Considering all the time and resources you spend marketing on Facebook, you want to know that you’re getting the best possible return on your investment.

Facebook Pixel is a sophisticated piece of code that gives you a bird’s-eye view of your digital marketing efforts across Facebook and your website. And it’s revolutionizing the way people promote their businesses online.

How does it work?

Don’t let the name fool you. A pixel might be the smallest controllable element of a digital image, but Facebook Pixel is one of the most powerful tools a digital marketer can have at their disposal.

Once installed on your website, Facebook Pixel can monitor traffic on your website and determine what, if any, actions (called “events”) users take once they get there.

Here are some of the events you can use Pixel to measure:

• Purchases
• Registrations
• When users add products to their cart
• Donations
• Submitted applications

…And many, many more. From booking listing presentations to driving web sales, if there’s a result you’re looking to get from your website, Pixel can track it.

How can I use it drive sales?

Learn what specific actions your leads take.

Like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel allows you to see how many visitors visit each page on your website, broken down over a specific period of time.

Even by itself, this is a useful feature to have. You can, for example, determine which landing pages seem to be driving the most conversions, and use that knowledge to guide your future Facebook campaigns.

But Facebook Pixel does a lot more than just track conversions—it allows you to continually market to your leads on Facebook and Instagram.

Retarget those who don’t take action.

Yes, you read that correctly: retarget. The fact of the matter is, most of your leads simply aren’t going to take action the first time you get your message in front of them.

Facebook Pixel keeps track of people who visited your website but who didn’t take the action you wanted them to take. Then, it ties those people back to Facebook and allows you to create a custom audience.

This means you can target people who, for instance, viewed a specific product but didn’t purchase it or who visited a registration page but didn’t sign up.

Once you know the common denominator that defines your audience, you can create a new marketing campaign designed to get them to make a purchase, sign up for your mailing list, or take whichever action you’re looking for. Your retargeted campaign will effectively follow your audience around Facebook and Instagram, with the idea that the messaging will eventually take hold.

Create lookalike audiences.

Of course, it’s one thing to pursue an audience of relevant leads over a period of time. In order to continue growing your business, you’ll also need to connect with new leads.

The great news about Pixel is that you can use it to connect with people similar to your existing customers. Once you have a custom audience of at least 100 people from a single country, Facebook can create a “lookalike audience” of users who have exhibited similar browsing and purchasing behaviors.

See how a 38% referral rate can change your business.

Because your lookalike audience is similar to people who have engaged with you in the past, you can go in with confidence that at least some of these leads will be interested in what you have to offer. From there, it’s all about forming new connections with those prospects and getting them to take action.

Reconnect with past customers.

Pixel provides you with countless opportunities to convert leads who’ve shown some interest, but it’s also a powerful tool for getting repeat business.

You can create a custom audience comprised of people who have made a purchase or taken another action within a specific time period, then follow up with them through targeted ads. From there, you can offer additional value, advertise other products that might be of interest, or even get the word out about any referral programs you might have in place. The sky is truly the limit.

Easily track your ROI.

Another great thing about Pixel is that you can add monetary value (called a “conversion value”) to each action taken, which makes tracking ROI a lot more intuitive.

For example, if you can see that you spent $20 on a specific ad and garnered 10 purchases at $10 each, your ROI is 400 percent. With that knowledge, you can make informed decisions about how much you’ll spend on similar ads in the future.

Now that you know what Pixel has to offer, you can consider incorporating it into your Facebook marketing efforts. For help installing a Facebook Pixel on your website, click here. And, for more great actionable advice, be sure to like ReminderMedia onFacebook.