Custom Domain Setup for Events
Event Marketing: New Best Practices for Facebook Conversion Campaigns
If you’re a creator that advertises your events online, we recommend using the Conversion objective if possible. Due to Facebook’s recent changes for iOS 14, the best way that advertisers can continue to leverage the benefits of the Facebook pixel and conversion tracking is to own their domains. Otherwise, campaigns will default to link click optimization.
Below is a step-by-step guide to:
Register a domain name (with Namecheap)
Creating a Facebook Business Manager Account
Verify domain within Facebook Business Manager
Connect subdomain for use with ToneDen Smart Links
Configure subdomain (using Namecheap)
"Activate" the Domain on ToneDen utilizing Smart Links (Mandatory)
Create your "Event Link"
Configuring events to use aggregated event measurement (Add View Content)
Step 1: Register a Domain Name
If you already have a domain that you own you can skip this step.
Here’s a step-by-step on registering your domain on Namecheap (recommended for ease of use):
Think of a few good domain names for your brand. Your first option might already be taken (more than likely).
Choose a domain name registrar (Namecheap)
Check domain availability here.
Once you’ve pinned down an available name, pay for the domain. Keep in mind: pricing varies based on higher page rankings in search engines. Upon payment, you can claim and get the domain name immediately upon application.
Step 2: Creating a Facebook Business Manager Account
If you already have a FB Business Manager Account, you can skip this step.
Once you've registered a custom domain name, you'll want to make sure you have a Facebook Business Manager Account. In a general sense, Business Manager is a Facebook tool that helps organize and manage your business, at no added cost. A Business Manager account is also required in order to start the verification process of your custom domain, which we cover in the next step.
Here's a comprehensive guide on getting your Business Manager Account up & running:
Once you've completed setting up your Business Manager account, and have purchased your custom domain, you are ready to start the verification process!
Step 3: Verify Domain Within Facebook Business Manager
Next, you’ll need to claim ownership of your domain in Business Manager. This ownership allows you to run conversion campaigns as well as control editing privileges of your links and other content to prevent misuse of your domain.
Add your domain in Business Manager
In Business Manager, click on the Business Settings button in the upper right corner.
2. In the Business Settings, select the Brand Safety tab, and select Domains from the left side navigation list.
3. Click on the Add button, and enter your domain (the top-level or root domain, not the subdomain—for example, if you're setting up listen.myband.com as the subdomain in ToneDen, you’d want to verify myband.com here) in the Add a Domain pop-up dialog.
4. If you have more than one domain listed, select the domain for which you desire to confirm ownership.
5. Choose the method you wish to use to verify your domain: DNS Verification, Meta Tags or the HTML File Upload.
Step 4: Connect Subdomain For Use With ToneDen Smart Links
Access your Advertising Settings within the ToneDen platform. In Custom Domain, click Add Domain.
Now that you have your website set up at your domain, enter your subdomain, like link.yoursite.com, get.yoursite.com, or events.yoursite.com, and ToneDen will automatically connect your Smart Links to your subdomain.
Step 5: Configure Subdomain (Using Namecheap)
NOTE: These are step-by-step instructions for configuring your subdomain using NameCheap which is a domain registrar we recommend. Configuring your subdomain with other registrars will vary.
1. Go to your Domain List and click Manage next to the domain:
2. Select the Advanced DNS tab:
3. Find the Host Records section and click on the Add New Record button:
4. Select CNAME.
5. For the Host field, put your subdomain (IE if your subdomain is ‘events.yourdomain.com’, you’d simply put ‘events’ here.) For the Value field, enter ‘fanlink.to’:
Normally, it takes 30 minutes for newly created records to take effect. You’ll know if your subdomain has been configured properly if visiting subdomain.yourdomain.com redirects to the ToneDen site.
