[Facebook] Using the Facebook Pixel to Unlock the Full Potential of Facebook Ads

As we dive deeper into the many Facebook tools that exist to help you get the most out of your advertising campaigns, we have to take some time to talk about the Facebook Pixel. Facebook Pixel is an analytics tool that you install within your website code in order to track visitors that have been targeted by your Facebook Ads.

The Pixel provides a mine of information by tracking conversions, as well as helping you to optimize Ads effectively and create custom target audiences. This ultimately enables you to use Facebook Ads in the most effective way possible. The main benefits of installing Facebook Pixel are that it provides a direct insight into exactly how your Ad is working for you, who it is targeting, and finally what type of activities your Ad triggers on your website.

Installing the Pixel is quite simple: you create it on the Facebook Business platform using the step-by-step guide, and then add the code to your website as instructed. Whether you update your own website, have a webmaster, or use a popular website platform, Facebook will walk you through how and where to add the Pixel code. Once it has been installed you can also add a Plugin to your browser to troubleshoot and test the Pixel. You can access your Pixel’s analytics through your Ad Manager page on Facebook.

You can refine your Pixel to track all types of data including demographics and customer trends. The idea is that with every Ad campaign you launch, you will be able to invest in a mine of data that will significantly aid you in driving conversions.

More concretely, your Facebook Pixel will help you optimize your Ads by improving the following:

• How you track conversions: your Pixel will allow you to see what people do once they arrive on your website after clicking on an Ad. You can monitor all types of trends and preferences, even down to the type of device a customer uses. For example, if most of your customers are on a mobile device, you may want to create mobile-only Ads.
• How to retarget content: you can use your Pixel data as a way to retarget your Ads towards those who have already visited your site before. This can help finalize previously abandoned conversions, and reignite interest in your business.
• How to create custom audiences: your Pixel will help you create the correct custom audiences for your brand by tracking who your Ad attracts as well as how they engage with your website. The more targeted your approach the better your return on investment will be.

When you create your Facebook Pixel, you can specify the tracking abilities by using some or all of the nine standard events provided by Facebook. Each event represents one of the different actions that a user may take while browsing your website: if they add content to their cart, whether they purchase or not, if they sign up for something, and so on. It is also possible to create custom conversions based on certain specific actions, products, or URLs that you are looking to target.

You can create custom audiences by collecting existing customer data and setting your Ads to target these customers. This way you not only have a high possibility of attracting more conversions, you will also be able to widen your sphere of influence by targeting similar audiences. Facebook allows you to create lookalike custom audiences based on existing customer demographics. A great hack for creating the best lookalike audience is to use your existing email list and load the emails into your customer file in your Ad Manager page and have Facebook generate a lookalike audience. You can then fifine-tunehis audience by adding specific values that will attract as many people as possible (these values should be relevant to the content that you publish and sell).

If you installed the Pixel in 2015 or before, Facebook now has a much more effective Pixel that combines both conversion tracking and custom audience creation. You can start the conversion by creating a new Pixel code and adding it to your website. Once the new code is installed you will need to migrate your Ads over to the Facebook Pixel through your Ad Manager page. Facebook recommends migrating slowly using the Pixel to start collecting data over time, as migrating everything over at once could be cost prohibitive. Once the migration is complete you can remove the old tracking pixel code. Remember to troubleshoot the Pixel using your browser plugin before you delete the old code!

In order for your campaign to be really effective from the get-go, we recommend installing your Facebook Pixel before you have even launched your first Ad. The really great thing about the Facebook Pixel is that is an all-in-one tracking, optimization, and targeting tool, allowing you to really make the most out of your Facebook advertising campaigns.

Best,

Marquina

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Originally published at Authorpreneur Launch.