Common Questions About The Facebook Pixel | 138

One of the most common questions I get as a Facebook Ads manager is about Facebook Pixels. A lot of people are confused (and maybe even a little intimidated) by the idea of pixels, so I want to put your mind at ease!

Let’s chat about what a Facebook Pixel does and how to use the Facebook Pixel in your business.

What is a Facebook Pixel?

A Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that goes onto your website. If you’re wondering how to use the Facebook Pixel, most sites make it really. They often have a specific spot where you can simply paste the pixel id number.  (Unfortunately, some platforms don’t make it quite that easy, but do not fear as it doesn’t usually involve actually coding the website… unless you want to 🤷‍♀️)

Once the Facebook Pixel is on your site, it starts to collect information about the people visiting. The information is then correlated with the visitor’s personal Facebook profile. That’s why you get the feeling Facebook is listening to as you start to see targeted ads after you search “yoga pants” or “business coaching”.

Do I need a Facebook Pixel?

Yes! If you ever plan on running Facebook Ads, even if it’s years from now, you should install the pixel. The sooner you install the pixel, the sooner it can start collecting data - something referred to as “seasoning the pixel”. (Sounds tasty, right? 🤤)

The more information you have, the more specific and targeted your ads can be. You can retarget people who visit your sales page or take action on your website. 

What does the Facebook Pixel Do?

Behind the scenes, your Facebook Pixel is putting in a lot of work. When someone visits your website, the pixel is triggered and collects data on this visitor. (Fun fact: When the Facebook Pixel loads and starts collecting data we say “the pixel is firing”.)

It can track this visitor's actions, which is useful for ads. Then, it connects the user's actions to a Facebook or Instagram profile. It can then deliver relevant ads to this user.

Of course, the pixel can’t always make a connection. If someone is on a public computer, for example, it may not be able to connect an account to the user, and therefore that person wouldn’t receive the targeted ads.

Do I Need to Know How to Code?

The good news is that coding isn’t a requirement (or even necessary in most cases). In most instances, you simply have to copy and paste the pixel into your platform, like Squarespace or Convertkit. Sometimes you may have to paste a longer code.

However, some sites, like WordPress, do require some additional coding. There is a plug-in you can use, but I recommend reaching out to help set up the pixel in WordPress.

A lot of people are intimidated by the Facebook Pixel because, well, it sounds intense. However, setting up is relatively easy in most cases and will have a huge impact on your ads performance. 

Want more tips on getting started with Facebook Ads? Check out episode 127.

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @heyitsjenzaia and tune in next Saturday for more business tips and strategies!

xo, Jenzaia 

Don’t Forget To SUBSCRIBE

&

REVIEW the podcast!

Thanks for listening to this week’s Saturday Strategy Session! If you found this podcast helpful for your teacherpreneur journey, then head over to iTunes, so you can subscribe and leave a review. Each and every review means the world to me and helps me continue to create valuable content while also reaching more fellow ambitious teacher business owners just like you!

---

Episode Transcript:

Hey there - I'm Jenzaia and this is Market Scale Grow - a podcast created for ambitious  teacherpreneurs looking to have a bigger impact on the world, achieve freedom, flexibility, and ultimately make more money. With weekly strategy sessions and inspiring stories from fellow teachers just like you, my goal here is to help you create a customized marketing strategy so you can grow your teacher business beyond your wildest dreams.

Okay, so today we are going to be chatting about pixels. This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. What is a pixel? Do I need a pixel? So many questions. So, first of all, yes, you need a pixel. If you're going to be running Facebook and Instagram ads, I highly recommend that you have a pixel.

Even if you don't plan on running them until, like, 6 or 12 months down the road, if there's any chance that at any point you might... If you happen to be interested in running Facebook ads, it's not a bad idea to get it set up, and I'll explain why in a minute, but yes, probably you should have a pixel installed.

So, we're going to talk about what is a pixel, why you need it, how it works, and then we're going to talk about some of the, like, vocabulary that goes around pixels. Things like seasoning the pixels, the pixel firing, and coding. So let's dive in. First of all, what is the Facebook pixel? It is a piece of code.

