Matching Social With eCommerce: A Guide for Small Businesses on How to Setup Facebook Pixel on Shopify

When it comes to social media advertising, Facebook is one of the best choices for small businesses. This is primarily because business owners are familiar with the ins and outs of the platform, because it is flexible and inexpensive, and because it has a wide range of capabilities in its advertising tools. For small businesses looking to generate new avenues for revenue online due to the ongoing pandemic, combining Shopify, Canada’s giant eCommerce platform and Facebook’s Pixel, is the way to go.

Why?

Shopify has seen a massive 47% jump in sales this year due to Covid-19 [1]. To put this in perspective, that’s about a $470 million increase in profit compared to the same quarter, last year. Now, if you take the Facebook Pixel and combine it with digital marketing on Shopify, you’re going to get the most out of your social media budget while maximizing, optimizing, and measuring your Shopify audience. With this said, let’s take a look at what the Facebook Pixel is and how to set it up on your Shopify store.

What is the Facebook Pixel?

The Facebook Pixel is a tiny piece of code that helps you monitor the conversions you get from your Facebook advertisements. You can use the data that it collects to optimize your advertisements, build targeted audience lists for future ads, and see who has interacted with your website. It uses cookies to track your visitors and allows you to monitor website visitor behavior. The best thing about it? You can add it to eCommerce platforms like Shopify.

How to Add & Find Your Facebook Pixel ID

To make this process as simple as possible, the steps below are broken down into finding, adding, and using your Facebook Pixel Code on Shopify.

1. How to Find Your Facebook Pixel Identification.

• • Head to your Facebook Business Manager Dashboard, also known as the “Ads Manager” and click on the hamburger menu in the top left-hand corner.
  • You want the “all tools” found at the bottom of the menu you just pulled up.
  • Now choose “Pixels” which is under the Measures & Report category.
  • Your Pixel ID will be located in the bottom left-hand corner of the new screen that pops open.

If your Facebook Pixel hasn’t been set up, you will get a different screen that asks you to set one up. You will need to finish installing the Pixel, which can be done either through the Tag Manager or through manual installation on your website. The Tag Manager is the easiest. Click on this option and choose Shopify to get your Facebook Pixel ID. Don’t forget to write it down somewhere safe and accessible!

2. How to Enter Your Facebook Pixel on Shopify.

Now that you have your Pixel ID, you can place your Facebook Pixel on to Shopify. Here is how to do this.

• Head to your Shopify store and login.
• Under your “online store” in the left-hand menu, choose preferences.
• In the new page that pops open, scroll down until you see a slot for your Facebook Pixel ID.
• Copy and paste or type your ID in here.
• Don’t forget to save!

You will need to wait for a little while before your Facebook Pixel becomes active. It can take anywhere from 20-minutes to an hour for this status to change. Read on to learn how to check the status of your Facebook Pixel.

3. How to Check Your Facebook Pixel Status.

Navigate back over to your Facebook Business Manager Dashboard and do the following to check the status.

• Click on the hamburger menu in the top left-hand corner.
• Select “all tools” at the bottom of the menu you just pulled up.
• Choose “Pixels” under the Measures & Report category.
• Click on the Pixel you just set up to view its status.
• It should say that it is active. If it says that there is no activity, you may not have waited long enough.

If a few hours go by and your Facebook Pixel on Shopify still hasn’t become active, you may want to install the Facebook Pixel Helper, which is a Chrome Extension that can troubleshoot the activity problem you are having.

5. Tips to Maximize an Active Facebook Pixel on Shopify

Hopefully, by now your Facebook Pixel is up and running on Shopify. Here are a few tips on how to maximize its use.

• Before creating ads or setting up custom audiences, make sure that you have a sufficient number of events tagged to your pixel. The ideal amount you want to get per week is about 500. If you aren’t getting this, drive more traffic to your shop.
• Run diagnostics on your Facebook Pixel using the Facebook dashboard we mentioned earlier to iron out any issues. This will allow you to fix smaller errors like invalid event values, no event names specified, and invalid currency codes.
• Take your time to fiddle with custom audiences and lookalike audiences on Facebook. Why? It gives you tons of options with regard to how you want to target these audience groups with advertisements.
• Run some dynamic product ads on Facebook. These work really well for Shopify merchants who are new to advertising, as they are a) highly specific to your custom audiences and b) tried and tested for increasing conversions and sales. How? They retarget your Shopify customers who have previously browsed through your online shop.
• Look into setting up custom conversions as your Shopify store may benefit from them.

While it can be a bit overwhelming at first, once you have your Facebook Pixel on Shopify, take the next few steps slowly. Work on hitting that 500 conversions a week and then look at creating a budget for ads. Take the time to become familiar with Facebook’s advertising platform and learn about your audience first. Remember, the more you understand the process, the more likely it is that you will be successful!
If you really want to know more about how to set up a Facebook pixel on Shopify and involve Social media correctly for small businesses, please contact us or mail us to enquiry@letsnurture.ca