The new Facebook pixel — is it worth it?
It’s not uncommon to find some organizations have still not installed the new Facebook pixel or at least are not using it to its full potential. Some may think it’s unnecessary or not worth the time and effort to install, but as marketers, it’s our job to stay up to date with the latest advertising techniques. That includes the Facebook pixel.
For those who are not familiar, the Facebook pixel is a snippet of code that is installed across your website to help track website visitors and create custom website audiences. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. More than anything, the pixel optimizes. It helps track user actions and optimizes ads to better achieve your marketing goals.
Previously, there were 2 Facebook pixels. One specifically for tracking website audiences and another for conversions. The new pixel combines these functions into one and now allows the pixel to be customized based on the action occurring on the page. For example, you can now track and optimize based on whether someone adds an item to their cart — or, for nonprofits, doesn’t complete a donation. If you’ve ever visited zappos.com and did not make a buy, you’ve probably found that same pair of shoes will follow you across the web — possibly until you finally give in and make the purchase. Wouldn’t you love to be able to do this? As a consumer, yes, it’s annoying. But, as a digital marketer, this level of targeting is revolutionary.
Facebook Standard Event Codes
The pixel allows you to take your nonprofit marketing to the next level and without it you’re just limiting yourself and the success of your advertising campaigns. You won’t be able to:
- Target website visitors.
- Create custom website audiences: Target people based on specific web pages they visit — with this level of detail, creating ads with copy and images tailored to the specific website content viewed is an easy way to boost relevancy and CTRs.
- Use standard events: Track actions such as “purchases” and “add to cart.”
- Conversion tracking: Wouldn’t it be great if you could optimize your ads to drive more “conversions” on your site? Without conversion tracking set up, Facebook can only optimize ads for something like website traffic or video views. Not very helpful.
The bottom line is if you’re not using the Facebook pixel you’re making things very hard on yourself. With the pixel the opportunities are endless and your work is minimized — who doesn’t want that?
Any questions we didn’t answer? Are you having any issues with the Facebook pixel? Contact us and let us know!