And that's why we're going to talk about coding. It's a piece of code that goes on your website, and it's used to collect data and information about the people who are visiting your website and click on it. It could be your blog or your website. It could be like my thrive cart checkout has the pixel attached to it.

My teacher's paid teacher store has the pixel attached to it. Many different websites allow for the pixel to be installed. Now some don't. For example, Amazon, Etsy, Apple podcasts, those types of things don't allow for a pixel. So some do and some don't. But yeah, it's a piece of code that's installed or like Added to the web page so that an actual pixel that is invisible will load and then Facebook can collect data and try to attach people to like their profile, their Facebook profile to that website.

Data. Now, all of this is obviously completely encrypted. And as the user of the pixel, like the person who has a pixel installed, I cannot see any of that information. It's all behind the scenes. It's all with the algorithm, but that's what it's doing. Another question I get, actually, that I hadn't thought about was the difference between a pixel, the Facebook pixel and like a cookie and the website.

And they are very similar. They do very similar things where they collect the data and information. But if I'm not mistaken, A cookie is a text file that's stored in the browser itself, whereas the pixel collects information and sends it back to Facebook. Now, someone who's a little bit more tech savvy than me and knows a little bit more about these types of things.

Please feel free to send me a message, correct me, I will happily come back on the podcast and give an updated piece of information. But as far as I understand it, that's the big difference between the cookie and the pixel, but they really do serve very similar purposes in collecting that information and sending it back to The right party, why you need the pixel.

Now it does collect data and it's a really great way for you to build an audience of warm people. So anyone who's been to your teachers pay teacher store or your website, your blog, someone who's landed on your sales page or your checkout page. Facebook collects that information and then we can build an audience from there.

And that's why it's important for you to install the pixel, install the pixel as soon as possible because it doesn't retroactively work. It can't collect information and data about people who visited your website before it's installed. It can only start collecting from the moment that it's installed going forward.

And that collection of data, especially initially, is called seasoning the pixel. I think of it a little bit like a cast iron pan that you have to season. And as you use it more, it becomes more and more seasoned. Kind of like that. So, um, it works by That there's a little actual pixel. Like if you think of a TV that has all the pixels or your screen, there's an actual tiny little pixel that's invisible that loads so that it can collect the data.

That data is then aggregated and that's how we can retarget people. So once someone goes to your sales page or to your checkout, but they don't buy, you can start sending them. More or start sending them ads being like, Hey, don't forget, or it's all you might be interested in this. We also use pixels. The pixels also used, um, throughout the funnel to determine what action someone takes.

So in a lead funnel, so where we have a freebie with an opt in page and then a thank you page on that thank you page, you would install the lead pixel and that tells Facebook that yes. They've done the action that we wanted. They are in fact a lead because only people who have put their email address and name in have seen that page where the lead pixel is.

And so we talked already about seasoning the pixel. Now let's talk about When the pixel fires, and that is the term that's used when it loads when the actual pixel itself loads. We say that that's the pixel firing and allowing Facebook to collect the data. Now, something I find very interesting is. The whole goal, of course, of the pixel is that Facebook can grow your audience.

Like, so my pixel, it's growing my audience so that I can then target ads to people who are warm.

There's also a step between that. It collects the data and then For Facebook to be able to actually advertise to you based on you going to that web page, it needs to be able to connect you and connect your behavior to, to a profile. And so if I'm on my computer where Instagram is logged in and Facebook is logged in and I'm using it all the time, that's a really fairly easy connection point for Facebook or the, the pixel to make.

But if I go to my husband's computer. And I'm not logging into Facebook. I'm not, I'm not logged into anything and um, I don't even know if my husband's logged into Facebook, but it, the data would then be attributed to him or maybe nobody and if I go to something like a library computer or a public computer where either nobody's Facebook profile is Um, Associated or every single time the computer restarts.

