Set up Facebook and TikTok pixel tracking for your social media ads

Tracking and measurement are essential for any business advertising online, as it allows you to see how your active ad campaigns are performing and make adjustments where necessary. In this blog post, we’ll look at how you can set up tracking for Facebook and TikTok ads.

Tracking setup for Facebook ads

Let’s start by setting up the Facebook Pixel. If you master the setup with the Facebook Pixel, the TikTok Pixel will seem like child’s play. The prerequisite for setting up the Facebook Pixel is an active Facebook AdAccount. You can find more information about creating a Facebook Ad Account here.

1. Install the Facebook pixel on your website first. The Facebook pixel is a code you can add to your website to track website conversions, create custom audiences for retargeting and more. To set it up, navigate to your Facebook Ads Manager and click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner. Then click on ‘Pixel’ and follow the instructions to add the pixel to your website. If you want more detailed information on how to add the pixel to your website, we can recommend this article.
2. When the pixel has been successfully added to your website, the next step is to set up event tracking. This allows you to monitor specific actions that users perform on your website. For example, you can track all users who come to your website and click on the ‘Order’ button, or track users who navigate to certain subpages. To do this, open your Facebook Ads Manager and click on the hamburger menu again. Then click on ‘Event Manager’ and follow the instructions to set up your events. Once again, Facebook makes it very easy to set up events with step-by-step instructions. With Facebook’s event setup tool, it’s easy to set up your events as long as the pixel is installed correctly on your site. You can find out more here.
3. At this point, everything is set up. You can now use Facebook Ads Manager to monitor the performance of your ads. The tool provides a wide range of metrics and reports. To access them, open your Facebook Ads Manager, click on the hamburger menu, and select “Analytics” to view key figures such as impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Now you can also target your Facebook ad campaigns to the events you’ve just created. To do this, choose the ‚Conversions‘ objective when setting up your campaign. Facebook will then optimize your ads for a specific conversion event, which you can define individually for each campaign. For example, you might track a completed contact form, visits to a specific subpage, or clicks on a call-to-action button. You can also track thank-you pages after an order, order button clicks, and much more.

Tracking setup for TikTok adverts

Once your Facebook Pixel is set up, configuring your TikTok Pixel will be straightforward as well. The TikTok Ads Manager works very similarly to Facebook Ads Manager, though it’s not quite as advanced. To get started, you’ll need a registered TikTok Ads account. You can find more information here.

Again, the first step is to add your TikTok Pixel to your site in a compliant manner. To do this, navigate to your TikTok AdManager. Click on ‘Asstes’ in the menu bar at the top and select ‘Events’ from the drop-down menu. Now select the option ‘Web Events’ to set up your pixel on the website. Name your TikTok Pixel and select ‘TikTok Pixel’. Click on ‘Next’. Now TikTok will ask you whether you want to set up the code manually or with a partner integration. The easier way, and the way that works in 90% of cases, is the option via partner platforms.

These are all the partners currently supported by TikTok. If you’re already using Google Tag Manager, we recommend setting up your TikTok Pixel directly through it. If not, there is excellent documentation available on how to set up Google Tag Manager itself as well as how to implement various pixels with it. You can find more information here:

Setting up the TikTok Pixel via the Google Tag Manager.

Once the setup is complete, you can conveniently create custom events with the TikTok Event Tool, similar to how it works on Facebook. Keep in mind, though, that TikTok’s tool is not quite as advanced as Facebook’s. To access it, go to Assets → Events → Web Page in the header, then select your pixel. Under Settings, click the +Add Events button to create your events, just as you would in the Facebook Event Manager. You can find more information here.

Your TikTok Pixel setup, including conversion events, is now complete. Just like in the Facebook Ads Manager, you can create conversion campaigns, select specific events on your site, and track campaign performance directly in TikTok Ads Manager.

Admittedly, the setup with the TikTok Ads Manager can still be a bit rough. However, at stylink UGC we know from experience that it’s worth the effort. Since the TikTok Ads Manager is still in its early stages, there is far less advertiser competition compared to Facebook. We therefore strongly recommend setting up at least one active ad account.

Conclusion

In principle, setting up both pixels is quick and straightforward. The TikTok Pixel can be a bit more tedious, as TikTok doesn’t yet offer as many partner integrations as Facebook. But once both are in place, you’re ready to fully kick off social media marketing for your website!