What Does a Marketing Pixel Do?
- A marketing pixel is a small piece of code that is added to a website or email to track user behavior and gather data for marketing purposes.
- Common uses of marketing pixels include tracking conversions, retargeting, and email tracking.
One of the most powerful tools to gather this data is using marketing pixels; even better, it doesn’t require upkeep or much work. Instead, it’s the piece of code that keeps on giving.
What is a Marketing Pixel?
A marketing pixel is a small piece of code that you place on your website. This code connects your website and an advertising platform, such as Facebook, Google Ads, or LinkedIn Ads. When visitors visit your website, the pixel returns information about their behavior to the advertising platform. A pixel is a little code machine that gathers intel and passes it on without any fuel to keep it going – place it in the header or footer, and it does its job.
How Do Marketing Pixels Work?
Let’s use setting up a Facebook pixel as an example to understand how a marketing pixel works.
Here are the basic steps:
Create a pixel
Create a pixel in your Facebook Ads account. Once you create the pixel, Facebook will provide a unique code.Add the code to your website
Copy the code and add it to the header section of your website. You can do this manually or use a plugin or tag manager to simplify the process.Track visitor behavior
When someone visits your website, the pixel sends information about their behavior back to Facebook. For example, it might track when someone views a product, adds an item to their cart, or makes a purchase.Build custom audiences
With this information, you can create custom audiences in Facebook Ads. For example, you could create an audience of people who have added items to their cart but haven’t checked out yet. Then, you can create an ad campaign specifically targeted at this group.Track conversions
Finally, you can use the pixel to track conversions, such as purchases or form submissions. This allows you to measure the effectiveness of your ads and optimize your campaigns for better results.
Or… You can hire Intersect Technologies to capture it all!
What are the Benefits of Using a Marketing Pixel?
With the data gathered by the pixel, you can create custom audiences and target your ads to people who have shown interest in your products or services; that’s obvious, but there are other benefits.
Improved ROI
By targeting specific audiences, you can tailor your messaging and offers to be more relevant and appealing to those groups. This means you’re more likely to attract high-quality leads and customers who are more likely to convert, ultimately improving your return on investment (ROI).
Increased Engagement
When your messaging and offers are targeted to specific groups, it’s more likely to resonate with them and grab their attention. This means they’re likelier to engage with your content, click through to your website, and take action.
Better Ad Placement
By targeting specific audiences, you can place yourself in the right places at the right times, where your target audience is most likely to see them. This means you’re not wasting your advertising budget on people who aren’t likely to be interested in your products or services.
Deeper Understanding of your Audience
Through audience targeting, you can gather data and insights about your audience, such as their demographics, interests, and behaviors. This allows you to understand their needs and preferences better and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly.
Increased Brand Awareness
By targeting specific audiences, you’re able to reach people who may not have heard of your brand before. This increases brand awareness and helps to establish your brand as a credible and trustworthy option in your industry.
Conversion Tracking
You can track the actions people take on your website after clicking on your site, then follow their journey through, giving you a better understanding of your return on investment (ROI).
Optimization
Marketing pixels are a powerful tool for online marketers. You can better understand your audience and create more effective ad campaigns by tracking visitor behavior on your website. While the setup process may seem complicated at first, it’s well worth the effort for the valuable data you’ll gain, and, as you’ve seen, it isn’t all that difficult at the end of the day with the right help in place!
Recommended Reading
If you’d like to learn more, here are a few selected resources to improve your grasp on digital marketing as a whole, not just on how pixels work!
Facebook Pixel Guide
This guide, created by Facebook, provides an overview of how Facebook Pixel works, including what it is, how to install it, and how to use it to track user behavior and run targeted ads.
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is a free tool that allows you to add and update marketing and analytics tags on your website without needing to modify the code. This resource provides an overview of how Tag Manager works and how it can be used to manage marketing pixels.
The Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics
This guide provides a comprehensive introduction to Google Analytics, a popular tool for tracking website traffic and user behavior. The guide covers how to set up Google Analytics, how to create reports, and how to use it to optimize your website and marketing campaigns.
LinkedIn Pixel Help Center
This resource, created by LinkedIn, provides an overview of the LinkedIn Insight Tag, which is used to track user behavior on your website and target ads to specific audiences on LinkedIn.
Marketing Tags and Pixels – What They Are and How They Work
This blog post provides an in-depth explanation of how marketing pixels work, including how they track user behavior, how they are used to create targeted ads, and how to install them on your website.
How to Create, Optimize, and Test Meta Ads (formerly Facebook Ads)
This blog post, written by marketing expert Neil Patel, explains how Facebook marketing pixels can be used to create effective Facebook ads. The post covers the different types of Facebook ads, how to target specific audiences, and how to measure the success of your ad campaigns.
Want to learn more?
Call our qualified team at Intersect!
