Market, Scale, Grow: Facebook Ad Marketing Strategy for Teacherpreneurs

182 | Mastering Tracking With The Facebook Pixel

• Jenzaia • Episode 182

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Let's transform your understanding of Facebook's tracking tools including pixels and Meta’s Conversion API!  These tools often feel very complicated and even unnecessary.  But I want you to know they can be very powerful and make a huge difference in your marketing... Even if paid ads aren't your current focus!

In this episode of Market Scale Grow, we'll cover...
✨ exactly what the pixel is and why it isn't really that scary
✨ why the pixel is important
✨ a little bit about the Conversion API and how to decide what's best for you


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Market Scale Grow. I'm your host, inzea, and this is a Saturday strategy session where my goal is to bring you practical marketing strategies that you can implement into your business right away. Let's jump in. Hello, happy Saturday. I am, as always, excited to be recording this episode for you.

Speaker 1:

Today, we're going to be talking about pixels, because I've been getting a lot of questions about Facebook pixels, and so we're going to dive into some of them. We're going to talk about exactly what a pixel is and how you install it. Then we're going to talk about where you should install it, how the Facebook pixel is different from cookies and how it's similar, and then we're also going to talk about the Facebook pixel versus Meta's conversion API. So let's get started with. What is a pixel? A pixel is a piece of code that is placed on a website. If you think about a TV with pixels, like the pixel, the little individual dots that make up the image my understanding and I'm not a coder, I'm not like this isn't my 100% jam, but my understanding of it is that when you install this code onto a web page the pixel code it makes a tiny little pixel, an invisible pixel will load, and when that pixel loads, it sends information back to Facebook, back to Meta, saying okay, this page loaded, and so if that pixel doesn't load, then the action didn't happen, and so that's why you can have different pixels on the page. So there's the lead pixel and the page you pixel and the initiate checkout pixel. So each time, like so, when you do an action, that specific pixel code will load, information is sent back to meta or facebook and they try to connect you with a user there and say that you did that action.

Speaker 1:

It can be really easy to install a pixel on to a platform, for example in Kajabi. You just need to copy and paste your pixel code onto the website. Like there is a spot that says pixel code, you copy and paste it. Same with TPT. There are other ones that can be easy or hard. So WordPress is one. There are plugins that you can use or you can actually go the full, like coding route and install the code yourself. Then there's some that there's a dedicated spot for you to put the code. So something like Leadpages actually has a spot that is for the Facebook code, but you don't just put the number, you have to put the whole code block. And then there's other ones that it's a little bit more jumbled, like Squarespace. There's some spots where I just put the code block and then there's other places that I have to create a code block and put it onto the page. So it really depends on the platform you're using. My recommendation is always just Google Facebook pixel and the platform name and it will, nine times out of ten probably even more than that will open some sort of help document created by your platform. So Kajabi has one, leadpages has one, thrivecart has one. They all have some sort of document that walks you through the specific steps of getting your Facebook pixel onto their website, onto their platform, because they know that it's a good thing, they want you to have the pixel and they want it to be done right.

Speaker 1:

So one of the reasons that it's really really important to install a pixel, even if you're not interested in running ads, even if you don't have ads on your radar right now, is that the pixel cannot retroactively collect data, and audiences that are built through the pixel are often some of the best audiences that we have access to. They're your warm traffic, the people that are coming to your website or engaging with you and downloading your freebies. They also, pixel help us track more effectively how an ad is performing, and so by having the pixel installed, you can get more accurate data and you can run ads that are more effective. You can absolutely run an ad to get people signed up for your product without a pixel, but you're going to have to run a traffic ad, which is less effective than running a lead ad. So having the pixel installed is going to get you better audiences and it's also going to get you more effective ads. When you're ready, where do you install it?

Speaker 1:

My recommendation is to install your pixel everywhere. So on your website, on landing pages that you have, sales pages. If you have a tpt store, you should have a pixel everywhere, because the more information, the more data that the pixel is able to collect, the better. Most likely, you're only going to have one pixel. The same pixel can be installed in multiple places. It can be installed for your course and for your sales page and for your lead magnets, and just on your regular blog and in your tpt, as long as you have very similar audiences that are going to be consuming all of these different pieces of content, wanting to purchase all these different things. So let's just say that your course is for upper elementary teachers and and you have like a math focus, your tpt store is for math products but there's a bit more of a bigger range, like kindergarten all the way to grade eight math products. You would still want to have the same pixel installed because the upper elementary school math teachers is a subset of that bigger audience. So you're going to still be able to collect that information data and it will overlap. And then any ads that you're running that are specific to just upper elementary math teachers, you would use the wording, additional targeting features, the images that you're using, to narrow it down further so that it was extremely obvious that this isn't for the kindergarten teachers that bought the amazing math resource you have. But you still want to be collecting that audience because maybe you're going to, down the road, create a course for lower elementary students.

Speaker 1:

If you have a business model a little bit more like mine, you may need two pixels. Maybe my business has two very distinct branches, to the point where they may even be like two distinct trunks of the tree. The first one is the Facebook ads that you are likely very aware of If you're listening to this podcast. I serve teacher business owners. I help them with their ads. That is the main trunk of my business, but then I also have a TPT store where I create digital math resources for primary French immersion classrooms. The TPT store serves teachers who are in the classrooms still, and my Facebook ads business serves teacher business owners, whether they are or aren't in the classroom. There's almost no overlap in my two audiences and in fact I would say there's no overlap. It's kind of more of a coincidence, if someone is a primary French immersion math teacher and also has a business, that these things more often don't overlap and if they do, it's just a coincidence. So I personally have two pixels, but most businesses do not require having two pixels and, honestly, when in doubt, I would just stick with one, just one pixel, keep things easy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a question I get asked quite frequently is the difference between a pixel and a cookie, and they are very similar. Both pixels and cookies are designed to collect information about what the user is doing and then send it back to the third party who's collecting that information? The biggest difference is that pixel data is not stored on your computer or in your browser in any way. It's actually stored and like within the web content. So it's your website that's sending information back to meta and then meta is keeping that data, whereas cookies are information that are stored in your browser. So you are able to clear the cookies and you can get rid of them through your settings, but both of them do collect data. They track you. They help make your internet user experience more tailored to who you are and what you're doing. They because they're different the.

