Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard Facebook is on the chopping block for how it collects consumer data and unfortunately for advertisers, it’s changing targeting options for businesses. Soon private and public third-party targeting will be phased out and things such as behavioral-targeting parameters like purchasing, in-market audiences and others will no longer be available.
Easy Come, Easy Go
Back in 2013, Facebook introduced “Partner Categories” that allowed businesses to target people based on offline behaviors such as home ownership, new car shopping or brand-loyal customers. It was a nice complement to Facebook advertising and an invaluable tool for advertisers especially those without access to customer data.
However, within the next six months, Facebook is phasing out Partner Categories, which means advertisers that rely heavily on attributes like home ownership, investments, credit card spending habits and other third party information, are now required to restructure their targeting strategy.
Are we sweating this break up Facebook? Not one bit.
With so much data already collected on Facebook users, there are plenty of ways to reach your desired audience by utilizing your pixel, creating engagement and custom look-a-like audiences. Plus, after chatting with Facebook, they confirmed that there are no plans to remove the shiny new optimization tool, Trip Consideration.
Just as we’ve done in the past, we have to approach this latest update like any other algorithmic change by adapting to find alternative solutions to drive results.
