If your website doesn’t have a Facebook pixel installed then you could be missing out on one of the best marketing tools there is…. and leaving money on the table.
What is the Facebook Pixel?
The pixel is a piece of code which sits on your website to collect data from your website visitors. The code is specific to your business and you can create one pixel per ad account.
Anytime someone lands on your site while logged into Facebook (and let’s face it, who logs out these days?) they are feeding your pixel with valuable data which you can use in future advertising.
The pixel tracks your website visitors overall internet activity to create a picture of their likes, interests and behaviours. This picture can then allow Facebook to go out and ‘bat’ for you when you are using ads so it can find the right people for your business. It’s very clever stuff!
Why do I need the Facebook pixel?
If you are using Facebook ads then the pixel is vital in your success. Here’s why:
- The pixel data allows you to create very detailed custom audiences from your website visitors. You can create audiences based on which page they have visited, what products they’ve purchased, how long ago they landed on a certain blog etc etc.
- You can therefore send specific ads to people after they have seen specific content. For example, you can retarget people who have added a product to their cart but not completed the purchase. You might want to offer them a discount or free postage to encourage them to return and complete the purchase.
- The pixel data also allows you to create ‘Lookalike’ audiences. These allow you to target people with very similar characteristics to the people who have visited your website and taken a particular action.
- Lookalike audiences will automatically update over time so they will always be relevant. And, often they are the most relevant cold audience you can use in your ads.
- You can use the pixel data to optimise your advertising campaigns to find people who are likely to convert or take a particular action, depending on which campaign objective you have chosen.Unsure which campaign objective you need? This blog will help.
- The pixel allows you to monitor how successful your Facebook Ads were within the ads manager dashboard and will show you how many people who have seen your ad have then gone on to click through to your website, view the landing page, add to cart etc.
How the Facebook pixel can benefit your business
The pixel data is invaluable. It is so sophisticated and is unlike any data you could recreate yourself and it gives Facebook the power to go out and find people who will take the action you are looking for in your ads. It allows the algorithm to become even smarter than it already is…. and it’s pretty smart let me tell you!
You may already be using an email list to nurture or retarget your website visitors but the pixel can help you to nurture and retarget the people who land on your site but don’t subscribe to your list! Without you having to do any extra work to identify who they are.
The pixel is so sophisticated it can even find people based on past purchases, order value and can exclude people at various stages of your sales funnel.
Its safe to say that without a pixel installed on your website you are leaving money on the table.
Do I need a Facebook Pixel if I am not using Facebook ads?
For the pixel to be at its most accurate, it requires a lot of data. So if you wait until you are ready to use Facebook ads before installing it then your ads will take longer to optimise while you ‘feed’ the pixel with this data.
So yes, even if you are not running Facebook ads now you should install it. RIGHT NOW!
How do I install the pixel?
This will depend on how you created your website and whether you are using Shopify etc.
WordPress offer a few plugin options to do this for you. Squarespace and Wix have built in integrations to take you through the installation. And if you use a web developer they should know how to do this (many VA’s also offer this as a service).
Facebook gives you all the information you’ll need to create and install the pixel and standard events (which track conversions such as view content, add to cart, purchase etc).
If you need more help, this post explains how to create the Facebook pixel and how to install your Facebook pixel and standard event codes in more detail.
*Update May 2019
Facebook have recently launched a new tool to help you set up the standard event codes. This short video will show you how to use it.
Still confused about Facebook ads? This is my area of expertise, find out how we can work together here.
by Laura Moore
Laura is a Facebook marketing consultant specialising in Facebook and Instagram ads. She works with businesses to help generate leads and increase sales. To find out more about how Laura can help you click here