GiveCampus gives you the ability to add tracking capabilities to your GiveCampus pages through Google Analytics and/or Tracking Pixels. This article gives a brief introduction to the tracking capabilities and how to add them to your GiveCampus dashboard.
Tracking with Google Analytics & Google Tag Manager
With a quick email to support@givecampus.com, we can get you all set up to have your Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager tracking your GiveCampus pages! If you use Google Analytics, make sure to include your Analytics snippet (basically a tracking ID) in your support ticket: this will be a number in the form of UA-XXXXX-Y. If you use Google Tag Manager, we can do that, too! Just send along your Google Tag Manager Head Code and Body code in your support ticket, and we’ll get you up and running.
New to Google Analytics and Tag Manager? Find a quick explanation below!
Google Analytics:
Google Analytics is hard-coded into each page of your website to track traffic on your website and report it back to you. If you’re curious about how many people are landing on or bouncing off of your page, clicking on a donate button, or scrolling down on the page (just a few examples of many measurable actions!), Google Analytics can tell you all of that information. Here’s the key: Google Analytics works by hard-coding into your website, so for each of those questions, you’d need your web team or engineers to hard-code the Analytics ID into the javascript.
Tag Manager:
Tag Manager is a little bit different: you can think of it more like a vehicle for retrieving the information than the actual analytical tool. With Tag Manager, you can easily ask all of the questions above about your page, but instead of hard-coding them, you can manage them through the Tag Manager by adding the analytical tools to your Manager. You’ll only need to add the Tag Manager code into the header and the body of your page once, and then you can add as many analytical tools as you’d like--no engineering required! You’ll tell tag manager which interactions with your website should trigger data to be sent back, and the analytical tools you keep in your Tag Manager will fire accordingly.
In other words, you might use Google Analytics as a “tag” within Tag Manager to provide analytic data on your page; and you might use Tag Manager with Google Analytics to provide a less engineering-heavy transportation system for that information. Either one can be used independently, however, and we’re happy to help with both! In your email to support@givecampus.com, please include:
- Which service (Analytics, Tag Manager, or both) you’re working with
- The simple code for the service you’re looking to use. You should be able to get this from your web team.
- For Analytics, we’ll need that tracking ID snippet (a number in the form of UA-XXXXX-Y).
- For Tag Manager, we’ll need the Head code and Body code.
There is no need to have both Google Analytics and Tag Manager, but if you do use them together, feel free to send all of the information along in one email to our support team and we’ll get it all set up on your account.
Tracking with Facebook and Twitter Pixels
Have you ever wondered how a tailored ad pops up on Facebook or Twitter moments after you visit a particular website? Well, it’s no coincidence: tracking pixels make the magic happen! Pixels are analytics tools that help you measure the effectiveness of your advertising by providing visibility into the actions people are taking on a website and helping you reach audiences that you care about.
How do they work?
If you are running (or want to run) Facebook and/or Twitter ads, you can accomplish a wide range of objectives by inserting a tracking pixel(s) on GiveCampus. Maybe you want to serve a particular ad to people who visit your campaign page or make a gift (i.e. "retargeting"). Maybe you want to suppress people who have already made a gift from continued marketing and solicitations. The possibilities are endless!
(Note: The fastest and simplest way to track whether your social media posts, ads, and other marketing) are driving traffic to a campaign and generating actual gifts is to use GiveCampus Unique Tracking Links. Click here to learn how! Pixels come in handy especially when you’re looking to retarget ads)
You can insert Facebook and/or Twitter tracking pixels in several different locations on any Social Fundraising Platform campaign: on the campaign page, on the giving form, on the payment form, and/or on the donation confirmation page. To learn more about tracking pixels, how to create them, and the many ways you can use them, visit the Facebook Help Center and X Support.
X (Formerly Twitter):
If you want to add a X tracking pixel to one of your campaigns head to your Campaign Settings > Tracking Pixels with the below information:
1) Pixel Code - You can copy/paste this directly from X.
2) Tracking Location - Where would you like to insert the pixel? Your options include (a) the campaign landing page, (b) the donation form (where the donor enters non-payment info), (c) the payment/checkout page (where the donor enters their payment details), and (d) the confirmation page (the page a donor sees after making a gift).
Facebook:
With Facebook, in order to create multiple ad audiences (e.g. track a group of people who visit your campaign page, and a separate group of people who make a gift), you will also need to use ‘standard events’. Standard events are an advanced feature of the Facebook pixel that track when a user lands on a particular page of the donation flow, and these standard events can be used to create very targeted custom audiences.
If you want to add a Facebook tracking pixel and ‘standard events’ to one of your campaigns, head to your Campaign Settings > Tracking Pixels.
1) Pixel Code - You can copy/paste this directly from Facebook.
