You've probably heard of the term "Facebook Pixel" or read about it on some marketing blog. But what is it? Why should you use it? And HOW do you use it to optimize your campaigns?
The Facebook Pixel is a free tracking service that Facebook provides to its advertisers. It's essentially code that can be placed on your website. Like Google Analytics, it will track and record the activity of your website visitors.
There are two main reasons for using this Facebook Pixel. The first is to track the conversions of your Facebook ads. You'll be able to see which ads are converting and which aren't. The second reason is for your ad targeting. You'll be able to target people who visited specific pages on your website.
Installing Your Facebook Pixel
Each ad account will get one Facebook Pixel, which can be used on multiple sites. To get your pixel code, go to your ad manager drop down menu and select Pixels, which can be found under Assets.
Once you create your pixel code, you need to install it in the header of your website. If you have an e-commerce store, Facebook will show you how to integrate your pixel with Shopify, Magento, and others. You can also copy and paste your code and install it in your website's header. If you're aren't tech-savvy, you can use a WordPress plugin or email the code to your web developer.
How to Use Your Pixel for Ad Targeting
Once your pixel has been installed for a while, you can start using it to customize your target audiences. It's a pretty straightforward process.
When creating a custom audience, select Website Traffic. You can now target people with Facebook accounts who recently visited your website. This is a great way to retarget people who have abandoned your website without purchasing; they'll be more likely to click on your ad and purchase the second time around.
It doesn't end here. There are advanced targeting options that you should use. You can create ads targeting people who visited specific web pages (or sets of web pages). For example, if you sell pet products, you can create one ad targeting people who visited your dog products and another ad targeting people who visited your cat products.
You can also exclude people who visited certain URLs. For example, if subscribers are taken to a thank-you page after signing up, you'll want to exclude your ad from being shown to people who visited your thank-you page, because you know that they already signed up.
You can also choose the exact time frame of website visitors to target.
How to Use Your Pixel to Track Conversions
Facebook will always tell you data such as the click-through rate of your ads, but the only way to know what ad clickers are doing on your website is if you have a pixel installed.
To create a conversion, go to Custom Conversion in your ads manager menu (it can be found under Measure and Report). Click on Create Conversion.
Your next step is to enter a website URL into the conversion field. This will depend on the goal of your ads. Where do your visitors end up after completing your desired conversion, whether that be an email signup or a purchase? If they end up on a thank-you page, enter the thank-you page URL into the field. Then, select which category of conversion it is (lead, purchase, complete registration, etc.)
Facebook will now be able to tell you how many people clicked on your ad and then ended up on your thank-you page. If you got 500 clicks, but only 250 of those people ended up on your thank-you page, your landing page converted at a 50 percent rate.
You can view the conversion rates of each of your ads by going to your Ads Manager, clicking on the Columns drop-down menu next to your ads, clicking on Customize Columns, and adding a conversion of your choice (you need to have already created this conversion, as previously shown).
For more information, and for more Facebook marketing tips, just contact us.
