How Will iOS 14 Affect Your Marketing Strategy?

Apple recently announced its new iPhone operating system iOS 14 and with it, comes plenty of controversies— most notably pushback from Facebook. The reason for this pushback comes after Apple announced that iOS 14 would feature a new data privacy setting that would impact the way that Facebook’s Audience Network works to deliver targeted ads directly to the audiences with pinpoint precision. At K2 Analytics, a leading digital marketing agency that specializes in using analytics to deliver marketing campaigns, this iOS update means that we will have to be creative to find new ways to create highly optimized advertising campaigns. Something that we excel at. So as the tools that you use for marketing change, so must your strategy. How will iOS 14 affect your marketing strategy?

New Apple iOS 14 Changes

Apple’s new iOS 14 operating system for iPhone comes with a wide array of new features and upgrades that include everything from new bitmojis to multi-screen call screens but what stands out the most to us as digital marketing specialists are the new privacy enhancements from iOS 14.

At a glance, iOS 14 is the new operating system expected to be released in September. It features:

• Compatibility with all devices able to run iOS 13
• Home screen redesign with widgets
• New App Library
• App Clips
• No full-screen calls
• Privacy enhancements
• Translate app
• Cycling and EV routes

Let’s take a closer look at the privacy enhancements. The privacy enhancements include the ability to toggle privacy settings that improve privacy protections for Apple users. The enhancements make it clear to users what information apps collect requiring more user permission and providing more ways to use location features without giving away specific location data.

Essentially, this makes it harder for apps to collect data on you which Facebook uses to target specific audiences. Good for Apple users, bad for Facebook marketers.

How Will These Changes Affect How Businesses Use Targeted Marketing Strategies?

The dilemma that many social media marketers face now, is one that requires them to find new and creative ways to target audiences for digital advertising campaigns without the help of Apple’s massive user base handing over data on themselves.

According to testing, Facebook has seen more than a “50% drop in Audience Network publisher revenue” when personalization settings were removed from mobile app ad campaigns. This means that publishers who use Facebook’s Audience Network will need to find creative ways to make up the ground that they are losing.

How Can You Continue To Market Effectively Without Targeted Advertising?

While iOS 14’s data privacy updates are surely going to alter the way that social media marketing strategies are currently structured, it’s not the end of social media marketing as we know it. There was social media marketing before Facebook’s Audience Network, and there will be advertisements after it is gone. Which seems like a probable outcome.

To continue marketing effectively in the meantime, you may want to refocus your attention to other forms of content marketing. Organic reach is still very much in play and it’s important to continue to create high-quality content that generates higher engagement organically on social media, email newsletters, blogs, and on other media platforms.