Sponsored

The Facebook Insight Series – Part 1

This four-part series lifts the lid on Facebook’s trade secrets in a bid to help Aussie businesses thrive post-pandemic.

Stu Stevens, a former Yahoo! exec and now M.D. of Sydney based Digital Marketing Agency – Remap Online is an Official Facebook Marketing Partner. In this series, he shares 4 x key insights gleaned directly from the heart of the beast in silicon valley, to help your Internet Retailing business shine. 

Insight #1: Data now comes with a Health Warning.

There’s no doubt that Data has created rivers of gold for many businesses all around the world – but especially for Internet Retailers.

It increases conversions, builds profits, reduces campaign risk and crushes the competition. 

Exploiting this opportunity in recent years has been the domain of the fast-growing Ad-Tech industry. Global media Agencies and Enterprise level corporations with access to huge swathes of 3rd party data have collaborated together and changed the ad game forever. 

More recently, consumers from all parts of the world have begun to wake up to the fact their personal data is being mined, manufactured and traded in these highly profitable industries – all without their knowledge or consent. 

This shift in awareness and public opinion is swiftly driving political action on a global scale, and the evidence is stacking up; 

• 2018; the EU launches the General Data and Privacy Regulation Act (GDPR)
• 2019; the US launches the Californian Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) 
• 2020; right here the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) published the results of a major survey into Community Attitudes and Privacy.

The commercialisation of 3rd party data, and those industries that depend on it (and display advertising we’re looking at you), will have to change their practices soon, or face extinction. 

Take a look at these comments from two very high profile individuals; 

David Wehner, Facebook’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last year (2020), “While we’ve experienced some modest impact from these headwinds to date, the majority of the impact still lies in front of us”.

Angelene Falk, Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner said in her recently published report, “Privacy is now the Australian Communities’ top consideration when we are choosing a digital service — ahead of reliability, convenience and price. [At the same time] trust in organisations to protect our personal information continues to decline.”

This shift in public opinion is powering politicians to rapidly change regulation, including the OAIC, which is now working towards a new privacy code for social media and online platforms. 

This new code will be legally binding and seeks to improve the public’s ability to manage our own privacy choices with policies that can actually be understood, and transparent on the issue of consent. 

Whilst this code is being developed, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has already got enough teeth to take down the likes of Google under our existing Consumer Laws. 

These types of court rulings are having a massive impact on the digital component of nearly every Australian Business, both large and small – any internet business cannot afford to wait till they are forced to change by law (that’s too expensive and risky). These internet businesses need to understand this global trend and start making changes now. 

Read more about the ACCC’s recent win over Google in Federal Court. 

Learn how the Australian Privacy Act is about to change and what it means for your business. 

The insights in this article were supplied by Stu Stevens, Managing Director of Digital Marketing Agency Remap Online – an Official Facebook Marketing Partner.