How to install Facebook Pixel tracking on your website

Facebook Pixel lets you run incredibly targeted Facebook marketing campaigns based on the behavior of your website visitors. Here's how to set it up.

Jan 30, 2020 • 5 minute read

BluLitmus

@BluLitmus

Professional Digital Marketing Agency

Get started with the perfect tool to make the most out of your Facebook marketing budget

With the ever-evolving state of marketing, it's important to be up-to-date with the latest trends and tools to make the most out of your marketing efforts. For any company to have a chance of reaching out to its potential customers, you need to focus on the right marketplace to target a large number of customers.

Facebook is one of the biggest companies in the world today. The company has managed to amass more than 2.5 billion users. That's an audience you can't afford to ignore.

Capitalizing on Facebook marketing is integral for any business to grow in today’s digital world. But for any marketing campaign to be successful, you have to be able to measure the results. And to do that, you need to have the right tracking mechanisms in place.

That's where Facebook Pixel comes in.

What is Facebook Pixel?

Facebook Pixel is essential to a piece of code that allows you to effectively track the visitors who are visiting your website. Pixel ensures that you are able to run targeted campaigns on Facebook and actually measure the results.

Every Facebook account gets a default Pixel that can be embedded into the core website. The general code is divided into two separate parts. The event code and the base Pixel code. The most important aspect is the base code, which allows you to track the visitors who reach your website. The event code, on the other hand, allows tracking on certain specific parts of web pages.

This leads us to the next important question.

How do you set up Facebook Pixel?

Setting up Facebook Pixel is really simple. All you have to do is follow these steps.

Step 1: Finding Facebook Pixel

It's really easy to locate your Pixel. Generally, your Pixel is located within the Ad manager in the Pixel tab.. After getting to the Pixel tab, the next step is to create the Pixel.

Step 2: Creating the Facebook Pixel

Creating a Pixel is really easy. All you have to do is select the option to "Create the Pixel," and then name it. It's important to consider that you only get to make the decision once. A hilarious joke name might be funny now, but you're going to be looking at it for a long, long time. If you are going to name it something hilarious, at least make sure it's timeless.

Next, you're going to be presented with three options:

Using an integration manager to assist you with the installation and integrate with an existing platform

Manual installation of code

Sending installation details to the developer

Step 3: Installing the Facebook Pixel

For most websites based on platforms like BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento or Shopify, it's really convenient to simply select the desired platform and following through with the stated guidelines to easily install and integrate Pixel into your website.

WordPress Pixel installation

For WordPress users, the general integration is simpler than ever before thanks to an easy-to-install plugin.

All you have to do is search for the PixelYourSite plugin on the menu and install the plugin to your site. Once the installation process is complete, you can activate the installed plugin and go to the plugin dashboard. Entering the Plugin ID into the labeled section will allow you to easily get started.

To locate your Pixel ID, simply scroll to the Pixels tab and look for the ID under the name of the Pixel.

However, for businesses that are relying on custom developed websites or on other platforms, the process can be generally a lot trickier due to the intricacies involved.

Manual installation of Facebook Pixel

It's important to consider that with manual installation, there are a number of different Pixel events that need to be integrated.

Here are some of the most commonly used Pixel events.

Add to Cart – The Add to Cart event allows you to run very targeted ads on individuals that added your product to the shopping cart and backed out before completing the purchase. These ads can have very high conversion rates on retargeting.

View Content – View Content allows targets users who viewed a specific piece of content on your website. This can be a great way to engage with people that read your website content and run targeted Facebook ads.

Purchase – The Purchase event is used to target people who previously purchased your product.

Completed Registration – The Completed Registration event is used where users signed-up for certain events like webinars and other forms of sign-up activity.

Completely Custom Events – This is the best aspect of Facebook Pixel as it allows you to run entirely custom tracking events that are directly in-line with your business objectives.

If your CMS isn't compatible with the assisted integration option, you'll have to select the ‘Manually install Pixel’ option.

After selecting the option, you have to manually copy the code from the Pixel and add it to the header of your website. You do this by adding the code between the starting and endingtags. It's important to note that installation has to be done individually on every single page of your website to have effective tracking. You can also make the decision on whether to use automatic advanced matching. This option allows you to match the secure hashed customer data against user profiles. This is a great way to further track conversions and create custom audiences while running your ad campaigns.

Testing your Pixel integration

The next step is to test out your Pixel integration. You want to be sure that your traffic is being correctly configured and optimized.

You can do that by simply selecting the Test Traffic option in the Facebook installation menu. This will allow you to send the traffic and observe the data displayed by Facebook.

Combining the right variables

You'll want to work with variables that are important to your business. That's why Facebook Pixel provides you with the ability to choose between 17 different events to help you pick out the right audience. You can also choose whether you want to configure a simple page load or detailed actions.

Going for detailed inline action tracking gives you the ability to have much more intricate data and targeted action. These options can also give you the ability to choose the specific actions that you want to track.

It's important to study the right variables that impact your business the most and then integrate them into your Pixel tracking code.

When properly integrated, Facebook Pixel can be a major game-changer for your marketing. It can provide you with the right tools and knowledge to run cost-effective and trackable Facebook campaigns that have a much higher chance of converting compared to conventional campaigns. The integration also allows you to track very specific elements on your website and the impact they have on leads and conversions.

Use qualified professionals to integrate your Facebook Pixel

If you're not operating on a CMS that allows automated Pixel integration, the best option to choose is to send the installation details to your developer. Facebook Pixel is an incredible tool if it's properly integrated, and you don’t want to botch the installation by experimenting yourself.

If you don't have a full-time in-house web developer (or if your developer is busy on other core tasks), you could consider using a freelance web developer . A freelance developer will be able to install Pixel tracking and set up any custom events you want, and they'll be able to do it quickly and inexpensively.