We are in an internet marketing age. Marketing and advertising have evolved over a while. Today’s world has become a global village and everything is just a click away. Any minor or significant change brought in by the so-called market giants will affect everyone involved.
As we move ahead in the topic of discussion, we will try to understand what exactly Apple has done by rolling out the iOS 14 update and how this will affect the advertisers, marketers, and businesses in terms of social media marketing and social media advertising.
What is iOS 14 update?
Apple has rolled out its iOS 14 updates, and with it, it has added a privacy card for the user. It is essentially an app tracking transparency prompt, which pops up when someone downloads an app or updates software. In simple terms, the prompt asks the user whether one would like to share the personal information or data through this app. In other words, the user is given a choice to opt-out from allowing the app to track his activities across the web.
Why does the iOS update become a point of discussion?
Frankly, though the update seems to be a new one, the iOS users had this feature with them from iOS 10 wherein they could opt-out from allowing the apps to access their data. But the feature was in the settings of the device, and not many are aware of it. And only a few are utilizing this feature. But now, it has become an issue because the feature is no more in the device’s settings but pops up every time a user downloads an app or updates the software of an existing app on the iOS devices. So there is a possibility of the user choosing to opt-out for privacy concerns. And if this happens in large numbers, it will affect all those involved in social media advertising, including Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Twitter, or internet marketing agencies and others.
Why will social media marketing be affected because of the iOS 14 update?
The new iOS update may affect or limit your marketing efforts. If the Apple user opts to keep out the apps from tracking their web activity which is vital to deliver personalized ads to each user, it will negatively impact the quality of social media marketing. For the vast majority of businesses, this user data is essential for detailed targeting with conversion campaigning to get the best results. Apps will find it harder to target better adverts which means the quality of targeting available to the marketers of apps to target users specifically based on their past behavior will be more difficult, specifically in cross-device targeting.
In short, the advanced data points from its users, especially those who are using iOS devices, will diminish and affect cross-device attribution across the platforms for any proprietary technology that delivers adverts to these businesses installed as an app on iOS, and thus may be negatively impacted. So if you have app analytics in terms of firebase installed and you are marketing an app or advertising through an app, you will face the effects of the iOS update.
Why is Facebook more worried?
Facebook is one platform that hugely relies on this data conversion for detailed targeting of adverts for its huge revenue and because most of its users use the app in their mobile devices. And in the present scenario with all the regulations on the privacy concerns of user’s data and information surrounding Facebook, it will not be a surprise that iOS users opt-out of sharing their data which will affect the conversion campaigns in terms of optimization, in terms of targeting, in terms of attribution and in terms of reporting and analyzing the data. All of which are essential for social media advertising, especially for Facebook.
How is iOS marketing this new update?
Apple marketing efforts or the strategy involved by the company about its new update is simple, which is, the new iOS update has been designed with customer privacy in mind. Apple says that this app tracking transparency prompt will allow the user to decide whether to share their data with the apps or not.
Takeaway…..
At this point of discussion, we can only speculate and try to estimate the extent of the effect of Apple’s update on social media marketing with whatever information is available. So, jumping to conclusions should not be the first thing to do since the discussion is complex if we can say so, and since it is still at its nascent stage. We should also understand that it is an evolving topic, and the landscape will keep changing as more information or news from different platforms come out.
Sirisha
Technical Content Writer
About The Author…
Say hello to Sirisha, an avid learner and explorer of knowledge. English communication and life skills training are her areas of expertise. She has been in the content writing field, providing content solutions to a few news websites, educational websites, and YouTube channels. Sirisha joined KloudPortal in March 2021. In her free time, she loves reading, gardening, or traveling to connect with nature.