Being nimble is the name of the game in a media landscape that is constantly changing from day to day. On Facebook, we saw game-altering changes take place back in January which prompted us to take a look at our content delivery and organic strategy. Today we’re seeing some new policy changes that will encourage advertisers on the platform to revisit their saved audiences and paid strategies.

As part of continued improvements to the privacy of individual users, Facebook will be phasing out Partner Categories as a feature of their demographics and behavior targeting functionality. The depreciation will take place over a period of six months and will first take effect in the European Union ahead of the enactment of General Data Protection Regulation – a new law regulating how companies protect EU citizens’ personal data – effective May 25, 2018. By October, Partner Categories will no longer be available worldwide.

What does this mean? Third party data sets such as “likely to move” – a content category provided by Epsilon – will no longer be available for building audiences, and any audiences previously built with third party data will not be delivered. Only in-house data will be available. There will be fewer options to select from, certainly. On the flip side, campaigns will see better performance with smaller spends. The percentage of budget that would normally be paid to the third party provider (sometimes up to 15% of the ad spend!) will now be allocated to the campaign itself.

As a savvy real estate professional, here’s how you can stay ahead of the social marketing curve:

1.) Revisit saved audiences and edit demographic and behavior data sets, or simply delete the audience and start fresh

2.) Focus your attention on retargeting those you know and have engaged with by delivering relevant content. Building custom audiences is still an excellent way to connect with your sphere

3.) Build highly geo-targeted audiences tailored to specific neighborhoods versus broader audiences that blanket whole zip codes

4.) Hone your video skills by posting interviews, chats, or using Facebook Live to discuss the journey to home ownership

5.) Consider a multi-channel digital marketing strategy to spread your message

Stay nimble, be quick to pivot, try new things, and remember that it’s all about the right ingredients to deliver moments of value: delight, surprise, empower, and connect.