Facebook Pixel Part 1: Get More Out Of Your Marketing

A tale by

Yastika Manichand

Advertising is not the same as it was in the print era. Social media marketing has almost single-handedly taken over the advertising world. Instead of printing flyers, we now launch online campaigns. But, while getting your business seen and heard is important, you also want people to interact with your brand. The best platform for interaction is social media, and what better starting point than Facebook – a platform with one of the biggest audiences. Facebook’s advertising tools give brands the opportunity to target their relevant audience and track the campaign’s success using the Facebook Pixel.

Meet the Facebook Pixel

What is Facebook Pixel? Simply put, a pixel is a piece of code that tracks data across two different platforms. It’s generated for you by Facebook, and you place it on your website. In effect, this links the two accounts so they can share data.

When someone clicks through to your website from Facebook and interacts with the site (like making a purchase or clicking on a link), the Facebook Pixel is triggered and reports this action. The action is called an ‘event’. The Pixel records the events and stores the data on Facebook for you to access. At the end of the month, or after a marketing campaign, you will have a record of all the events that occurred on your website as a result of your Facebook campaign. If you’re the person clicking on the ads, don’t worry, no personal information can be accessed.

5 Reasons you should set up a Facebook Pixel

At this point, you might be asking yourself why you need Facebook Pixel. No business wants to spend money on campaigns that aren’t working. The information provided by Facebook Pixel allows you to analyse campaigns. In doing so, a brand can create an effective social media marketing strategy. The benefits are endless – here are the top five:

Target valuable audiences

Tracking data allows you to target valuable audiences. You can build an audience based on your Facebook Pixel. It can also be used as a source to create a lookalike audience.

Tracks conversions

Your Facebook Pixel tracks conversion events such as sales. You can monitor the interaction from its starting point (your Facebook ad), through to your website and the completion of a purchase. The information gathered enables you to plan and build campaigns based on the success of previous strategies.

facebook pixel

Optimise for conversions to increase sales

This little tool is super nifty. Once your Facebook Pixel has been set up, you’ll have the option to ‘optimise for website conversions.’  By creating custom conversions, you can track unique activities and use the information to optimise your ads. *I would suggest that you need at least 200 events tracked before this can work effectively.

Measure return on investment

The Facebook Pixel reports the number of conversions you get and the cost per conversion. You can calculate your return on investment by working out how much each conversion is worth and comparing it to the budget you allocated to the campaign.

Remarketing – catching the ones that got away

Pixel tracking data allows you to run ads targeting people who have already visited your site but failed to convert. When it comes to advertising a product from your catalogue or shop, for example, you can target people who added to their cart but failed to check out.

Get your’s sooner rather than later

It’s remarkable what you can do with the Facebook Pixel, and there’s no end to the benefits for your business. In fact, the more information Facebook has about your desired audience, the easier it is for Facebook to find and present ads to them.

An audience built on data from a Facebook Pixel is far more accurate than a general saved audience (also known as a core audience). Demographics still play an important role, don’t get me wrong, but being able to target someone based on their activity is first prize!

Have you set up your Facebook Pixel? There’s no time like the present. The Pixel needs time to run, I would give it at least a month to collect data before you can start utilising it. This all depends on how much traffic you get to your website. The sooner you start, the sooner you can optimise your Facebook marketing strategy. Not sure how to get started with your social media marketing? Join one of our Social Media Courses, held in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

Stay tuned!

See how to setup your Facebook Pixel in part 2, coming soon to the Brand Candy blog!

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