Can I run a conversions campaign where the purchase occurs on a different website than my own?
Apologies if that’s a dumb question. If I am trying to sell tickets for an event but the ticket vendor is for example Ticketmaster. If it’s possible how do I go about it terms of event creation? Thanks!
The short answer is:
Yes, you can and should run a conversions campaign for a purchase that happens on a different website like Ticketmaster, and the best way to do this is by using the specific tracking tools Ticketmaster provides, or by leveraging a server-side tracking method like the Facebook Conversions API.
The long answer is:
To properly optimize your Facebook Ads for sales, the Facebook algorithm needs to know when a successful purchase (a conversion) has occurred, even if it’s on a site you don’t own.
With Ticketmaster, this process is generally made straightforward because they are a large partner.
The most direct method is typically through Ticketmaster’s own platform, like TM1.
You would need to access the marketing or pixel tracking section within your Ticketmaster account for your specific event, where you can paste your Facebook Pixel ID or the entire pixel code.
Ticketmaster is then configured to fire a Purchase
Once this setup is complete, you simply choose the Purchase
However, a superior and more robust solution for this type of cross-domain tracking is implementing server-side tracking using the Facebook Conversions API.
This method is an excellent and cost-effective approach for you because it bypasses many of the browser restrictions and ad blockers that cause data loss when relying solely on the browser-based Pixel.
Instead of the user’s browser sending the conversion data, your server, or a cloud-based server you control, sends the event data directly to Facebook.
You would essentially set up a system that is triggered by a Ticketmaster Webhook (a feature of their APIs).
This webhook instantly pushes the purchase confirmation data to your server, which then immediately sends that data to the Facebook Conversions API.
You can achieve this using a server-side Google Tag Manager setup, hosted on a service like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.
The cost is often minimal, especially for the increased accuracy you gain.
This server-side connection provides more complete and reliable conversion data to the Facebook ad platform, which in turn significantly improves the algorithm’s ability to find people likely to buy your tickets, leading to better optimization and a higher return on ad spend.
It’s a key strategy for maintaining performance in the modern privacy-focused digital advertising landscape.
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