How to do Lead Generation on Meta?

Discover how to use Meta lead generation tactics on Facebook for precise targeting and better ad performance. Set up Pixel and Conversion API to optimize.

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9 minutes
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8/7/24
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Tiphaine Roze & Chloé Budin
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In a world where competition for consumer attention is fiercer than ever, businesses are constantly seeking innovative and effective ways to generate qualified leads. With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook stands out as a key platform for lead generation.

But why choose Meta? This article explores the advantages of the platform, from precise targeting to integration with other marketing tools, and the wealth of advertising formats. We will see how to set up your lead campaigns to increase your capacity to generate qualified leads at the lowest possible acquisition cost.

1. Pixel & Conversion API

Firstly, you need to set up your Pixel and the Conversion API on your website and its server:

  • To ensure third-party data from your website is transmitted to the Ads Manager
    • To understand what is happening in your campaigns and identify which audiences and ads are performing to iterate on them
  • To optimize for bottom-funnel events like "leads" or "complete registration"
  • If you want to go even further, optimize for more qualitative bottom-funnel events like SQLs or Sales

a) The Pixel

This is the piece of code to be placed in the  tag of your website, primarily to share data from browser to browser.

Find more details on how to install your pixel.

Unfortunately, with data losses in Europe due to the end of cookies spreading across Safari, Firefox, and soon Chrome, as well as various GDPR, CNIL, and iOS updates, our Pixel is becoming increasingly obsolete. Meta advertisers need to find a solution: another tool?

Advertisers in panic over the removal of cookies.

You need the Conversion API !

b) Conversion API

Here’s a simple definition of this new tool:

“The Conversion API offers businesses the ability to transmit data directly from their servers, thus avoiding the limitation of information from web browsers. This tool is part of our privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and will support future generations of digital advertising.”

This tool creates server-to-server connections, allowing advertisers to minimize data loss.

How to install it?

There are three methods:

  • Integration via a partner such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Google Tag Manager.
  • Integration of the Conversion API via the Conversions API Gateway, available only for businesses using Amazon Web Services (AWS).
  • Direct integration using code that requires technical assistance (developer).

If you want to know more, find it here.

c) Our recommendation: Use both the Pixel and the Conversion API

Although the Pixel is slowly dying out, the two tools are complementary if you properly deduplicate the data.

Why would you need to deduplicate the data? A lead can be recorded by both the Pixel and the Conversion API. If you don’t deduplicate the data, a lead will count for two conversions.

2.  Event Match Quality and Advanced Auto-Matching

a) Event Match Quality

It should be equal to or greater than 7/10. Why? If your score is below, the Conversion API will not receive additional data compared to the Pixel.

Here is a good integration:

Great Conversion API and Pixel integration

b) Advanced auto-matching

  • Increase the number of attributed conversions. Meta can attribute a greater portion of the conversions occurring on your website to Meta users. This way, you can better understand the impact of your ads on website conversions.
  • Increase the size of your custom audience. Meta can more accurately match people visiting your website with those on Meta, thereby increasing the size of your custom audience.
  • Reduce cost per lead. Campaigns optimized for leads are more effective because Meta can better identify the types of people likely to take a relevant action and then show your ads to them.

Enable advanced auto-matching in your pixel settings

3. Standards Events & Custom Events

a) The Essential Standard Events for Leads

  • Pageview: Installed by default with your Pixel. It informs you when a visitor views a page on your website.
    • fbq('track', 'PageView');
  • ViewContent: Installed on pages that interest you. For example, your landing pages. This will help better differentiate your top/mid-funnel pages and your bottom-funnel landing pages. This will, for instance, help you better build and segment your retargeting audiences.
    • fbq('track', 'ViewContent');
  • Lead: Simply the event that tracks people who fill out your form. It is certainly the most important event for lead generation.
    • fbq('track', 'Lead');
  • Contact: The event to install on your CTAs encouraging users to call you. Campaigns optimized for this event can be a good way to increase your lead volume.
    • fbq('track', 'Contact');

b) Custom Events: To Go Further

Standard events are proposed by Meta and belong to its environment. The algorithm knows them well, and many advertisers use them.

Custom events are those you create and apply only to your technical environment (website and server).

If you have a quality issue, you can create and optimize events occurring further down your conversion funnel.

Where are the custom events located in the conversion funnel?

