The way you advertise on Facebook is changing. Who, in all honesty, is surprised?
Change and Facebook ads are inextricably linked. To count all of the changes Facebook has made to its advertising platform since its start in 2007, you'd need at least three digits. We're just riding the wave as marketers (including the biggest wave of their recent parent name change to Meta).
It's not our business to scream "WHY?!?" at every change in advertising. Instead, we must inquire, "How?"
What are the new trends in advertising?
What does this mean for my business (in terms of products and niche)?
What will I do to adjust?
Here's all you need to know about the latest revisions, which will take effect on January 19, 2022.
Detailed Targeting Options Will Be Removed *In Some* Cases
Take note that Facebook mentioned *some*—not all—those that rely significantly on Facebook advertising for profitability.
This isn't necessarily Facebook's take on how to improve ad quality. "We strongly believe that the best advertising experiences are individualized," the social media site asserts. However, their civil rights and policy consultants (as well as their stakeholders) are asking an update.
To "better fit people's evolving expectations of how marketers may reach them on our platform...", Facebook has agreed to make some portions of its advertising platform less personalized.
Topics that Facebook has classified as sensitive will be deleted from the detailed targeting options:
- Health
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Sexual orientation
- Religion
- Political beliefs
Advertisers will no longer be able to target individuals based on interests such as of January 19th, 2022.
Lung cancer awareness
LGBT culture
Jewish holidays
Social issues
As is customary, Facebook will utilize this update to remove targeting possibilities for advertisers who haven't chosen those interests.
The Meta for Business blog has an overview on how advertisers may react to these new changes.
How Does This Affect the Marketing API?
On January 19th, 2022, the Marketing API will change, but most campaigns can target the above options until March 17th, 2022.
That doesn't imply you should put off making adjustments until March. According to Facebook, "the list of ad set IDs targeted at affected items through the Deprecated targeting terms API" should be used. Following that, partners can compare the targeting requirements of the ad sets to the Targeting Status API to determine the object IDs that may cause a delivery halt."
Before March 17th, you can make campaign-level modifications, but Facebook warns that ad set-level changes (such as changes to placements and targeting choices) may cause your target audience to change. They recommend that you avoid modifying your campaigns or ad sets after January 19th if at all possible.
How to Tell if You Picked a Targeting Option That Has Been Removed
Advertisers who choose the delete targeting option after March 17th, 2022 will receive the following message from Facebook:
"Cannot Use Invalid Detailed Targeting Options: Error code 100, sub code 18157520: Some of your fine-grained targeting options have been eliminated: When eliminating persons from an audience, this ad set provides detailed targeting choices that are either no longer available or unavailable.
To turn it back on, you may need to remove goods from your ad set or confirm the modifications."
If you receive this warning, you'll need to alter your targeting options to include the interests stated above.
We're not surprised that Facebook advertising is shifting. We've come to ride Facebook's wave, which appears to be heading towards the metaverse very soon. We may alter our ad settings and campaigns by using their suggestions to assist reach these audiences.
Because as marketers, that is our first responsibility.
