As the Australian real estate industry turns ever-more to the internet for its source of buyer and seller leads, how can you stay ahead?
Social media is one of the key weapons in any agent’s arsenal for cultivating an audience, building an online brand image, and increasing brand awareness and trust. It can, however, sometimes be difficult to attribute sales leads that have come from social media – after all, how can you track people who’ve seen your social ad, then checked out your website? Well, that’s where pixels come in.
What are Facebook pixels?
Facebook pixels are tiny snippets of code – named pixels because of their relative size – that you put on a page of your website. When someone navigates from your Facebook ad to that page on your website, it will be recorded as a conversion.
This allows you to directly track the amount of conversions your Facebook advertising activities are creating. You’ll even be able to remarket your services on Facebook to people you know have checked out your website and are therefore already aware of your brand.
What are the benefits of using Facebook pixels?
As a real estate professional, there are several key benefits of Facebook pixels that you need to know about.
You can track conversions precisely
With a Facebook pixel, you’ll be able to track people who check out your website after seeing your ad. If you choose to put the code on a ‘thanks for enquiring’ page, for example, you’ll know exactly when someone who saw your ad on Facebook makes an enquiry.
You can even track device usage. If people typically view ads on their phone but then switch to a desktop before making a purchase, you’ll know. With this information, you’ll be able to develop your strategy for the future.
Remarket, remarket, remarket
By using Facebook pixels, you’re essentially collecting data of all your website visitors that have a Facebook account. Clue – that’s a lot of them.
With this data in hand, you’ll be able to develop strategic remarketing campaigns to gradually build up the brand trust this audience associates with you, to the point where they’re ready to move forward.
Remember – just because a lead isn’t ready to make an enquiry the first time around, that doesn’t mean they won’t ever be. Using Facebook pixels to build remarketing campaigns is an excellent way of keeping in touch with them and remind them that you’re here when they’re ready.
How to use your Facebook pixel
If you’re ready to use a Facebook pixel to reap the above benefits, here’s what you need to get started.
1) Create your pixel
First things first, you’re going to need to actually create your pixel. Navigate to your Ads Manager, click the dropdown menu, and select ‘create pixel’. Create a memorable name for your pixel, then accept the terms and conditions and click ‘next’.
2) Add the code to your website
To get your pixel working its wonders on your website, you’re going to need to install a bit of code on your web pages. There are a couple of different ways to do this, but we’re going to walk you through the easiest method.
Get your code and paste it into the header tag of your web page. If you view your web page in HTML format, this will be anywhere between the <head> tag at the top and the closing </head> tag at the bottom.
You’ll then want to copy and paste in the ‘event code’. This is another little snippet of code that helps Facebook to determine what information you’re looking for. This code should go just below the closing </head> tag.
3) Check your pixel is working
Before launching your ad, you’re going to want to check that the pixel is working. Facebook have a handy little browser plugin called ‘Pixel Helper’, with an extension icon that’ll turn blue if it picks up pixels. If it doesn’t pick up anything, check you’re on the right page. If that doesn’t work, it might be time to have another look at where you put the code.
Facebook changed their pixels
In February 2017, Facebook stopped using the tracking pixel and switched to a new form. If you set up your ad before this date, you’ll need to circle back and change your pixel.
Otherwise, you’re good to go. Work on developing your Facebook Ad copy and watch those fully-trackable leads roll in.