Everything is white fresh. Then Facebook is going to have or the pixel. I mean, is going to have a very hard time attaching a profile to me, especially if at the library. I don't log into Facebook and it's 2023. I'm not logging into Facebook at a library anymore, right? Um, but if if that were to happen, you know, And I were to be doing something on the library computer, a public computer where I'm not, there's no way for the pixel to actually identify me, so it doesn't matter that my, that the pixel's firing, I'm not going to start seeing those ads, whereas when I do something on my computer at home, sometimes Sometimes.

What I search dramatically changes the ads that I start seeing, right? So that's a little bit about like how it works why we have it and then the last piece the last question I got really really often is well, you said it's a piece of code Do I need to know how to code and the answer is probably not almost definitely not There are some websites like teachers pay teachers Squarespace Thrivecart where you take the pixel ID that Facebook has assigned to you and you copy it and you paste it and then the website does all of the other work for the most part.

There's other ones like lead pages where there's a dedicated spot for you to put the Facebook pixel, but you actually have to copy and paste the entire code block. I think that's what it's called, but you can just grab that code block from The Facebook ads manager really easily and just drop it in there.

No problem. And then there's other websites like WordPress where you either do need to know how to code or you have to download an app. No, that's not what they're called a plugin. You have to actually download the plugin and put the pixel code into the plugin. Depends on which, which. Um, at which plug in you decide to use.

I'm sorry, I'm losing my words. I keep thinking it's an app, but it's a plug in. Um, WordPress and I are not friends. I know how to do two things in WordPress. Number one, install the pixel, and number two, verify domains. That's it. That's all. I am terrified of WordPress and when a client asks me to do something back there that isn't installing or checking on the pixel or verifying a domain, I, I politely decline because I don't want to break their entire website.

I'm so scared of WordPress. Anyway, that's so off, off topic. Um, but fascinating probably for some of you that I am zero, well no, I'm like 10% afraid of Facebook ads and. The ads platform, but I'm 110% afraid of WordPress, right? So we each have our zones of genius and WordPress is not mine, not mine at all. Um, so yeah, depending on how you go about doing it, you might need.

Some coding in WordPress or you can use a plug in that is copy and paste But it requires a little bit more finagling super easy on most platforms to Google like lead pages and Pixel like Facebook pixel or meta pixel and then all the information Pretty much every website I've ever come across has a help section or a help article That's associated with it.

Now. Also, some, um, email servers, service providers like CRMs do have integrations for the pixels. So, for example, ConvertKit does and MailChimp does. I know those for sure. I don't want to speak about any other ones. Um, I know Flowdesk at this time of recording does not have an integration. Um, and so that's really helpful, especially if you're creating landing pages through your.

Email management system. So if you're using something like convert kit, you can drop the pixel right in there. But if you're using something like flow desk, I personally recommend that you, instead of using flow desks, landing pages, that you create an embedded form and create a landing page on your own website so that you can put the pixel in that way.

Um, Because you want if you're doing a free opt in or a sales page or anything like this, but specifically in this case, we're talking about email subs, getting email subscribers. So if you have a free opt in and you have that form that someone needs to fill out, you want to be able to, to know and to create an audience of people who have visited that opt in page.

And so whether you can do it through your email management system, like flow desk, I'm sorry, like convert kit or MailChimp or whatever. If you create an embedded form and embed it on to your own website and then install the pixel on your own website, both are great options. Both work really well, and in all cases, you do need to have a thank you page on your own website.

I almost never recommend using the email service providers. Thank you page. So even convert kit and MailChimp that do have integrations with the pixel. I don't recommend that you use their thank you page because they don't track leads. They only track the page views. And it's really important that you have that thank you page where you can actually create an audience of leads of people who have said, yes, I want the freebie.

I've signed up. I've given you my email address and my name. So. Okay, I think that that's all the questions that I typically get about pixels. If you have any more questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram. I'm @heyitsjenzaia and thank you so much for listening to this episode. Have a wonderful day.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Market Scale Grow. I'm so thankful that you've taken some time out of your busy schedule to make me part of your journey. If you love this podcast, don't forget to share it with your friends. And then head to your favorite podcast app to subscribe so that you won't miss next week's episode or any of the upcoming ones. And if you loved it, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcast so that other people can find this podcast and we can impact teachers and teacher business owners around the world!