Why You Need to Use the Facebook Pixel to Boost Your Business Today!

Have you wondered about what’s in store for Facebook? Is it still a good platform for marketing your business?

Facebook continues to be the most popular social media platform and yes, it still provides one of the most effective opportunities to advertise your business. Facebook generated nearly $27 billion in advertising revenues in 2016, up from just $764 million in 2009. That’s an increase of more than 3000% in less than ten years! And why is everyone continuing to advertise on Facebook? Because it’s cost effective and it gets results.

However, to really maximize Facebook’s advertising potential, you’ll need to have the right strategy, and part of that strategy is leveraging the Facebook pixel.

The Facebook Pixel Explained – Bear With Me it’s Important!

Ok, so this isn’t the most exciting thing but it’s essential to understand if you’d like to reap the benefits of using the Facebook Pixel.

In short, the Facebook pixel is a code that you place on your website which works by triggering cookies to track users as they engage with your website and Facebook ad. The main point of using a Facebook pixel is to help you track conversions from your ads so that you can ensure those ads are worth the money you spent on them.

Through the data collected by the Facebook pixel, you can optimize your ads, build targeted audiences for future ads, and reposition ads aimed at those who have already taken some kind of action on your website.

The Tracking Pixel’s Two Major Capabilities

There are two things that make the Facebook pixel so useful. First, it tracks users who took action outside of Facebook, meaning that because of your ad they went to your website or landing page and opted in, bought something, or behaved a certain way on your website. Even if they didn’t buy something, it’s useful to know if they browsed your content, started the purchase process but abandoned their cart, or visited your blog. What’s very important this is that you can then use the pixel tracking activity on your website specifically for retargeting purposes.

Let’s Have a Gander:

Rather than just measuring clicks to your site, with the Facebook pixel you’ll actually be able to see how many people completed the desired action. That could be signing up for a newsletter, buying your product, accessing your e-course, visiting your blog, reading a services page, etc. These actions are the reason why you’re paying for a Facebook ad in the first place and this pixel allows you to see how effective those ads are at driving the desired behaviour.

When it All Goes to Pot

With this data, you can troubleshoot your ads and ensure that every dollar you’re spending is netting a return on investment. For example, if the Facebook pixel data shows lots of clicks but not many conversions you know the ad itself is good but there’s a problem with either your landing page or the offer itself.

Is the ad misleading? Are people interested in the ad but once they arrive at your website, they don’t know what to do because the information doesn’t match what they clicked on? If you’re getting a lot of clicks but your bounce rate to your website is high, then you’ll want to improve your website before you spend any more money on your advertising budget.

Retargeting

Retargeting is also an invaluable way to boost your business. Through the Facebook pixel, you will have the ability to target users based on specific actions, such as targeting visitors who browsed certain pages on your website or added something to their cart but didn’t finish the check out process. By understanding the actions of your average user you can craft highly targeted messages to “warm” audiences who are already informed about your brand, enabling you to land more sales.

Pro Tip: The Facebook pixel can also help you build target audiences of people who have similar interests, likes, and demographic similarities to those who have already purchased your product or service. The data obtained from the Pixel can be used to make sure your ads are seen by those who are most likely to take your desired action.

How to use a Facebook Pixel

There are two different types of events that the Facebook pixel will track:

1. A set of nine standard events that Facebook has preset
2. Custom conversions that you set up yourself

An “event” means a specific action that a visitor has taken on your website.

Standard Events

Facebook’s preset events work particularly well for online businesses that include shopping carts. All you have to do is copy and paste the standard Facebook event codes. They are:

1. View content: Someone lands on a page on your site.
2. Search: Someone uses the search function to find something on your website.
3. Add to cart: Someone adds a product to their shopping cart on your site.
4. Add to wishlist: Someone adds a product to a wishlist on your site.
5. Initiate checkout: Someone begins the checkout process to purchase something from your site.
6. Add payment info: Someone enters their payment information in the purchase process on your website.
7. Make a purchase: Someone completes a purchase on your website.
8. Lead: Someone signs up for a trial or identifies themselves as a lead
9. Complete registration: Someone completes the registration form on your website, such as subscribing to an email newsletter

Custom Conversions

If you’re looking for more details or other details than the standard event pixels will provide, you can customize your conversion events.

Custom conversions work off URL rules based on particular URLs or URL keywords.

Let’s say that you want to build your email list by offering an opt-in. You might have a specific URL for collecting the subscriber’s information before they receive the opt-in, and then a different URL that confirms their subscription and provides the download. You’ll be able to track how many people were interested in the opt-in but left before providing their information.

As another example, you can use a custom Facebook pixel to track views of a specific category of products on your website, rather than tracking views of all the products using the standard “view content” event. This could be useful if you have a pet supply website, for example, and are trying to separate fish owners from bird owners based on which sections of your website they viewed.

If you decide to use a custom conversion pixel, you’ll need to help Facebook understand the details of the conversion event you wish to track. In order to do this, under Facebook Ads Manager go to Custom Conversions and click Create Custom Conversion, then define your custom event using URL rules.

Another option is to create custom Facebook pixel events by adding additional details to standard events through extra bits of code known as parameters. Parameters permit you to customize standard events based on:

• How much a conversion event is worth
• Product name, category, or ID
• The number of items someone adds to their shopping cart
• A specific search string
• The status of a registration

For a step by step guide on how to set up your Facebook ad pixel click here.

Give it a Try!

A Social Media Marketing Industry Report developed in 2017 found that 72% of B2C marketers reported that Facebook was their top social advertising channel. 43% of B2B marketers also listed Facebook as their most important advertising channel.

This goes to show that almost any business or service can benefit from the targeted advertising that Facebook provides, as long as they understand how to use it. Getting it right can result in some of the best ROI available in today’s digital advertising. If you need help with any of your business decisions or execution, don’t hesitate to contact us!

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