What is a Facebook Pixel?
Put simply, the Facebook pixel is an analytics tool, composed of a simple code, that helps you optimize your social media strategy. The pixel allows you to make sense of how people interact with your page after being directed by your Facebook ad. It assists in helping you build an audience, helps you target the correct audience, enables you to track conversions, and allows you to optimize your campaign based on the results.
Where on your website to you put the Facebook Pixel?
Ok, so your pixel has been made and all you need to do is add it to the site. Adding the pixel to your page is easy for those with a basic understanding of code. You can do it yourself, or if someone else manages the site code for you, you can refer them to these steps.
Locate the header code of the website, copy and paste the code just above the bottom head tag, and click “send test traffic.” To access your pixel code so that you can place it in the code, click on the green button that says ‘set up pixel.’ Then it’s as simple as copy and paste.
Facebook also provides ways to track the actions of people on your site, for example, when a customer clicks on ‘add to cart’ or completes the purchase. This is called an event code, and can be incredibly useful to optimize your campaign based on the results.
For example, if many people are leaving during the checkout process, it may be an indicator that there are too many steps, if the process is unclear, or there is some other issue preventing them from completion. Refer to the Facebook step by step guide for a more in-depth overview (with pictures).
How to see your pixel in Facebook
In the past, many people have found themselves in a situation where they have created (or tried) to create a pixel in previous months or years, and now that they are ready to (re)utilize the tool, are unable to find or access it easily. These users were met with the frustrating message “Pixel has already been created.” Luckily, this quark seems to have been taken care of in the Facebook user interface, you are now able see your pixels tab in Events Manager, and click create pixel again.
What audiences to collect
The beauty of Facebook advertising is in its ability to allow you to target specific audiences based on their shared traits.
This frees you from the old and inefficient one size fits all advertising, which will increase your conversions if done correctly. It also allows you to save money. In the word of Pay Per Click advertising, if an audience is mistargeted or too broad, you are paying for clicks which have a 0% chance of converting, which is a complete waste of money. Thusly, it is important to choose your target audiences wisely.
Firstly, you want to do a little brainstorming about your typical or ideal customer. With these traits in mind, you can create a saved audience for your Facebook campaign via the audiences page. You may want to determine them by age, gender, income, interests, behaviour, or thousands of other topics. When you’re finished, click ‘Create Audience.’
The essential campaign to set up, even on the smallest budget
The old adage holds weight, it takes money to make money. A small investment can pay off exponentially for your business. For local companies, it is essential that you utilize Facebook’s ability to targeting local audiences. Why would a user in Tokyo need to know about your Fro-Yo hut in Ohio? The Locations setting allows you to choose tons of options from a drop down list. You can target everyone in the area, or narrow it down based on the traits described in the previous section.
Another essential element of a campaign is retargeting campaign. Many first-time pixel users will be frustrated by the attrition rate of shoppers on their site.
There have been studies that show that the amount of online shoppers will abandon their online shopping cart 72% of the time, but 26% of those will come back to complete their purchase after a period of time- if they are presented with the product or service again.
This is the beauty of retargeting- you can recover almost ¼ of lost sales.
In business, utilizing every tool available can be the difference between success in failure. With a little effort, patience, and study, the Facebook pixel is a great avenue for marketing your goods and services.