4. Graphic and Text Content

The effectiveness of lead generation campaigns on Facebook largely relies on the use of various advertising formats, creative approaches, and tested marketing angles.
Benchmarking with the help of the Meta Ad Library is an essential resource for understanding market trends.
By analyzing your competitors' advertising strategies, you can quickly identify formats and messages that boost your click-through rate. This detailed analysis, combined with the judicious use of different advertising formats, allows you to make your campaigns profitable quickly.

The main advertising formats used in lead generation:

  • Static images offer immediate visual impact and are ideal for conveying clear and engaging messages.
  • The carousel format allows you to present several products in a single ad, encouraging users to interact by scrolling through different options.
  • Videos, increasingly popular on social media, provide an immersive experience and capture users' attention.
  • UGC (user-generated content) brings more authenticity and credibility with real customer testimonials and experiences.
  • Finally, GIFs, with their short and animated format, quickly capture attention and convey humorous or catchy messages in a few seconds.

5. Audiences

On Meta, audiences play a crucial role in the success of campaigns. The platform offers many targeting options, allowing segmentation based on various criteria:

a) Custom Audiences

Custom audiences use existing customer data based on a defined duration using your Pixel or a manual import of your CRM information. They allow retargeting your customers, website visitors, and people who have interacted with your page or ads.
It is also possible to exclude irrelevant audiences, such as customers who already have your product.

b) Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences target users sharing characteristics with your current customers and are set up based on your custom audiences. You can define a resemblance rate up to 10%. It is recommended to use a rate between 2% and 3% relative to your original audience to maintain a high quality level. However, it is important to ensure the audience exceeds 1 million users for effective campaign distribution.

**In conclusion:**Custom Audiences: Use as a source for lookalike audiences and for retargeting.

Lookalike Audiences: Adjust the percentage according to your needs:

  • If quality is a priority, we recommend using a relatively low percentage while aiming to get as close as possible to an audience of 1 million users.
  • If volume is a priority, you can test higher percentages.

Setting up lookalike audiences

c) Geo-demographic and Interest Audiences

Use audiences based simply on age and geography. This will give the algorithm significant freedom and will also feed your retargeting audiences!

If you wish, you can also try interests. They tend to be less effective in our experience, but if you lack ideas, consider them.

6. Conversion Location

When creating campaigns on Meta, lead collection methods mainly depend on two approaches: redirecting users to optimized websites or using forms integrated directly on the platform.

a) Leads on Website

Campaigns redirecting to websites allow for deeper customization and a richer user experience. By directing your ad traffic to an optimized landing page, businesses can present detailed information about their products or services and integrate visual and textual elements that meet the visitor's intent.
This method also aims to track user behavior on the site, analyze their journey, and gather data to improve your conversion rate.

To generate leads on your website, you need technical integration (Pixel and Conversion API).

b) Leads on Meta Leadforms

1) Basic use

Meta Leadforms simplify and speed up the process of collecting contact information. When a user clicks on an ad, a pre-filled form with their information appears, reducing friction and increasing the conversion rate.

This approach is particularly effective for mobile users, who can easily submit their information without leaving the app.

A connection between your CRM and Meta is required. Leads will be generated within the Meta environment and need to be transferred to your system.

Learn how to connect your CRM to Meta

This solution seems ideal, however, it can negatively impact the quality of your leads. Therefore, it is important to monitor their use to ensure that integrated forms remain an asset in your acquisition mix.

2) To go further: optimize quality and try other types of campaigns

To improve the quality of Meta Leadforms, here are a few ideas:

  • Conditional Logic : Meta Leadform
  • High Intent of level : Meta Leadform
  • Conversion Leads : Meta Leadads Campaigns

Beyond websites and integrated forms, Meta offers other conversion opportunities through Messenger on Facebook, Instagram messaging, and mobile apps. Using messaging allows you to engage users via chatbots, personalizing the experience during data collection.
The options are numerous, and now it's up to you to make your choice!

Conclusion

You now know how to set up your first campaign, but it doesn't stop there!

After launching a lead generation campaign on Meta, optimization is essential to reduce acquisition costs and ensure the quality of leads generated. It is crucial to monitor key KPIs such as cost per lead (CPL), click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate (CVR), and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Integrating and configuring the Pixel and Conversion API are essential steps to ensure that conversion data is correctly transmitted to Meta. This allows not only real-time tracking of campaign performance but also optimization of audiences and ads based on the results obtained.

It is also important to verify the event match quality to ensure that the data received by the Conversion API is accurate and useful for campaign optimization.

In conclusion, after launching, constant vigilance and continuous optimization are necessary to guarantee performance and profitability.

Knowing how to optimize your conversion funnel and your campaigns by tracking the right KPIs is the next step. But that's for another article!

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