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What is a Facebook Pixel?

Facebook Pixel

Halloween is dead and gone, but Facebook is still recovering from the October fright. From the 6-hour blackout to Apple’s privacy complications, Facebook is coming off a spooky month. However, the platform seems to be on the mend. As we get back to business as usual on Facebook, I think the timing is perfect for a little refresher on an often-scary topic: the Facebook pixel.

Facebook defines a pixel as “a piece of code that you put on your website that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website.” In English this time? It’s a digital breadcrumb that stays with the Facebook user as they search around the internet. The breadcrumb let’s Facebook know what products or services users are most likely to purchase through an ad once they stop Googling and start scrolling on Facebook. Facebook pixels allow us marketers to measure, optimize, and build audiences through our Facebook ad campaigns by targeting people who have already demonstrated interest in our brands online.

After the pixel code is placed in the back end of your website, it’ll capture the actions a visitor takes while browsing your site. For example, when a user adds an item to their shopping cart or makes a purchase, the pixel flags these actions as “events” and displays them on your Facebook pixel page in Events Manager. You can then manage your customers from there – tracking their actions and leveraging that information to build audiences for future ad campaigns.

And again… English?

You know that “creepy Facebook thing” when you look something up and before you know it, you’re served an ad for it? That. That pixel tracked you back to Facebook and specifically targeted you with an ad to come back and visit. It’s a little needy, but it works, largely because they aren’t cold ads. Facebook already knows that Sally was looking at Coach purses online, so it makes sense to target her with a Coach ad for 20% off her purchase.

People really do want to read your content and buy your products – you just have to follow them around the internet for a bit to get the conversion. After all, we are in the business of persuasion and persistence. My favorite way to use Facebook pixels is to create custom audiences from our website visitors. Through our content, we’ve built engaged audiences across the automotive aftermarket and surrounding niches. Facebook pixels help us zero in on those audiences and serve them with the content they’re looking for.  

Still a bit baffled? No worries. We have a team (and an app) for that. Reach out today to work with us directly!

Melissa Kollar is the Social Media & Digital Audience Manager at Babcox Media

Melissa has a background in digital marketing, social strategy, and corporate communications. She is a graduate of Kent State University. Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn or via email.

Contact Melissa at [email protected]

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