You are listening to My Freedom Grove podcast with Gretchen Hernandez, episode 195.

Welcome to My Freedom Grove Podcast, your calm space for practical help to get your dream business up and running while being authentically you and taking care of your mental health. I'm your host, Gretchen Hernandez. I'm so glad you're here!

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Hi My Strong Friends.  Hey, have you ever wondered if your phone is listening to you? 

I know mine is.  It can be so eerie sometimes.  For example, my husband and I are talking about replacing our shower.  Our shower has a porcelain tub that is super slippery and dangerous.  Out of the blue, I have a ton of ads showing up in my Facebook feed for shower replacements.

There have also been times when it seemed my coach, Brooke Castillo, followed me to every freaking page I visited on the internet.  I’d go to a blog post about clipping dog nails, her ad would pop up in the middle.  I’d go to a page showing all the haunted places you could visit in California, there she is again!  I started searching for new kitchen faucets.  Guess who was there?  Brooke!!!   I couldn’t go anywhere without Brooke showing up.  She totally became my stalker.  Lol

I even had Marie Forleo knowing way too much about my business.  I had an ad show up in my Facebook feed saying “Hey, you were about to buy The Copy Cure, why didn’t you complete the purchase?”  What???  How did she know that?  It’s true.  The day before, I had started to purchase that course.  And then I got interrupted. 

All of this seems so weird right?  I have the song “I always feel like, somebody’s watching me” playing in my head.

How many times did something like that happen to you?

Do you find it helpful?  Or do you find it a little too creepy?  I’d love to get together just to swap stories about our experiences.

Most of the time I find these experiences helpful.

Now turn this around to the perspective of your business.  Would you like your ads to pop up in front of people that are actively searching for a problem you solve?

The magic behind our phones listening to us is actually a Facebook Pixel.  It’s a unique tracking code that businesses put on their website.  First, isn’t it a relief that it’s not a tracking code put on you as an individual?  It may feel like it is on you, but technically it’s not.  It’s on the business.

In today’s episode I’m going to share exactly how this works and how you can use it to help your business.  This is the 4th episode in a podcast series about Facebook ads during the month of April.  We have one more next week.

All of this leads up to a very exciting summit that’s happening May 1-3rd.  Let me tell you about it before we jump into the rest of this episode.

HUGE OPPORTUNITY - THE PLATFORM & PROFITS SUMMIT MAY 1-3

 

I’m getting so excited about next week.  May 1-3rd is the Platform & Profits virtual 3 day summit.  I’m one of over 30 industry experts that will be teaching actionable lessons to help entrepreneurs with their business.  This is a free event.  If you haven’t grabbed your ticket yet, the link is in the show notes.

The objective of this summit is two fold.  First we want to help you develop your Platform.  By platform we mean your Business Presence including where you like to generate traffic.  There are speakers that are going to teach you about building up your presence on TikTok, Facebook Groups, Instagram, Networking, Podcasting, Live events and so many more.

The other part of your platform is your website and funnels.  We are going to teach you some of the best ways you can get those created and working quickly.  This will also include using organic marketing for your funnels or paid Facebook ad traffic.  We’re giving you the step by step instructions and action plans.

Once you have your Platform established, you’ll learn how you can partner with other entrepreneurs using affiliate marketing, joint ventures and sponsorships to increase your audience size and skyrocket your profits.

This is a one of a kind event.  You have to check out the speaker list.  You will be blown away at who will be teaching and all of the topics.  And it’s all free. Go click on the link in the show notes to get all the details.  Make sure to share that link with your entrepreneur friends too!  Share the love, my friends.  Recordings will also be available if you’re not able to attend all the sessions.

I’m teaching how to use $4 Facebook ads to validate your offers and funnels before you build them.  All of my April podcasts on Facebook ads will help you know if ads are right for your business.

