Advertising on Meta - platforms like Facebook and Instagram - presents a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audience. However, for those new to these platforms, setting up tracking might be uncharted territory. Tracking is essential as it allows Meta to gather data about people interacting with your ads, helping to refine and target future advertising efforts more effectively.

Firstly, log into your personal Facebook account and open a new tab to visit business.facebook.com. If you are an admin of your business manager, you will be directly logged into your business manager account. Here, you can toggle through multiple ad accounts to find the right business.

Navigate to the business settings, and then to data sources. In the past, we used pixels for tracking, but now we use data sets. If you don't have a pixel or data set, you can create one by clicking the blue button, naming your data set appropriately, and then clicking 'create'. If you already have one, it will be listed here.

Once your data set is created, you need to add people to it for use in advertising. This is done by clicking 'add people' and selecting the appropriate individuals from your business manager. Also, connect the data set to your ads manager by selecting 'add assets' and choosing the right ad account.

Navigate to 'open in events manager' to begin setting up tracking. The Conversions API is a robust form of tracking, especially useful post-iOS 14 privacy updates. If your website is built on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or WordPress, you can easily integrate tracking. If your website doesn’t support Conversions API, look for a partner plugin or opt for manual code installation.

For manual installation, select 'install code manually' and email the instructions to your web developer. A competent developer will be able to integrate this code onto your website seamlessly.

Once installed, you can verify the tracking by checking for event tracking in the events manager. It will display a line graph indicating the activity, such as page views or purchase activities.

Setting up Facebook tracking can initially seem complex, but it's a crucial step in leveraging the full potential of Facebook advertising. By understanding and utilising these tools, businesses can gain insights into their audience, refine their marketing strategies, and ultimately drive more meaningful engagements and conversions. If you encounter any difficulties, remember that help is available through daily live sessions or the support button on the platform.