The Basics of the Facebook Pixel

What is a Facebook Pixel?

Facebook Pixel is a small piece of javascript code provided by Facebook that is placed on your site in order to collect data between Facebook ads and interactions with your site.

What are the Functions of the Pixel?

• Track Conversions: A conversion is a completed action someone has taken on your website that moves them further through the funnel. This includes filling out a form, subscribing to email lists, or purchasing a product.
• Optimize ads: Facebook pixel allows you to figure out your ROI on ads and reconfigure how the ads are targeted. This will keep you from losing money on ads. Facebook will automatically optimize to improve conversions when you use pixel by showing them to more people who are more likely to convert.
• Create remarketing ads: The last thing the pixel is going to do is allow you to do remarketing with your ads via Custom Audiences. Remarketing is a form of marketing where you target people who have previously visited your site or interacted with you in another way. For example, if you visit a tech company’s website and you start to notice ads for digital watches, that is remarketing.

The more important thing about remarketing with Facebook Pixel is it allows you to not only remarket to those who have visited your site, but those who have taken specific actions on your site. This allows you to pinpoint visitors' locations in the buyer's journey and advertise to them appropriately, saving you money and improving the chance they will convert to a customer.

How Does it Work?

Once the pixel code is placed on your site and someone visits your site or performs an action you have specified such as filling out a form it will trigger the pixel and will feed that data back to Facebook. Facebook will track the visitors Facebook ID so you can show them ads on Facebook's ad platform. Each advertising account only has one pixel. The pixel is made up of 2 parts, a base code and a standard event code. The base code does not change and is on every page of your site. The standard event code is how you specify the action you are tracking for i.e. leads, registrations, or downloads.

There are 9 different types of standard event actions you can track: view content, search, add to cart, add to wishlist, initiate checkout, add payment info, make purchase, lead, and complete registration. Unlike the base code which is on all pages, the standard event code will only be placed on specific pages of your site, most likely a thank you page of some kind.

How Do You Set it Up?

You need to activate it via the Facebook advertising account from the tools tab. You will click Pixel and Facebook will prompt you to create it. Follow the directions given by Facebook and you are ready to implement the code on you site.

Final Thoughts

If you are running Facebook ads or thinking about running Facebook ads you need your pixel active. Otherwise, you are blindly advertising and could be losing money or targeting the wrong people. If you’re not sure how to leverage Facebook ads for your business, talk to us.