An Introduction to Facebook Pixels with Custom Audiences

Jamie Jean Schneider Domm

Digital Strategist, Social Media + Big Data, North American Division

What is a Facebook pixel? What are some of its practical uses for ministry?

Simply put, a Facebook pixel is a small snippet of HTML code that is placed on your website for tracking purposes. It’s similar to Google Analytics but specifically for Facebook, enabling advertisers to target and re-target more effectively. Installing a pixel allows Facebook to track visitors and categorize them in custom audience groups. This information can help you develop more effective ads that appeal to a specific audience’s interests while saving money.

It takes time, effort, and money to attract an audience, so once you have people actively engaging with your content, the next most effective step you can take for your ministry is to cultivate your relationship with your audience. Pixels are one way to re-engage your followers/visitors and ensure that your content is reaching them. Pixels can also help you customize the content they receive, taking into consideration their level of engagement and behavior and making sure your organization’s content stays relevant to their needs.

For example, suppose you have a website that tackles multiple difficult topics, and one of the most visited areas focuses on “What happens when we die?” You can re-target visitors to that specific page with Facebook ads for videos, new content, free books, etc., all related to a biblical perspective on death. You can do the same for your prophecy, health, and Sabbath sections as well.  

Custom audience options for pixels include:

• All web visitors
• People who visited specific pages
• Visitors by time spent
• Visitors by date
  
  

Another practical ministry example: Let’s say you are promoting a series of content highlighting health principles; you’re getting a lot of traffic and engagement on your website, but only a few people are taking advantage of the free book offer. A Facebook pixel allows you to re-target these engaged website visitors with a Facebook ad reminder to download or request the free book. This increases your conversion rate (offer downloads) by focusing on people who have already showed interest but who may have gotten distracted by the demands of work, family, and life. Modern life means people are busy. They may be indeed be interested but may need reminders (remember the “Rule of 7”). This is particularly true when it comes to advertisements for events.

Click here for a step-by-step guide from Facebook to learn how to set up a Facebook pixel for tracking.

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Key custom and saved audiences for churches

Once you have your pixel set up, you'll also want to set up custom audiences in your ad account so you can strategically target certain types of people who are more likely to respond to your content and invitations. Once these are set up, Facebook will dynamically build up these audiences for your use in targeting ad campaigns. These audiences are considered warm audiences because of their relationship to your page and are generally more cost efficient. You can also create lookalike audiences and colder or broader audiences for wider outreach efforts. Keep these saved in your Facebook Ads manager for easy access when setting up campaigns.

• Facebook page engagers in the past 90, 180, or 365 days
  • People who have already expressed interest in your church and/or content
• Video engagement audiences
  • For example, you can re-target those who watch church service livestreams or video messages
• Website visitors in the past 90, 180, or 365 days
  • People familiar with you who have taken some interest
• People who have visited specific website pages
  • For example, Bible studies, youth pages, visitor pages, etc.
• Lookalike audience of page engagers
  • This is an easy way to find the top 1% of people similar to those already engaged; this audience is automatically formed at the national level, so you will need to geo-target by address when using this audience
• Lookalike audience of email list
  • People similar to people who have subscribed to your eNewsletters
• Lookalike audiences of those who signed up for events, reserved tickets, downloaded free books, etc., via online forms
  • People similar to those who have attended previous programs or received materials
• Parents with children in the age ranges relevant to your programs
  • Such as VBS and Pathfinders who live within driving distance
• Saved audience by age and/or gender geo-targeted to your community
  • Ideal for men/women's ministries, teen/young adult ministries, etc.
• Everyone within five miles of your church.
  • If you are located in a rural area, the distance can be increased, or the distance can be reduced for more densely populated areas. Aim for an audience of less than 50,000 people for cold ads inviting people to marriage programs, holiday events, etc.
    
    

To learn more about Facebook advertising, visit facebook.com/business

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