As the most popular and widely used social platform in the world, it is not surprising that Facebook is continually changing and evolving to meet the needs of its users.
Because Facebook experienced a rapid amount of expansion in a short amount of time, there have been a lot of growing pains while the platform has worked to better its system. The next few months are bringing even more widespread changes, and while change can seem overwhelming, the updates to come will make the platform safer and more efficient than ever.
Here are a few of the major changes you can expect to see from Facebook in the coming months.
- A much larger focus on privacy. For many years, Facebook’s priority was to have posts reach as many people as possible with as much information as possible. Today, society’s views view has have shifted, and we value privacy and intimacy more than ever, which means that the old way of doing things doesn’t make sense anymore.
As a response to this, Facebook has completely revamped the way it spreads information. It is now putting a much more heightened focus on communities and Group pages, as well as private messaging and Stories; this is all intended to foster that environment of intimacy and relevancy that people are craving. This is also intended to help answer some of the questions about online safety that have cropped up over the last few years on Facebook. The platform has put a lot of work into making sure that its information is encrypted end-to-end and is putting the privacy of the consumer first, which is a strong step in the right direction.
Keep an eye out for these focused changes to continue through the rest of 2019 and beyond.
- The budget settings for advertising campaigns are changing. Historically, when campaigns have been built on the Facebook platform, the budget was always set at the ad set level. This meant that we could allocate specific budgets to run per set of targeting tactics, ensuring a specific spend per ad set. Beginning in September of 2019, this is changing. Budgets are moving up to the campaign level, which means that the platform itself is going to optimize how the money should be distributed amongst each of the ad sets running beneath it.
Confused? Don’t be! This is actually a great change, although it does take businesses relinquishing some of their control over the campaigns. Essentially, Facebook has created an algorithm that will distribute the money from the Campaign level across each ad set based upon success and delivery rates. This means that those ad sets that are performing the best will be given more money to spend, while those which are experiencing less success will have less money to spend. It’s a wonderful way to optimize budgets and get the most out of every budget, but it is definitely a large structural change from what we are used to.
- HEC Restrictions. HEC Restrictions, which encompasses housing, employment, and credit ads, are being rolled out across the platform beginning August 26, 2019. Essentially, this is a continuation of the theme of Facebook’s heightened focus on safety and is being put in place to prevent discrimination when advertising.
In March of 2019, Facebook was sued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for housing discrimination, which they claimed was a violation of the Fair Housing Act. Essentially, the suit claimed that advertisers were using purchased advertising to exclude some protected classes from seeing advertising campaigns. As a response, Facebook rolled out the new guidelines that will make sure advertisers cannot circumvent its non-discrimination policy, specifically in the case of any ads relating to housing, employment, or credit (HEC). Moving forward, here is a list of things we will no longer be able to target within each of these ad categories:
- Zip code targeting
- Cities with LESS than a 15-mile radius
- Age
- Gender
- Specific Interest Targets
While these changes can seem overwhelming, they are being put in place to protect users on Facebook, and it’s an excellent move for the platform as a whole.
Overall, Facebook is taking great strides in 2019 to create a safer, more secure, and more inclusive online environment for its users. Have questions about your social marketing strategy? If so, call Compulse Integrated Marketing today at 844-821-2154 to learn more about how we can help!