Speaker 1:

You know how there's that pop-up thing that happens, where it says cookies are used. Your website may or may not be using cookies and if you are using cookies, you should have that privacy pop-up so people can make an informed decision for themselves. Technically, pixels to my understanding and I could be wrong about this, and things are constantly changing and the laws are different all around the world but to my understanding and I could be wrong about this, and things are constantly changing and the laws are different all around the world but to my understanding, pixels are not part of that cookies privacy piece, so they're a different thing. So I don't actually have a full answer. If you need a pop up that says pixels are used on this website, I've never actually seen one, so my guess is no. I don't know if they fall under the category of the cookies privacy. Maybe somebody knows the answer and they can reach out and let me know, but I don't have an answer. But they are different Because of privacy issues and people obviously wanting their privacy and not wanting to be tracked, wanting to have their information remain private, as it should.

Speaker 1:

There's been a lot of changes that have happened through, like Apple has changed with their iOS and something like 90% of people press the ask not to track button, like if something pops up and says this app not if, when the pop-up comes up that says this app wants to track you and the options are yeah, sure, go ahead or ask not to track. It's so obvious that 90 people are pressing that no thank you button and that is that what the data is coming back and saying is, since that went into like general practice, most people, like an overwhelming most, over 90% of people, are pressing that ask not to track. I'm an ads manager and I say don't track, like I don't want the ad, the apps, tracking me and following me and having that information data. So my ads on my phone are like wild sometimes like totally not me, but that's fine, whatever. Also, though they will get into, the algorithm will pick up on that. I like to download new games and so I often get like new games because I'll do that and the apps and the, the algorithms, the power behind the ads, finds what you're going to do. Are you going to opt into those freebies? Are you going to watch a video? Are you going to sign up for the? The game? Right, and I'll sign up for the game. So when the ad comes, it's like some sort of new candy crush or whatever. Actually, I don't play candy crush, but whatever it is the game, I'll sign up for it.

Speaker 1:

But anyway, sorry, back to my point is that the pixel is restricted by data and browsers and obviously very key privacy settings that are essential. But there is another tool that meta introduced a few years ago now and it's called the conversion api. It's not something that I have used extensively. I have a couple of clients who have it installed on their websites, that are using the conversion api and I personally haven't noticed a significant difference. But it's there and I think it's a good thing because it does offer better data privacy, because it's sending information directly from the server to Facebook and it's not collecting any information from the browser at all. You have a unique id that's associated with you and it only collects the actions that are happening.

Speaker 1:

This is my understanding. It's more technical than a pixel and everything is happening behind the scenes. It doesn't actually access the browser in the same way and so it doesn't have access to any of those private things that you would want it. Also, the conversion api can be much more accurate and relier relier, accurate and reliable because it's not linked to the browser. It's on the server side, and another really great thing about it is that it can actually track actions that you take longer, like if there's a longer delay.

Speaker 1:

So if I look at at an ad today and then I go, do a million other things and I come back to the sales page like six weeks later, the conversion API and I don't know what the actual timeline is, but I come back significantly later the conversion API can still pick up on that conversion. That happens down the road, whereas the pixel won't. It is harder to use down the road, whereas the pixel won't, it is harder to use. I just want to make that absolutely clear. The pixel is much more user friendly. There are help guides, easy walkthroughs and it is an extremely effective way to track your ads. So don't feel like you need to install the conversion API, especially if you're just getting started. But as you get more sophisticated in your ads, you're increasing your budget.

Speaker 1:

If you have a lot of data that you want to ensure is accurate and also maintaining some privacy issues like if you're coming up across that the conversion api might be something you want to look into more closely. You can also use the conversion api with the pixel, and that's what my clients are all doing is they have both, and I'm not 100 sure if, like, you can have both in both places, because if you have two pixels installed, then it starts to like bump heads. I haven't come across that issue with my clients that have both, but it could be they may have some sort of technical thing going on in the backend Because, like I said, it is more technical. You do need to have some pretty good understanding of the backend of a website to get it up and running and make sure that it's working properly. So I haven't asked a couple of questions about conversion APIs recently, so I did want to touch on them. It's something that, if you're interested, definitely do some more research to look into, but don't delay on that pixel. Get your pixel installed, even if you have no ads upcoming, if it's not something that's even on your radar. I think that collecting the information and the data is essential so that, when you are ready to run ads, that you have built a warm audience that you can target and then you also have the ability to create lookalike audiences, which are some very, very fantastic audience as well.

Speaker 1:

I hope that you found this episode helpful and I'll be back in your ear with another Saturday strategy session next week. Thank you for listening to this episode of Market Scale Grow. Every week on Saturdays, we release a new Saturday strategy session, sometimes with amazing guests, and 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 Podcasts so that other people can find this podcast and we can impact teachers and teacher business owners around the world. Thank you so much for listening and I'll be back in your ears next week with another Saturday Strategy Session.