Facebook has a new initiative to highlight importance of personalized ads

Facebook has today announced a new initiative that it says will highlight the importance of personalized ads for small businesses, in what could be seen as another jab at Apple and iOS 14 privacy changes.

The company stated:

We're introducing Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found, an initiative that highlights how personalized ads are an important way people discover small businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and how these ads help small businesses grow from an idea into a livelihood... Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found celebrates people finding businesses they love on Facebook and Instagram like Goat House Farm in Tallahassee, Florida. Owner Melissa Hughes uses personalized ads to connect with people who want to take their yoga skills to the next level — with goats! And House of Takura in Houston, Texas, founded by Annette Njau, who had an idea to create a lifestyle brand that tells a story of African traditions with Western influences, while also supporting empowerment work in Africa.

To help small businesses, Facebook is also simplifying its Ads manager to make it easier to get started using personalized marketing "to increase the value of their advertising investment." The new Ad manager has a simplified dashboard. Facebook says it is also continuing to waive fees for businesses using Checkout on Shops through June, and paid online events through August.

It is also implementing new measures for restaurants to show people what kind of dining experience is available at a business, and a new menu page so businesses can upload their menu directly to their Facebook page.

Facebook is also updating its Business Resource Hub with more information on how Personalized ads work.

You can read the full release here.

With iOS 14.5 Apple has introduced changes that will force developers to ask users to opt-in to IDFA tracking across apps and devices, a move Facebook says could devastate its advertising business.