The Facebook Pixel

The Facebook Pixel

If you haven't started running Facebook Ads yet or don't plan to for a while, that's OK, but I want you to make sure you place your Facebook pixel on your website and webpages….now.

Yes, now! Why? I’ll explain, but I promise you’ll thank me later.

First, what the HECK is a Facebook Pixel? Well, it’s just a piece of code that is unique to your Facebook business page. When placed on your website and webpages, it will track your visitors. So, ya know when you go to Target’s website and look at a cute pair of shoes and then see those shoes on Facebook and all over the web? That’s because Target has it’s pixel code placed on their website and those shoes are going to stalk you until you buy them.

Creepy, right?

Yes, kind-a creepy, but for marketers, it’s genius!  

Before I get into why it’s important to have your pixel on your website, I want to back up a bit and explain why it's important to track your visitors and the different types of ‘visitors’ or ‘audiences’ that you will be able to capture. 

First, it's important to note that if people are visiting your website, web pages and landing pages it means they are interested in what you have to offer. It also means that they are now somewhat familiar with you and your services (and could be one step closer to being a customer). They went from not knowing who you are to now knowing your face and what you do. In Facebook speak they went from being COLD to WARM. (Cold audiences= they don't know who you are. Warm audiences=they're now familiar with you)

So, here are the types of audiences you might have. 

Cold Audiences:
If you're just starting out, you'll probably be working with cold audiences. You gotta start somewhere, right? OK, so no problem.

Cold audiences are people who don’t know you at all. They’ve never seen or heard of you. These are audiences of people who you create in the “detailed targeting” area of Power editor.  (See picture below as a refresher.) So, for example, if your ideal client follows the Food Network Facebook page, you might want to build an audience of their fans and run an ad to those fans. They likely don’t know who you are so they're “cold,” but once you show them an ad and they start clicking on it to whereever it takes them (website, blog, landing page, etc) they then take that next step towards getting to know you. 

Warm Audiences:
Warm audiences are people who know who you are either by seeing your posts or past ads. They are also more likely to opt into something you offer (and even buy from you). These might be people on your email list, your Facebook fans, or people who have visited your website. (See where I’m going with this??) 

Hot Audiences:
Hot audiences are people who are raving fans and have bought products from you. We want LOTS of these people, but for most of you, we have to work with cold audiences first. The goal is to turn cold audiences warm and then HOT. HOT. HOT. 

Why is the Pixel so important? 

Build Audiences:

So, back to why the Facebook pixel is important. By having the Facebook pixel on your website and webpages, you can create ‘buckets’ of people who went from cold to warm. (They were cold when you showed them an ad, but turned warm once they visited your website or webpages.) Make sense? As I mentioned above, if they’ve visited your website it’s fair to say they’re interested in what you have to offer (and warm audiences are more likely to convert than cold audiences). Plus, when you start showing your ads to warm audiences, you will avoid wasting money on those cold people who just aren't that into you. ;) Your odds are better to get conversions from a warm audience. 

So, even if you aren’t running ads yet; you want to get that pixel installed on your webpages so that you can start to capture those website visitors. People who see you on Facebook, inside Facebook groups, or simply find you via google might hit your website and you want to capture them and put them into a ‘warm audience’ category. So, when you ARE ready to run Facebook ads, you’ll send ads to the WARM audiences of people. Pretty nifty, right?  

Tracking Conversions:

When you start running ads you want to make sure you are tracking your conversions. Having the Facebook pixel loaded on the 'success' page (i.e. the page that they get to when thye opt into whatever your giving away or selling) will allow you to see if your ads are getting the results you want. Why run ads if you aren't tracking your results, right? 

OK, so how do you get that pixel on your website? Well, you're in luck. I created a 3-step pixel process that shows you how to find your pixel and load it onto a Wordpress and Squarespace website, check to confirm the pixel is working properly and start to build your custom audiences. No opt in required. Download instantly!

Grab the 3-step pixel process checklist now and let’s get your pixel and custom audiences created TODAY!

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