The New Facebook Pixel: Transition Time is Now
The new Facebook pixel was first released a few months ago, but by mid-2016, Facebook will completely transition to the new pixel. Although an exact transition date has not yet been released, advertisers should make the transition sooner rather than later to ensure all accounts track goals as accurately as possible. The transition involves rebuilding your existing campaigns with the new Facebook pixel.
The new Facebook pixel essentially combines the current custom audience pixel and the conversion-tracking pixel, streamlining the process for marketers to track their goals. One big change is that the new Facebook pixel provides two different conversion options:
Standard Events
Standard events allow advertisers to select an option related to their goals so Facebook can more accurately optimize to those goals.
Currently there are 10 standard event categories: view content, search, add to wishlist, add to cart, initiate checkout, add payment info, purchase, lead and complete registration.
To implement your chosen standard event, insert the appropriate snippet of code directly after the Facebook pixel.
Custom Conversions
Custom conversions allow advertisers to track and optimize for conversions without adding extra code to their sites.
Custom conversions can be set up using three different parameters by including traffic that meets the following: URL contains, URL equals or event.
The next step in implementing custom conversions is choosing a category that best fits the custom conversion. As noted within the Facebook Business Manager platform, this category isn’t dependent on the pixel code and doesn’t need to match any standard events.
As I mentioned above, it’s best to make the transition to the new Facebook pixel as soon as possible and build out new accounts with the new pixel.
Do you have questions about the new Facebook pixel? Maybe you have general questions related to digital advertising for higher education? Register for our upcoming digital advertising webinar, where the content will be completely driven by your questions.
