By Tiffany Hsia
Meta | Monetization | App Advertising
Content Strategy, Advertising, Privacy and Legal, Complex Technical System, Omnichannel Platforms, Feature Installation and Configuration, Cross-functional Collaboration, Product Research, Content Testing, Localization/Translation, Object-Oriented UX (OOUX)
Apple’s regulations make it difficult for mobile app advertisers to reach users on Meta’s social media platforms because iOS users can block tracking of personal data. As a result, mobile app advertisers miss out on millions of dollars in revenue due to limited audience reach. Users also see less relevant content in their social media feed, resulting in fewer interactions and decreased usage.
Meta’s advertising platform has privacy-preserving technologies which can help extend ad reach to users* who decline tracking of personal data. However, advertisers have a hard time understanding what these technologies are and how to set them up. Additionally, these technologies aren’t available for all advertising campaign objectives, which makes it challenging for advertisers to achieve their desired performance.
*Applies to iOS 14.5+ (90% of iOS users)
Privacy-preserving technologies were a critical priority for Meta, with visibility at the highest leadership levels. It accounted for 7% of Meta’s App Ads revenue.
To combat Apple’s advertising restrictions, Meta proposed updates to their in-house solution, Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM), which would help app advertisers maximize their social media reach. These technologies would have easier set up, fewer constraints, and better performance and reporting.
Despite these benefits, setting up AEM and applying them to ad campaigns still posed a challenge to its 10 million advertisers. The majority of advertisers on Meta’s advertising platforms lacked direct support or didn’t want these updates to interrupt their current workflow.
As a content designer on the signal loss team, I produced content that helped advertisers adopt AEM and use it in their advertising strategy. I worked with cross-functional partners such as content strategists, product designers, product managers, researchers, engineers, data analysts, and legal/compliance across different functions of Meta’s Ads ecosystem. Additionally, I presented our messaging solutions to product leadership such as the directors of engineering and product.
How do we get advertisers to adopt Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM) so they can maximize customer reach and boost app engagement?
Working with cross-functional partners, I had to ensure content was cohesive across the advertising platform ecosystem and answered:
Every piece of content required alignment with local laws, industry standards, and consumer data protection.
I applied the Triple Diamond Framework, with Object-Oriented UX bridging research and design, to create a solution focused on the problem space.
The Triple Diamond Framework
I utilized Object-Oriented UX strategy to create an object map which laid out the problem space by identifying objects, relationships, and attributes. The object map provided immediate insight into where content would be impacted in Meta’s Ads Manager, ensuring alignment with the user’s mental model of the product.
My first step to create the object map was to learn as much as I could about the problem space. This proved challenging due to the system’s vast scale, which spanned across multiple platforms, served a wide range of industries, and had various campaign types for every use case under the sun. Rather than try to absorb it all, I focused on app advertising re-engagement workflows, which were used to boost engagement, drive sales, and generate leads, and accounted for ~$11,000,000 of revenue.
I gathered information by meeting with product partners who had deep technical expertise in Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM) and by testing the product directly. I spent hours speaking with content design, product design, and engineering leads who validated the object map that I created and even started Quotes for Creatives to learn how to promote ads on Meta’s social media platforms.
I discovered the following through my research:
I produced 139 strings of content for warnings, errors, and feature announcements in collaboration with product design, content design, legal and marketing partners across different platform functions. I also ensured that resources, including in-platform setup instructions and Help Center articles about AEM, were updated and accurate. By following guidelines and aligning messaging with legal and privacy policies, I minimized legal risk while maintaining a clear and user-friendly experience.
I crafted warning and error messages that appeared throughout the advertiser's journey–when creating, editing, or publishing a campaign. Most messages were designed as concise warnings to minimize disruption and with “Learn more” links that direct advertisers to the easiest fix for their issue. The “Learn more” links guided advertisers to the relevant platform for further context, or to a Help Center article to diagnose their issue.
I designed several flowcharts mapping out various AEM setup use cases with their corresponding messaging and call-to-action destinations. These provided content designers with a clear framework for consistent messaging and helped engineers implement the correct flows, ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience.
I reviewed in-product guidance and Help Center articles to ensure that advertisers redirected with “Learn more” links were met with information that was updated, clear, relevant and actionable. I aligned with Help Center content designers to ensure that all knowledge base content was accurate with the product changes and adverse to legal risks.
I collaborated with UX researchers to develop targeted interview questions for assessing user comprehension of AEM setup messaging at key stages of the ad experience. I refined the discussion guide to capture insights from Ads Manager Admins across various business sizes in eCommerce and Gaming, ensuring we addressed the messaging effectively.
Working with cross-functional partners, I presented to product leadership solutions that showcased AEM's value to the advertiser experience and highlighted our go-to-market positioning as defined by our product marketing managers. The presentation detailed our design approach, underscored its revenue generation potential, and demonstrated its strong alignment with organizational goals.
Lastly, I created a spreadsheet with each of the 139 strings, string description, link destination, and Figma micropage. This helped engineers keep track of which messaging needed to be implemented and provided translators with better context for localization into 21 different languages.
