Let’s talk about how we got here with ad targeting…
It’s not by accident. It’s not because Meta simply wants to make things more difficult for us. There are specific events that motivated this.
The Events
First, consider advertiser abuse of targeting for nefarious reasons. There was Cambridge Analytica. Advertisers used targeting to manipulate elections. Facebook also faced multiple lawsuits for discrimination related to targeting.
The combination of these things led to Special Ad Categories, which limited targeting options in those cases. Meta also removed thousands of targeting options to prevent targeting discrimination.
Then came various privacy laws, the EU, cookie tracking, and iOS 14. There’s been a lot, and I know I’m missing a few.
It’s All Connected
My point is this…
We often hear about how advertising is harder because Meta took away targeting options. But the reason for less control, for expanded audiences, and algorithmic targeting is an accumulation of all of these issues.
It seems like some advertisers think Meta will reverse course on these decisions if we complain loudly enough. But this isn’t about making advertisers happy or unhappy. We aren’t going back to those days and you need to accept that.
In fact, it’s obvious that control over targeting will become the exception, if it isn’t eliminated completely. Advantage+ Shopping could be the eventual model.
You can fight it. Or you can accept it and find a way to succeed in this environment.