Most event organisers have placed an advert on Facebook. But if you asked them whether they know how many tickets they sold thanks to the ad, few will have the answer; they may not even know that it鈥檚 possible to find out!
The big mistake that most event organisers make is simply clicking the “Boost Post” button in the belief that they are doing Facebook marketing (see below):
It鈥檚 a pretty nice feature 鈥� allowing you to place Facebook ads with just a few clicks 鈥� but, as with many things, it turns out to be too good to be true. In fact, it has many disadvantages, especially for event organisers.
Disadvantage no. 1) Languages and location definitions cannot be restricted; you might have wondered about those strange likes appearing on your posts.
Disadvantage no. 2) You are not allowed to choose ad placement. For example, you can鈥檛 pick whether the ad appears only on mobile or desktop.
Disadvantage no. 3) The goal of the “Boost Post” button is only always interaction, i.e. likes, and this brings us to the biggest disadvantage: likes do not sell tickets.
Facebook ads are primarily intended for you to sell tickets, so it鈥檚 important to be able to track sales.
Why?
Imagine you have four ads running – you automatically end up only looking at the ad with the most likes. This seems like the smartest way to focus in on one ad and identify the top performer.
However, instead, it makes more sense to look at which ad sold the most tickets so that you know how to use your budget efficiently.
To see which Facebook ad sold tickets, you need to let the Facebook and 91制片厂 systems talk to each other.
You do this by simply copying and pasting the Facebook pixel to 91制片厂 (no HTML knowledge required).
First, you need to go to the Facebook Ads Manager (see below):
Once you鈥檙e there, click on the three dashes. Under the heading “Measure & Report”, you will find the item “Pixels” (see below):
Click on it and you will see the data for your Facebook pixel.
If you haven鈥檛 set up a pixel yet, see below for a guide. Setting up a pixel for the first time is quick and easy.
Click “Create a Facebook Pixel” or, if you鈥檝e previously set up a pixel and want to use that, just select 鈥淎ctions鈥� and 鈥淰iew Pixel Code鈥� on your existing Facebook pixel.
Give your Facebook pixel a name and insert your website URL (this is optional), then review and agree to the Facebook Pixel Terms. Finally, click 鈥淐reate.鈥�
You鈥檒l then see three options for 鈥淚nstall Pixel鈥�. Choose 鈥淢anually Install Pixel Code Yourself.鈥�
On the next page, under step 2, you鈥檒l see a block of code. Your Facebook pixel ID is located in the value 鈥渇bq(鈥榠nit鈥�, 鈥榵xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx鈥�). You can also find it in the value 鈥渟rc=鈥漢ttps://www.facebook.com/tr?id=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx鈥�
Copy and save your Facebook pixel ID number.
TIP: The Facebook Pixel ID is usually 15-16 digits long.
In your 91制片厂 Dashboard, you will find the item “Analyse” under the “Manage” tab.
Click here and you will see the item “Tracking Pixels.”
91制片厂 offers various tracking options, but we’re just looking at the tracking option with Facebook. Click on this and the following window will open.
First, choose whether the pixel should track only this event or your other events created with 91制片厂 as well.
If you choose 鈥淭his Event鈥� (see below), you can add only one Facebook pixel to the event. If you select 鈥淎ll Events,鈥� you can add only one pixel to your entire 91制片厂 account.
TIP: Selecting “This Event” when adding a tracking pixel to an event that has multiple dates/times will apply to all events in your overall event schedule. You can’t add a tracking pixel to an individual event in your schedule.
NOTE: If you add the tracking ID to 鈥淭his Event,鈥� it will only be added to that individual event and won鈥檛 be copied to a new event if the event is copied. If you add the tracking ID to 鈥淎ll Events,鈥� it will apply to every event in the 91制片厂 account, and when the event is copied, the tracking ID will also be copied.
In the “Facebook Pixel ID” field,聽 enter your Facebook pixel ID.
A 鈥淪tandard Event鈥� (see above) is an action taken on your event page, for example an order confirmation. When using the pixel it鈥檚 important to recognise the difference between your event (concert, workshop, party, etc) and a standard event (an action taken on your event page, e.g., Order Confirmation, Event Registration, etc).
Remember, a Standard Event only happens on your 91制片厂 Checkout.
By default, the pixel will track one Standard Event called 鈥淲ebsite Purchases鈥� and this will trigger automatically when someone completes their ticket purchase.
PRO TIP: With the Pixel, you can add more Standard Events to track visits to your event page and interaction with the checkout form (allowing you to track abandoned baskets). To do this, click 鈥淎dd Standard Event鈥� and select the Standard Event you want to track from the list (definitions in the table below).
In the second dropdown, select how you want this action to appear in your Facebook reporting, i.e., Event Listing could appear as Content View in Facebook.
The first dropdown (see below) allows you to track the following 91制片厂 Standard Event:
- Event Listing = Customer arrives on event page
- Event Register = Customer arrives on checkout page
- Event Order Confirmation = Order completed
- Ticket Form Widget = View ticket listing widget
- Reserved Seating – Pick a Seat = Picked a seat
The second dropdown allows you to match each 91制片厂 Standard Event with a corresponding Facebook Standard Event. Here’s a suggestion of which to match up:
Event Listing > Website Content Views
Event Register > Website Checkout Initiated
Event Order Confirmation > Website Registrations Completed
Ticket Form Widget > Website Content Views
Reserved Seating – Pick a Seat > Website Adds to Card
If your Facebook campaigns are already running and you have sold tickets, you can now see how your ads are performing.
To do this, go back to Facebook and click on 鈥淎ds Manager鈥� (see below):
Click on the “Columns” button under 鈥淎ds Manager鈥� (see below). A dropdown of further menu items will open and you should select “Customise Columns” towards the end.
Then search for 鈥減urchases鈥� in the search bar at the top of the window (see below).
Click the 鈥淭otal鈥�, 鈥淰alue鈥� and 鈥淐ost鈥� checkboxes in the 鈥淧urchases鈥� row, as well as the 鈥淭otal鈥� checkbox in the 鈥淲ebsite purchases for catalogue segment items鈥� row. Then scroll down to the bottom of the list of selected columns on the right hand side.
Make sure you have 鈥淲ebsite purchases鈥� and 鈥淥n-Facebook purchases鈥� selected in the 鈥淧urchases鈥� box, as well as 鈥淲ebsite purchases conversion value鈥� and 鈥淐onversion value of purchase on Facebook鈥� selected in the 鈥淧urchases conversion value鈥� box.
Click “Apply” to finish.
The metrics you selected will now appear in the Ads Manager.
You will now be able to view how many purchases your ad has triggered, the price of the sales, and the total revenue from the sold tickets.
Put your social ads to work
Now that you know how to track sales numbers to get maximum return on your marketing budget,聽you can start optimising your Facebook ads to achieve your ultimate goal: sell more tickets.聽
To help your ads stand out on event-goer’s Facebook or Instagram feeds, check out these 51 Social Media Ad Copy Templates to Sell Out Your Event.
