Privacy restrictions have made it harder for businesses to target customers through paid social media advertising. The Facebook owner suggests its new tools can help.
The age of third-party cookies is over. Artificial intelligence can help–at least, according to Meta.
The Menlo Park, California, company announced earlier this month that it is rolling out new A.I.-powered tools that aim to help businesses reach new and existing customers. Its “custom audience” tool within Meta Advantage, the company’s existing suite of automated marketing products, offers to deliver ads beyond retailers’ selected target audience to help them find new customers. Previously, advertisers could target specific audiences via third-party data (an in-platform option that Meta turned off in 2018 and Apple further restricted outside use of in 2021), opt-in lists, or specific demographics. With this new tool, the platform will serve ads to potential customers–who are selected by an algorithm that determines if they are likely to engage with the ad–outside of those retailer-specified audiences.
Since Apple rolled out new privacy restrictions in its iOS 14.5 update in the summer of 2021, businesses have been unable to use third-party cookies to target new customers through paid social advertising; this has made growth on social platforms a challenge, especially for those that previously relied on cost-effective ad placements. So, businesses are increasingly interested in new ways they can find and convert new customers.
And Meta is trying to help. In August, the Facebook owner rolled out Advantage+ shopping campaign tools to advertisers globally, which it says allow businesses to automatically generate Facebook and Instagram ads. The company shared that, in a study of 15 A/B tests, these automated campaigns led to a 12 percent lower cost per purchase compared with traditional ads. Meta says that its new custom audience tool will enable advertisers to reach an even greater number of potential customers, by serving ads to algorithmically selected customers outside of the advertiser’s selected audience.
It remains to be seen if marketers will embrace Meta’s A.I. and automation tools. IOS 14.5 changed the way businesses are able to target customers on platforms like Facebook, says Lee Joselowitz, growth marketer and co-founder of Los Angeles-based performance marketing company The Quality Edit. Apple’s privacy changes have led businesses to increasingly rely on first-party data, long-form content, and strong creative to reach their target audiences. “A good Facebook marketer has had to develop more technical skills around signals and measurements, in addition to becoming a really strong creative strategist and storyteller,” she says. With Meta’s push for A.I.-driven marketing solutions, there may yet be an easier way forward.
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