I have a special surprise.  If you listened to the first 2 episodes in April you know I offered the Irresistible Offer Research Guide that included a step by step tutorial video to get your FB traffic ads up and running.  For a limited time, I’m offering that for only $17.  I’ll include that link in the show notes too.  So, here’s the special surprise…when you come to the Platform & Profit summit, you’ll receive a special link that will give you the Irresistible Offer Research Guide and FB ads tutorial video for free.  You don’t want to miss that!

You’ll also be entered into drawings for over $70k worth of prizes that will help move your business forward! 

This is exciting stuff!  I can’t wait to see you there!

So, let’s jump back into the world of Facebook ads.  

Today we’re talking about the Facebook Pixel.  I’m going to go over:

1. What it is and how it works
2. Tips you can use as a consumer
3. Ways to Use it to help your business
4. Advanced options to improve your ad performance and lower ad cost

Plus I’ll give you all the relevant links to go set your Pixel up when you’re ready.

WHAT IS A PIXEL AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

First let’s talk about the official name of the Pixel.  You’ll hear me refer to a Facebook Pixel.  This is what it was called up until a couple of years ago.  It’s now called a Meta Pixel.  Meta is the parent company that owns Facebook and Instagram.  The Meta Pixel works for both Facebook and Instagram at the same time.  The branding change from Facebook Pixel to Meta Pixel is taking a while with all the website platforms in the world.  So just know that Facebook Pixel and Meta Pixel mean the same thing.

The pixel is the little gem responsible for showing things in your Facebook or Instagram Feed that you’re interested in.  Technically it’s a few lines of code, with a unique identifier for a business.  The pixel number is created with the Meta Business Suite when requested by a business.

Automatically, Facebook will connect the Pixel with the business Facebook page.  The pixel can then collect data about the people that visit and interact with that business Facebook page.  Every visitor has their own IP address that is unique for the device they are using at the time.  Facebook adds that IP address to the log of visitors.  If that visitor took an action on the Facebook page, that action will be recorded on the Pixel log for their IP address.

Now I’m going to share the concept of Databases. Because that is the true magic behind the pixel.

A Database is a collection of multiple data tables.  You can think of a data table as a spreadsheet.  For Facebook, they’ll have 1 data table for the Business Pixel.  It includes the IP address of who visited the page, the actions they took, and the dates of their engagement with the page.

The Database also has a data table of Facebook Users.  It includes name, IP addresses, status updates, the dates of those changes, and any identifying information the user added to their profile.

With any database you can create customized reports that pulls data from multiple data sheets. The report knows the data goes together because of a unique identifier.  The IP address is that unique identifier.

So, when FB wants to know which ads to show you, it automatically runs a report.  It searches all the Business Pixel datatables looking for your IP address.  Then it pulls all of the pixel numbers and puts it on one record for your IP address.  The report will also pull information about the type of business and the type of products or services you viewed.  Now it will customize the ads you see in your Facebook Feed.  It will show you ads of the businesses you visited.  It will also show you ads for other businesses of the same type or that are selling a similar product or service.

You might be wondering why I was seeing ads from Brooke Castillo on all the webpages I was visiting.  It still comes back to the pixel.  When a business runs Facebook ads there’s an option to also show the ad on Instagram and partner websites.  It’s like a one stop shop.

TIPS YOU CAN USE AS A CONSUMER

As a consumer, the pixel can be a love/hate relationship.  I’m going to give you a tip for each.

First, if you hate the pixel or at least the ads it’s showing you, you can do something about it.  Every ad has 3 little dots in the upper right hand corner.  When you click on those dots a menu appears.  It has options to block that advertiser, reduce the number of that type of ad and more.  

If the ads are completely irrelevant to you, it’s probably a mismatch due to details contained in the database for your IP address.  You can change those details.  When you click on those 3 little dots you can select “Why am I seeing this ad?”.  This opens another menu that shows the audience criteria the business used.  It also has menu options to go change your characteristics in the database.

