With the midterm elections approaching, consumers in the United States (and around the world) are requesting transparency from social media platforms.
Combating the spread of false information is a difficult task.
In response to consumer concerns, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced updates to its ad transparency tools.
Meta’s VP of Business Integrity, Jeff King, added new ad transparency measures to the following tools:
- FORT (Facebook Open Research and Transparency) is a tool that allows users to share their research on Facebook.
- Library of Facebook Ads
Specifically, the ad types that will be affected include:
- Social issues
- Electoral
- Political
All countries that currently use Meta’s ad authorization and disclaimer tools will receive updates to these tools.
Advertisers will be impacted by these updates, which are driven by consumer feedback. Let’s take a closer look at the changes and what advertisers can do to prepare.
Tool for Open Research and Transparency on Facebook (FORT)
The Facebook Open Research and Transparency (now known as FORT) tool is only available to vet academic researchers and is not open to the general public.
The goal of the Meta Impact Tool, which was first launched on January 11, 2022, was to provide a tool for researchers to better understand Meta’s impact on society.
The software is a cloud-based research platform that is cost-effective, flexible for researchers, and secure in terms of data storage.
Read How To Build Your Business Brand in the Metaverse.
The FORT environment will include detailed ad targeting information (such as interest categories) for social issues, electoral, and political ads starting at the end of May.
For affected ads, detailed targeting information will be available at the ad level.
Changes to Facebook’s Ad Library
The Facebook Ad Library, on the other hand, is open to everyone.
Ad Library updates will be available in July 2022. Consumers will now be able to see the following if your ads fall into one of the three categories listed above:
- For each affected ad, a summary of targeting information is provided.
- Location
- Demographics
- Interests
- The total number of targeted ads that a Page has run in each of the three categories.
- Ad spend on the social issue, political, or electoral ads as a percentage of total ad spend
- Whether or not a Page made use of custom audiences.
- If a Page made use of Lookalike audiences.
The Implications for Advertisers
Meta is well-known for cracking down on detailed targeting.
While you can still target ads based on demographics like age, gender, and location, depending on the ad content, you may see a lot more ads disapproved.
Even if your ads don’t directly relate to social issues, elections, or politics, you could be impacted in the future.
Don’t despair if you think Meta audience targeting is hopeless. Here are some helpful hints and tools to get you started.
1. Begin with a broader target audience.
Even if you know exactly who your target market is, demographics may not be as useful as they once were.
Create a large “interests” category that is not divided by demographics for greater reach and awareness.
During the learning phase, you may see a higher CPA at first, but Meta’s algorithm usually finds your highest quality targets quickly.
2. Take Advantage of Remarketing
Keep track of people who are engaging with your ads if you’re starting with broad targeting (as mentioned above).
Quick video ads are a great way to raise awareness, but did you know that people who engage can be added to remarketing lists?
Create a remarketing list of people who have previously engaged with your page if you don’t have video content.
This removes demographic targeting from your ads and replaces it with a more qualified audience that is more likely to make a purchase.
3. Use Custom Audiences
Users will now be able to see whether you’ve used Custom or Lookalike Audiences, but if they’re a previous customer, for example, this is unlikely to bother them.
You shouldn’t have any trouble getting ads approved as long as you’re populating these lists with first-party data.
Learn more from Facebook and read Meta Announces Human-Level AI Research.
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