And just like that, it’s gone!
The second half of 2016 is a time all Facebook Advertisers have marked in their calendars. Although the exact date is not yet known, when Facebook makes its big switch, advertisers will frantically be making adjustments. The old pixel system set up with Facebook will be merging into one called “the Facebook Pixel.” In the past, there were options to place different types pixels to choose from based on your goals. Soon there will be only one.
So what does this mean for advertisers? At any time in the second half of 2016, the “old” pixels they have placed to collect data will no longer work. For the sake of keeping this blog brief, I will stick to discussing the basic differences in the pixels, how to work with the new pixel, and how to check if your pixel is working correctly.
Out with the old
In the old days, Facebook provided two options to build a pixel. One pixel was for collecting audience data, and the other was for tracking conversions. The two pixels only followed the rules they had been assigned. So in order to track a conversion and build an audience on a website, you had to place two different pixels in the code.
In with the new
With Facebook’s new pixel, advertisers will only need to create one pixel that will do everything the old pixels did, but in one package. You can see in the chart below, that the new Facebook pixel will cover all actions from both the old Facebook pixels.
How to use the new pixel
The New Facebook pixel is in a sense mimicking the function of the AdWords remarketing pixels. It doesn’t matter which marketing goal you choose; the pixel is placed on every page of your website. This way, no matter where someone lands on your site, your pixel will fire and alert Facebook of the visitor.
This makes building a custom audience a heck of a lot easier, and building a custom audience is only one way to utilize the capabilities of the Facebook pixel. Before, you had to create a separate pixel and add the new code to the page you wanted to collect visitors from. Now, all advertisers have to do now is click “Tools” in the ads manager, then selected audiences, and from the audience dropdown menu, select custom audience. You then have several options available to choose how you will collect your audience members. You can choose to target people that have visited your site in the past several days, or you can pick a certain webpage you want to target the visitors from. All you have to do is add in the URL you want to target, and your custom audience is now built. Again, only one piece of code was added to make this happen.
The steps for creating a custom conversion and custom event are equally as easy. More information on that can be found on Jon Loomer’s blog.
What will happen to old pixels
So how will we know when the new Facebook has pixel dropped and the old pixels have stopped working? Hopefully Facebook will make a big announcement about it, but for now to take precaution, download Facebook Pixel Helper. This smart tool is able to scan your webpage and detect whether or not your pixel is loaded successfully. It only takes a matter of seconds.
Overall, the switch from custom audiences and conversion pixels to the Facebook pixel is an exciting one. It opens opportunities to creatively collect new data, in addition to offering a smooth and easy set-up process.
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