It might seem like a hassle.  I know, it IS extra steps.  You can just choose to scroll past the ads too.  But taking action keeps them out of your feed all together.

Now, how can you love the pixel as a consumer?  Use it as your reminder system.  If there is something  you’re interested in, but not ready for, go click on the website anyway.  Now ads will pop up from time to time to remind you about that company. 

I also love the pixel when I’m trying to find an elusive product or service.  For example, my daughter wears a size 11 shoe.  It’s really hard to find size 11 women’s shoes.  If I do google searches for women’s size 11 shoe and visit a couple of landing pages, it gets picked up.  Then FB matches me with other companies that offer women’s size 11 shoes.  

This also helps for service based companies.  When I was searching for a company to buy my broken car, FB showed me 10 ads from different companies.  I was so grateful.  It made my search so much easier.

WAYS YOU CAN USE IT TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS

Nobody told me about the Facebook pixel in the beginning of my business.  In fact, I think I was 2 years in before I learned about it.  I missed a huge opportunity.

I started this podcast in December of 2019. It was my primary way to get traffic to my website.  I would post about my podcast episode with a link to go listen to it on my website.  After 2 years, I was averaging about 10,000 website views per month.  If people didn’t subscribe to my email list, I had no idea who was visiting my site.  I had no way to re-engage those exact people.  If I had a Facebook pixel turned on in the beginning, Facebook would have the invisible list of everyone that had gone to my website.  Then, when I was ready to run ads, I’d already have a very large warm audience that knew about my business.

But, nobody told me that.  So my ads had to start with a 100% cold audience.

But, that doesn’t have to happen to you.  You can turn on your Facebook Pixel right now to start creating that invisible list.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a podcast.  The pixel picks up on any interaction with your Business page and social media posts.  It all counts.

When selecting a pixel audience you can choose from using the hidden pixel list or a look alike.  It let’s you get specific as to the timing too.  You can select your pixel list of people that interacted with your stuff in the last month all the way up to 6-12 months ago.  The only caveat is that you had to have your Pixel already turned on.

So, even if you aren’t going to run ads anytime soon, go turn on your Pixel.  Your future self will thank you.

USE THE PIXEL FOR FREE EDUCATION

One of the best forms of free education is benchmarking other businesses.  I started doing this before I even started my business.  I picked a handful of successful businesses that were using a similar business model.  Then I studied them.  It helped me understand how they were building their audiences.  I was able to see full launches of their products and services.  And I studied their graphic design and copy.

The pixel helped me so much.  Even though I didn’t know what the pixel was way back then.  Since I had visited their website, their ads were shown to me.  Since I engaged with all of their ads, Facebook would show me even more of their ads.  Some ads were for freebies like guides and checklists.  Other ads were for workshops, webinars and challenges.  And some were for selling the actual product/service.

I kept track of the dates and the type of ads.  I started to see a pattern.  Several of the successful coaches used the same pattern.  They ran their freebie ad for the first week of the month.  Then they ran their engagement event ad for the workshop, webinar or challenge.  The day of the engagement event, the ads switched to the product/service ads.

It also helped me to see season specific promotions.  Like Mother’s Day.  That’s coming up on May 12th.  I started to take note of the type of promotions and how they positioned it.

The only thing I couldn’t tell was how effective the ad was.  Well, except for 1 thing.  The comments.  I looked at the age of the comments.  I was surprised to see some comments were weeks, months or even a year old.  Once I learned about re-posting an old ad, I understood the time spread of the comments.  The social proof keeps racking up every time the same ad is run.  The key was ensuring there were no dates listed in the copy or on the image.

Remember how I mentioned the 3 little dots on a Facebook Ad?  Those help you with benchmarking the audience selection.  Click the “why am I seeing this ad” from the menu.  It shows their audience selection.  If that business serves a similar ideal client as you, their ad audience criteria may be very valuable to you.

