How the Latest Instagram Regulations Impact Your Social Media Advertising Efforts

Instagram recently announced that the platform is adding new automated security settings to protect its younger users. Some of these settings include defaulting new accounts to private and limiting who can see and respond to content. Although these settings will be optional, any new accounts created by users younger than 18 will be defaulted to this new standard. This is an important development for the platform considering their user base is massively popular with the younger demographic and ensuring the safety of this demographic is of paramount importance. But what does this mean for your social media advertising strategy knowing that creating content and targeting younger demographics is essential to some brands?  

In addition to the automated security settings, Instagram and Facebook more broadly will be tightening the restrictions around targeting ads to a younger demographic in general. The new program which is being implemented in the U.S., Australia, France, the UK and Japan will limit targeting options for advertisers whose markets involve those who are under the age of 18. Now, these audiences can only be targeted based on their age, gender and location. This is a big change considering successful social media advertising campaigns use a more detailed approach to targeting, such as interests, like music and sports teams, or other entertainment preferences. While brands may require an adult over the age of 18 to make the final purchase (conversion), it is often the younger demographic influencing these decisions for some brands, which is why these developments are so important to understand.    

While you may consider how much you’re spending on Facebook and Instagram, there are other platforms that you can advertise on that are becoming increasingly popular with this demographic. For example, we have already noticed a trend of younger users flocking to apps like TikTok, where content can be shown to a broader range of users through avenues like the For You Page. One feature of note is TikTok’s audience testing feature, which allows you to test your own theories about a chosen target audience through their behaviors. This can be used to help identify an audience in order to run successful campaigns. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out as users already possess the power to opt out of in-app tracking, which had become a staple for digital advertisers. Read more on that here

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