Facebook Conversion Tracking Using Google Tag Manager

If your clients advertise on Facebook/Meta, you can use Google Tag Manager to set up conversion tracking and see how well your campaigns are performing.

You can set this up in under 10 minutes, without getting a developer involved, by using this tutorial. 

If you’re still having issues after completing this setup, visit https://trackyourstoryline.com/ to book a free consultation with us.

1. Get Your Client’s Meta Pixel from Events Manager 

1. Go to your client’s Meta Events Manager homepage. 
2. Navigate to the “Data sources” page (the icon below).

1. Select the pixel you want to use for conversion tracking. It appears as “ID 123456789…” under the client’s name in the left column. 

If your client does not have a pixel set up, follow these steps: 

6. Go to your client’s Meta Events Manager homepage. 
7. Click “Connect Data”, and choose “Web”. 
8. Click “Connect”. 
9. Name your pixel. Create the pixel. 
10. Copy this pixel ID. We will now use it in Google Tag Manager.

2. Add the Meta Pixel to Your Site Using Google Tag Manager

1. Open up your client’s Google Tag Manager workspace. 
2. Click “New” in the top right corner. 
3. We need to create a “page view” event using the pixel to install it on each page of your client’s site. 
4. Click the “Tag Configuration” box.
5. If your client has used a Facebook Pixel tag before, a tag named “Facebook Pixel” will show up under the “Custom” section of tag types. Select this tag type.

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1. If you do not see a “Facebook Pixel” tag, click the “Discover more tag types in the Community Template Gallery” box at the top.

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1. Click the search icon in the top right of  the Import Tag Template sidebar.
2. Type “Facebook Pixel” into the field. 

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1. Select the “Facebook Pixel” by facebookarchive tag. Install the template. 
2. Add the Facebook Pixel as your tag type. You should see a setup like this:

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1. Paste your client’s Pixel ID (the one we got earlier) into the “Facebook Pixel ID(s)” field. 
2. Select the “Standard” event name, and select the “PageView” event type in the dropdown box. 
3. Click the “Triggering” box. Choose the “All Pages” trigger type.
4. Save your trigger and tag.

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1. This tag will install the pixel on your client’s website pages. After this is tested and working, we can set up your conversion-specific tag, and it will fire properly wherever it is located. 

3. Make Sure your Facebook PageView Tag is Working

1. Click “Preview” in the top right corner of your client’s workspace.
2. Enter your client’s domain. Click “Connect”. 
3. The pixel should fire when the home page loads. 
4. Click the Tag Assistant tab your computer opened up.
5. Click the first instance of “Container Loaded” in the events column on the left.
6. Under “Tags Fired”, you should see your Facebook Pixel Tag. Click it.

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1. This should be what you see. You can see your client’s Pixel ID, the “PageView” event that was sent to Events Manager, and the trigger that succeeded. 
2. Close out preview mode. It’s time to set up your conversion tag and send the data to Facebook. 

4. Set up your Facebook Conversion Tag Using the Same Pixel

1. Create another tag using the “Facebook Pixel” template we installed earlier. 
2. Paste the same pixel ID as before. 
3. Now, it’s time to specify the type of event/conversion you are tracking.
4. If you are tracking a common conversion like any of the events below, select that event from the “Standard” event dropdown box. 

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1. If you want to specify a name or type of event that isn’t on this list, select the “Custom” event type.
2. Name your event in the empty field. If you are sending a custom event that is named in the data layer, you can choose the “Event” variable using the + icon to the right of the box.

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1. If you are tracking ecommerce events like “add_to_cart” or “purchase”, you *may* be able to check the “Enhanced Ecommerce dataLayer Integration” box.
2. Here is an article that explains how to set up your client’s data layer so that you can send product info, the product/order value, product ID, and more ecommerce info to Facebook Events Manager along with your conversions.
   1. Basically, your ecommerce data needs to be wrapped in an ecommerce array to properly send to Facebook, or else your tag won’t work.
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3. Add your trigger. This may be a form submission trigger, a custom event that fires on a “purchase”, or a link click trigger.
   1. Whatever it is, make sure the trigger corresponds to the action your user must take to successfully complete your client’s “conversion”. 

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1. Here is a form submission trigger for a client who has a newsletter form. It is specified under the condition that the Form ID contains “contact_form”.
2. Save your trigger and tag.
3. Here’s the final setup. Now, it’s time to test your conversion tag and make sure it will send conversion data to Events Manager.

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5. Test your Facebook Conversion Tag using Tag Assistant
   1. After this step, you will have finished setting up Facebook conversion tracking using Google Tag Manager.
   2. Open up Preview again. 
   3. Perform a form submission / purchase / link click. Whatever you set up as your client’s conversion.
   4. Look for the event that should have fired your conversion in the left column.
   5. The below screenshot is an example of an add_to_cart event that is pushed to the data layer.

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5. Look under the “Tags Fired” section to make sure your tag fired. Click into it.

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5. If your tag didn’t fire, look at the “firing triggers” section and see what condition(s) wasn’t met.
   1.  Update your trigger if necessary.

6. Publish your Container
   1. In order for your Facebook Pixel to correctly install on the site and start sending conversion data to Facebook, you need to publish your client’s Google Tag Manager workspace. 
   2. Click “Submit” in the top right corner of the workspace.
   3. Name your version and add a description of the work you did.
   4. Click “Publish”. 
7. Link your Conversion in Facebook Events Manager
   1. NOTE: you cannot complete this step until you have published your client’s Google Tag Manager container, and your Ads account has begun receiving conversions attributed to ads you are running for your client. 
   2. The last step you need to complete is linking your newly created conversion to a conversion in your client’s Meta Ads account.
   3. Navigate back to the Meta Events Manager homepage. 
   4. In the left sidebar, click the “Custom Conversions” tab. 

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6. Click “Create custom conversion”. 
7. Name your conversion.
8. Under the Event section, click the dropdown.
9. Under the “Custom Events” section, select the custom event you created in Google Tag Manager. 

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6. Create the custom conversion. 

Now your conversion is fully set up and linked between Google Tag Manager and Facebook Events Manager.

That’s how you set up Facebook conversion tracking using Google Tag Manager.

You can use these conversions to measure how effective your ad campaigns are, and retarget prospective customers more easily.

Better yet, your boss and clients will think you’re a genius for setting this up all on your own.
Comment down below with any questions, or visit https://trackyourstoryline.com/ to book a free consultation with us.