Meta announced changes that will impact healthcare advertisers beginning in January 2025. These changes are a response to the push for more privacy from consumers and regulators.
The changes are intended to limit sharing of health information from Meta platforms to advertisers for targeting purposes.
Typically, companies using Meta’s tracking pixels on their websites learn how often users of Meta platforms – particularly Facebook and Instagram – visit their sites, which products they look at and their purchasing histories. This information is sent back to Meta, who then refines the data and uses it to improve their algorithms and refine targeting to users who are likely to make a purchase. With the new changes, this information will be restricted from access by advertisers.
But with these changes, certain types of health-related data – such as completion of an online purchase of a prescription medicine or product – will no longer be available to healthcare advertisers.
What does all this mean? Healthcare marketers will need to find different approaches for targeting consumers. One alternative may be including a wider set of platforms/digital channels in digital marketing efforts.