What is the Facebook pixel and how can it help your business?

What is the Facebook pixel and how can it help your business?

Marketing is an essential part of any business and the Facebook pixel can play a role in giving you important intelligence about your customers. This intelligence can be used for targeted marketing and to improve the way you interact with your customers.

What is the Facebook pixel?

The Facebook pixel works by placing and triggering cookies to track users as they interact with your business both on and off of Facebook and Instagram. It is a small piece of code that is generated by Facebook to embed within your business website. You place the Facebook pixel base code (what you see when you create your pixel) on all pages of your website. Then you need to add standard events to the pixel code on the special pages of your website (e.g. your add-to-cart page or your purchase page). The Facebook pixel allows you to keep track of actions that happen on your website as a result of Facebook ads (paid) or organic reach (unpaid).

In a nutshell, it allows you to track interactions of your customers between Facebook and your website.

So how do I use this information?

The pixel can track a number of events including those listed below.

• Purchase: Someone completes a purchase on your website.
• Lead: Someone signs up for a trial or otherwise identifies themselves as a lead on your site.
• Complete registration: Someone completes a registration form on your site, such as a subscription form.
• Add payment info: Someone enters their payment information in the purchase process on your website.
• Add to cart: Someone adds a product to their shopping cart on your site.
• Add to wishlist: Someone adds a product to a wishlist on your site.
• Initiate checkout: Someone starts the checkout process to buy something from your site.
• Search: Someone uses the search function to look for something on your site.
• View content: Someone lands on a specific page on your website.
• Contact: Someone contacts your business.
• Customize product: Someone selects a specific version of a product, such as choosing a certain color.
• Donate: Someone makes a donation to your cause.
• Find location: Someone searches for your business’s physical location.
• Schedule: Someone books an appointment at your business.
• Start trial: Someone signs up for a free trial of your product.
• Submit application: Someone applies for your product, service, or program, such as a credit card.
• Subscribe: Someone subscribes to a paid product or service.

This information can be used as you choose but I have provided a couple of examples below:

Have you ever wondered how the hell businesses know what you have been looking at? You take a quick look at something and then it seems to appear in your world multiple times over the next couple days. Its not mind reading or some kind of superpower, it is the work of the triggered cookie like the Facebook pixel.

I am into health and fitness and follow a number of high profile fitness experts on Instagram. I was recently browsing Instagram while sat in bed one evening and spotted a new hoodie that I really liked the look of. I swiped up to check out the hoodie, and even added it to my shopping cart. Then I got realised I had left my wallet on the kitchen table so decided to leave it until the morning.

By the morning I had completely forgotten about the hoodie and headed off to the gym as normal. I took the kids to school and then sat down to have some breakfast and to scroll through Instagram. Within a few seconds of me opening the app an add popped up for the very same hoodie.

And, sure enough, the next time I headed to Facebook on my phone… there it was again.

This is called retargeting. It’s a very cost effective way for businesses to remind shoppers to come back and buy all those items they leave in their shopping carts across the web.

Retargeting is only one function of the Facebook pixel. It also plays an important role in tracking, analytics, and overall ad optimization.

The Facebook pixel and iOS 14.5

Recent changes to third-party tracking in iOS 14.5 offer users the opportunity to choose to disable Facebook pixel tracking on their Apple devices. However, there is no need to panic, consider that under 15% of mobile Facebook users access the social network using iOS devices so there is still plenty of useful information that can be gathered to support your marketing activities.

Still, changes to accommodate the iOS 14.5 requirements will impact all advertisers. One major change is that advertisers can only set up a maximum of eight standard events and custom conversions from the list above.

Want to get this little super spy working for your business?

If you want to get this little widget working for you then feel free to get in touch with us and we can help.

Contact Us.