2) Standard Event Names - If you plan to create multiple target audiences, we will also need the names of the standard events that you wish to use to track people who visit different pages (e.g. ‘givingday18_campaignpage’ could be the name of a standard event that tracks only people who land on your GiveCampus campaign page for your 2018 giving day). You do not need to create these standard events from your Facebook Ads Manager. Once you install your pixel and standard event, the standard event name provided will automatically appear within your Facebook Pixel tracking dashboard for you to use for ad targeting, so please be sure to pick something that will be easily identifiable by you!
Please note: as mentioned above, these standard events are automatically created and will appear in your Facebook Ads Manager once there have been page views and tracked data; you do not need to create any custom conversions or events through your Facebook Ads Manager. Additionally, with standard events you will not need any URL's to create the custom audience on your end; we place the standard event directly on the appropriate GiveCampus pages, and that is what is used to track the donors as well as create your custom audiences.
3) Tracking Location - Where would you like to insert the pixel and each standard event? Your options include (a) the campaign landing page, (b) the donation form (where the donor enters non-payment info), (c) the payment/checkout page (where the donor enters their payment details), and (d) the confirmation page (the page a donor sees after making a gift). Each standard event can be placed on a different page, and this is what will help you create separate audiences based on which page someone lands on.
Once you’ve created your pixel code and come up with any desired standard event names, you can set up your Custom Audiences for various sets of Ads based on what you’ve chosen to track!
An Example on How to Effectively Use Facebook Pixels & Standard Events:
Depending on the types of messages you want convey to your donors, tracking pixels and standard events can be repurposed in a variety of ways. For example, you could install a ‘standard event’ on your campaign page to serve “Solicitation Ads” to anyone that lands on your campaign page but does not make a gift. Then, post-donation, you can serve "Stewardship Ads" to donors who have completed their gift and reached the confirmation page using another standard event. Here’s an example of how it would work:
1. You create your pixel and input all information via Campaign Settings:
- Pixel ID: 1234567890
- Standard event 1: insert ‘athletics18_campaignpage’ (standard event) on the campaign page of givecampus.com/schools/demouniversity/Athletics-Challenge-2018
- Standard event 2: insert ‘athletics18_donor’ (standard event) on the confirmation page of givecampus.com/schools/demouniversity/Athletics-Challenge-2018
2. Once all information has been entered, click the 'Create and Insert Tracking Pixel' button
Facebook will start tracking people who land on your campaign page under the event name ‘athletics18_campaignpage’ and people who land on your donation confirmation page under the event name ‘athletics18_donor’. As a reminder, these two standard events that you've named will automatically be created and appear in your Facebook Ads Manager once there have been page views and tracked data; you do not need to create any custom conversions or events through your Facebook Ads Manager.
3. Custom Audiences - You can now create custom audiences on your Facebook Ads Manager using the groups that have been tracked by these two separate ‘standard events’:
Custom Audience for your ‘Solicitation Ad’:
You want to serve Ads to those who have landed on your campaign page, but have not made a gift. Create a custom audience for website traffic tracked by your event ‘athletics18_campaignpage’. Be sure to ‘EXCLUDE’ all website visitors tracked by the ‘athletics18_donor’ event. This will ensure that people who have already made a gift do not continue receiving solicitation ads.
Custom Audience for your ‘Stewardship Ad’:
You want to serve Ads to people who have already made a gift to your campaign to thank them or ask them to become an Advocate or Volunteer. This group of people is tracked by your event ‘athletics18_donor’ because these are all donors who landed on your donation confirmation page.
For more information on how to create your custom audiences, click here.
4. Create your Ad Sets - Create your ‘Solicitation’ Ad Set and select the first custom audience you created in the step above as the recipient of this set. Choose the second custom audience as the target of your ‘Stewardship’ Ad Set. Learn how to create ads here.
5. Start delivering your Ads - Launch your two Facebook Ad Sets! When prospective donors land on your campaign page, they’ll immediately start receiving your ‘Solicitation Ads’. If they leave the campaign without making a gift, then throughout the day when they scroll through Facebook, they’ll see these Ads as a reminder to make their gift. Hopefully, they decide to return to your GiveCampus campaign page and make a gift. Once they make a gift, they’ll stop receiving your ‘Solicitation Ads’ and instead start receiving your ‘Stewardship Ads’!
Reviewing/Deleting Tracking Pixels
Once your tracking pixel has been created and inserted, you will be able to view all active pixels in your Campaign Settings > Tracking Pixels > Existing Tracking Pixels. To delete a Tracking Pixel, click on the red trash can icon.
The pixel is a powerful tool that can help engage your community online more effectively, so be sure to visit the Facebook Help Center and X Support to learn more!