If you’re running Facebook ads, chances are you’ve heard of the Facebook pixel.
And if you plan to run Facebook ads at any point for your business, you need to know about the Facebook pixel.
Yes, I know the Facebook pixel is super confusing. And honestly, when Facebook tried to simplify it by giving each account just one pixel, they made it even more confusing, especially for someone who is not very techy (like me).
So, now that the old pixel is going away and the new pixel is required for any type of conversion tracking of your ads, I figured I’d break it down and help simplify it for you.
Let’s start with…
What is the Facebook pixel?
It’s a piece of code able to track when someone lands on a webpage. Because of this, it can let you know when someone reads a blog post, signs up for your lead magnet, or converts into a customer.
It’s also what is needed if you want to re-target your audience. For example, we run an ad on Facebook to a blog post and then ‘re-target’ our audience who went to the blog by showing them a 2nd follow-up ad.
How do you find your pixel?
Go to you ad manager. Either click ‘Ads Manager’ in the left hand column of your news feed or go to www.facebook.com/ads/manage
In the top left corner, select the 3 lines, then under Assets, select ‘Pixels’
If you’ve never activated your pixel before, you may need to select something like ‘Activate your pixel.
Otherwise, select Actions, then Email Pixel Code. (I used to select view Pixel code, but recently Facebook is doing a weird thing where it doesn’t let you highlight the whole pixel code under View Pixel Code. Instead it copies it your clipboard, which makes it harder to paste it.)
Highlight and copy your Facebook pixel code and paste it where you need it to go.
Where do you place it?
Facebook says… “We recommend that you put the code in the header tags of the website HTML to ensure that the it’s able to track across your entire site.”
For more on what Facebook says about the pixel, CLICK HERE.
If this means nothing to you, you can hire a web designer to place it for you.
And while it’s great to place it for your whole site, I also recommend that you place it strategically.
I want to show you the 2 main spots I make sure to place my Facebook pixel…
Lead Pages
I use Lead Pages for creating my landing pages, especially if I’m collecting email addresses for something. When I switched to Lead Pages, our conversion rate, meaning the percentage of people who started opting-in went from about 34% to 72%!
Lead Pages makes it super simple to place your pixel.
When you’re inside your Lead Page, click Lead Page Options.
The select Tracking Codes.
Paste your pixel.
Pro Tip: To make sure your Lead Pages landing page loads as quickly as possible, be sure to place your Facebook pixel in the End-of-Body-Tag Tracking Code section, instead of the Head-Tag Tracking Code section.
Super simple!
By the way, if you don’t already have Lead Pages, but would like to know more about it, CLICK HERE.
WordPress
If your website is hosted on a WordPress website, it’s also super simple to place your pixel.
Truthfully, when we first set up our website, we chose a drag and drop template site, which made things easy to set up. I resisted WordPress for a long time because I thought it would be too hard. And honestly, there was a steep learning curve for me. But it was so worth it!
With WordPress, simply download a Facebook Pixel tracking plug-in. To do so, click plug-ins.
Search Facebook Pixel. It’ll give you lots of options. Find the one that works best for you.
This is the one I use.
Once it’s installed, it shows up at the bottom of each page and post and you simply copy and paste your pixel into it.
What if you want to track a Standard Event?
This is where I see most mistakes happen.
These are the Standard Event Codes.
If you want to track something specific, think through where people are going that you want to track this and which code works best. You only use one code at a time placed inside the rest of your Facebook pixel.
For example, if I want to track leads, meaning people who have signed up for my email list through getting a lead magnet, I want to place the Lead pixel on the thank you page after someone has signed up for my lead magnet.
If I want to track purchases, I will place the Purchase pixel with a value amount added on the page after someone has purchased, like a thank you for purchasing page or a confirmation of your purchase page.
Make sense? It’s a little tricky, but once you think it through, it becomes a bit easier.
When you know which code you want, you copy the code (just the part that says…”fbq(‘track’, Type of Code’);” not the description of the code) and place it inside your regular Facebook pixel exactly like this:
Only place one standard event code at a time and only place it where you need it to go. For example, if you want to track leads who sign up for your lead magnet, you might put the regular Facebook pixel on the Lead Pages landing page, but you’d only put the Lead Pixel on the thank you page after someone has signed-up.
Alright, you are set to go and place your pixels! If you have any questions, ask them in my Facebook Group HERE!