Step 6: "Activate" the Domain on ToneDen utilizing Smart Links (Mandatory)
Before you can proceed to the final step (Event/Pixel Configuration on the Domain), you need to "activate" your new domain by creating a Smart Link in ToneDen. You will then need to visit that Smart Link in a new browser (or while you are logged out of your ToneDen account). This process ensures the domain has activity on it, allowing Facebook to recognize the pixel/domain pair you plan on using. This link does not need to be distributed publicly, and can be used solely for setup purposes. Step-by-step process below:
Once you've made sure your domain is connected within your ToneDen settings (refer back to Steps 4 & 5), you will want to click into the "Smart Links" section of your main ToneDen dashboard and choose a link to create. You will then end up on this page. We recommend selecting the option "Event Link" for the quickest results (you can also use the link shortener option if you don't have any active events and just want to fire activity on your domain)
2. Build out your Event Link. In the "Event Link" step, enter the link to your ticketing website, select your Eventbrite or Bandsintown event from the dropdown.
3. Customize Landing Page. If you're using Eventbrite, make sure to enable "Embed Eventbrite Ticketing", this is needed to track revenue from purchases on your event link. Fill in additional data on your event to customize your landing page to your liking. Feel free to provide as much context as you'd like!
4. Edit Metadata. This is how your link will appear when shared on the web, customize the appear to your liking. We recommend putting in the event name and a CTA such as "Click here to get tickets"!
5. In the "Modify Link URL" step, be sure to select your custom domain from the "Domain" drop-down menu. It will likely appear at the bottom of the list, after all the generic ToneDen domains.
6. Make sure you have a Facebook Pixel selected within "Tracking Settings." This should be the Facebook pixel you use / plan to use the most often. No need to add non-Facebook pixels. Once this step is done, proceed to launching the link!
7. Once the link is launched, you can copy the link URL, log out of your ToneDen account, and paste the EventLink in a new tab after you are logged out. To be extra cautious, you can also paste the link in a new browser. Your link should then take you to whatever URL you added in the "Enter URL to Shorten" step. Visiting the EventLink in this manner ensures the domain has activity on it, which will ensure you are able to proceed to Step 7.
Now you're ready to move onto the next (and final) step! Bear in mind "activating" the domain – by creating a Smart Link & visiting in a new tab/browser – may take up to 48 hours for Facebook to process before you are able to configure events (Step 7).
Step 7: Configuring Events to Use Aggregated Event Measurement (Add "View Content" + "Lead")
The final step in configuring your domain, pixel, and events is to specify which pixel/event pairings are allowed for the domain within the Events Manager section of Business Manager. Facebook has limited each domain to 8 total pixel/event pairs.
First you’ll want to go to the Events Manager section of your Business Manager in Facebook:
2. Next you’ll want to click on the Aggregated Event Measurement tab:
3. Then click on Configure Web Events:
4. On the Web Event Configurations page, you’ll see a list of your verified domains, like this:
Expand the section for the domain you want to configure (note: the domain you want to configure is your own domain, not the smart link domain), and click Edit Events, then proceed via the modal warning that will show.
5. Now you should be on the Edit Web Event Configurations page, for your specific domain. Here is where you can add up to 8 pixel/event pairings that you want to utilize and rank them in priority order:
6. Click on Add Event to add additional pixel/event pairs. While you can add as many pixel/event pairings (up to 8) that you like, for ToneDen Growth campaigns and View Content conversion campaigns you’ll want to at the very least add the View Content event for the pixel you use for advertising. Here's a breakdown of Events we recommend adding, based on common campaigns users run on ToneDen:
Conversion Campaigns: "View Content" event ("Add to Cart"/"Initiate Checkout" + "Purchase" should be added if you can track these if you're using ToneDen's EventLinks w/ embedded ticketing)
Growth Playbooks (Spotify, IG, Youtube, TikTok) & promoted Smart Links (any paid social ads for a non-pre save link): "View Content" event
When selecting the "Pixel" in the first dropdown menu (pictured below), you will want to make sure you are choosing the same pixel(s) you added to your Smart Link in Step 6.
7. Once you’ve added your pixel/event pairings, click Submit.
Not able to select a pixel/event combo? There needs to be pixel activity on the domain you verified before you can add standard events to it (refer back to Step 6). Once you've completed connecting your domain to your smart links, we suggest creating a smart link and visiting the smart link page once.
That should be it! Should you have other questions or run into any issues along the way, please let us know and we can assist. You’re also welcome to review Facebook’s guide on this which provides additional detail here.
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