HOW TO ADD A FACEBOOK PIXEL TO YOUR WEBSITE

In the show notes you’ll find a link for how to create and install the Pixel on your website.  Facebook is already integrated with about 50 different website platforms.  This means the hookup is really easy for you.  Facebook will just ask you which website platform you use and your URL.  After that it will give you a series of prompts to follow.  It takes about 10 minutes to set up.

You’ll still have to go add your pixel to your website.  Do a google search for your exact website platform.  Just type “How to add Facebook Pixel to [insert website platform name]”.  You may want to add the current year to that search question.

For the Kajabi website platform, there’s one place in the settings to add in the pixel.  It will apply the pixel to every page of your website automatically.

For other websites, you may have to add the pixel code into the header section of each page.  Facebook will give you the exact code to copy and paste.

ADVANCED OPTIONS TO IMPROVE YOUR AD PERFORMANCE AND LOWER AD COST

In the beginning part of using Facebook ads, just having a pixel installed is enough.  You’ll have to do several experiments to get your ad working and your funnel converting.

Once things are working, you can start to optimize it.  That’s where this advanced topic comes in.  You can use Event Codes to target your audience even better, based on their actions.

It’s easiest to use an example to explain this.

Let’s say you are hosting a webinar.  You run an ad to your ideal client audience.  People register for the webinar.  However, the final headcount is lower than your target.  You can either spend more money on the ad or you can optimize your audience.  It’s possible that you targeted the right people for your service, but they are not people that typically attend webinars.  What if you could have an audience that was your right people AND they loved to go to webinars?  Then you could spend the same amount on ads, but have more people register.

You ad now performs better at getting you qualified leads.  It also decreases your Cost Per Result.

All of that is possible with Event Codes.  There’s a link to the different event codes in the show notes.

The event code, which is usually 1-2 words, is added into the Pixel Code of specific pages of your website.

Event Codes are your way of communicating with Facebook about consumer actions.  I’ll share 3:  Page View, Lead and Purchase.

On the webinar registration page, the Pixel Code will get updated with the “Page View” event code.  The webinar thank you page will have “Lead” updated in the Pixel code.

These codes are communicated back to Facebook.  When you run a Lead ad, Facebook knows to count the number of Thank You page hits that happen.  That’s what you are defining as a “Lead”.  Facebook will also search for IP addresses of consumers that typically sign up for Lead Magnets.

For a Sales Page, the codes would be “Page View” for the Sales Page and “Purchase” for the Thank You Page.  Facebook counts the Thank you Page hits as “Purchases”.  It also shows your ads to consumers that typically purchase things.

Like I said, this is more advanced.  Your first focus is on making your ad and funnel work.  Then you can work on making the ad and funnel work better and with a lower cost.

I hope you appreciated learning more about the Facebook Pixel.  Like I said, I didn’t know anything about it until I was 2 years into my business.  It was a missed opportunity to start building my invisible list.  So even if you’re not planning on running Facebook ads right now, you might still want to turn on your Pixel.  That way you have a warm audience when you are ready.

This will be especially useful when you decide to run $4 Facebook ads to validate your funnel before you build it.  That is the training I’m providing in the Platform & Profit Summit happening next week.  This is a free summit.  And when you attend, you’ll also get my Irresistible Offer Research Guide with Video Tutorial giving click-by-click instructions to get your ads up and running.

Go register for your free ticket.  The link is in the show notes.  Tell your entrepreneur friends about it.  Share the link with them too!  I’ll see you there!

Have a great week.  Bye Bye.

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Thank you for listening to My Freedom Grove Podcast. When you are ready to make your dream business a reality and take care of your mental health, I invite you to join the Unshakable Business Co-Lab. This is the mastermind membership you've been waiting for. There's no limits on your imagination, nor your timeline. We're with you every step of the way. To learn more, please visit www.myfreedomgrove.com/join. I'll see you there!