what you need to know about the battle between facebook and apple

written by
Mari Aipa

the gloves are off.

A battle has been brewing between two of the tech industry’s largest companies on how your online activity can and should be used to show you more personalized ads as a consumer.

As Apple gears up to release a privacy update to iOS 14 this spring, which will allow users to control how their data is used for online advertising, Facebook is stepping in to the ring to challenge Apple on the impact their update will have on its advertising structure and essentially, the success of your marketing spend.

here’s the skinny on the increasingly heated privacy war…

In order for an advertiser to show you personalized ads, they need to be able to track you and your activity online. Apple is moving to give users more control over how their data is used for online advertising. To that end, Apple will soon require its users to opt in if they want to allow businesses to track their data and use it for personalized advertising. Under Apple’s new requirements, companies will have to explain their data-collection practices when making new updates.

Facebook, which relies heavily on personalized advertising, is anticipating that many users won’t give permission to have their behavior tracked online and as a result harm its ad business. Facebook claims that small businesses in particular, who have moved to rely heavily on Facebook ads during the pandemic because its platform is accessible and affordable, will be heavily impacted by this change.

Striking back against Apple, Facebook announced last week that they’re planning to send pop-up notifications to Apple users that will ask for permission to track them for ad targeting while suggesting that opting in will help them to support the businesses they adore.

so what does this mean for you as an advertiser?

Small businesses have small budgets and in order for them to be most effective they have to be correctly targeted at the audience that can make the biggest impact on your business. If users start to opt out of tracking, the size of the audience that businesses are trying to reach will decrease as well as the overall impact of the ad spend. Put simply? Less user data + less accurate targeting = less marketing impact.

what can you do now?

Facebook has released several recommendations that can be implemented immediately on your web site and in your Facebook Business Manager to help minimize disruption to your business and your marketing activities on Facebook and Instagram.

Need help with this update? We’re here to help. Drop us a line to make sure you’re ready for this battle.

• Marketing