The Facebook Pixel: What You Need to Know

Unhappy with your Facebook Ads results? Not exactly sure how Facebook Ads work, but by now, you think you probably have made some sales from them? With the Facebook pixel, you can take the guesswork out. You can also access analytics galore (more than print, radio, and television, by the way) that can help you target the right customers in order to reach your ad goals.

What Is It?

In simplest terms, the Facebook pixel is a tool that allows advertisers to measure effectiveness and track conversions from Facebook ads, automatically optimize ads, and create retargeted ads.

Track Conversions

Yes, the Facebook pixel actually allows you to see if you’ve made any sales based on a Facebook ad click. Not only this, but your campaign will tell you how many sales occurred, when they happened, and in many cases, the amount that was spent and how much each conversion cost you in terms of ad spend. What's more, you can dive in deeper and see which gender made the purchase, which day of the week it was made on, and more! Facebook will also set you up with ways to target the right people in order to help you reach your conversion goal, or “event.”

In addition to purchase/reservation transactions, advertisers can track a number of website events, which include:

• Purchase

• Lead

• Complete Registration

• Add Payment Info

• Initiate Checkout

• Add to Cart

• Add to Wishlist

• Search

• View Content

• Custom conversions

If your business is hoping to track any of these events, then the Facebook Pixel is a must.

How It Works

Facebook will provide you with a code specific to your ad account that you will then place on the backend of your website code. Trust us, it’s not as scary as it sounds. You then activate it on Facebook and voilà -- your pixel is tracking.

Optimize Audience

As mentioned before, once the pixel reaches a conversion threshold (e.g. Purchase, Registration Complete, Add to Cart, etc.), Facebook will start optimizing your ads in order to show them to people who are more likely to convert based on your goals. A lookalike audience can be created from this data, which essentially is an audience that Facebook believes is similar in demographics & interests to the people who have visited your website.

Retargeting

Have you ever shopped for shoes online, left the store’s website without purchasing, only to find that those shoes are following you around Facebook? That’s remarketing (aka retargeting). With the pixel, you can retarget visitors who have been on your website, back on Facebook. You can choose to retarget everyone who visits your website, just those taking a specific action, or those visiting specific pages of your website.

So while we’ve just covered the basics of the Facebook pixel here, there is no doubt that this little tool is packed with power. It can take a lot of the unknowns out of how well your Facebook ads are performing, and if your business is making any conversions from advertising. If you need assistance or just have questions about the Facebook pixel, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We can help set your website up with the Facebook pixel, run Facebook Advertising for your business, or simply just answer a question you may have about the pixel.