or metrics to account for less data availability from iOS 14 users. In product-annotation will communicate when a metric is modelled or when a metric is partial from reporting certain attribution windows. Essentially, Facebook will be using modelling to help understand how many conversions will go underreported to help brands continue to gauge proper metrics from their social ad campaigns on the platform.

iOS 14 also added a unique feature to their Maps called Guides, a new sort of curation tool that can help users find recommendations for places to eat, explore, and experiences based on a selection of trusted brands. Since it also allows users to create their own Guides and share them to other users, small businesses with brick-and-mortar locations can surely benefit from this new way to share your favorite spots in any location. With tourism starting up again following a year of lockdown, businesses will be surely trying to market themselves to appear on curated Guides, with popular tourism platforms such as The Infatuation on Instagram already creating city food guides for San Francisco and more.

If you need help navigating the many changes of Facebook Advertising or how to get your business to appear in the next big, curated Guide in your town, Kingstar Media has years of experience in attribution, conversion reporting, and digital marketing to help you achieve a successful 2021. Contact Kingstar today and find out what our full-service marketing and media buying company can offer you this year!