49: No Pixel or Website? Here's an Ad Strategy That Works

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Facebook ads with lead forms. And yes, I did talk about them, but this is one of those moments where I feel the need to go back and revisit because the context has changed, at least for me and my business. It's between how Meta ads have been performing and behaving and the conversations I've been having lately. Lead forms are becoming one of the smartest low friction ways to get traction that are budget friendly.What's the Same: Meta Wants You to Stay on MetaMeta still favors people to stay on Meta, right? You're on Facebook, you're on Instagram, and that's where they want you to stay. And let's be real here, that's where the big bucks are, right? And the advertising.And what Meta lead forms doFacebook Instant Forms—is they keep people on the platform. When you click on a lead ad form, you're staying on Facebook. That ad brings you nowhere other than on Facebook. And when you're trying to gain momentum, that matters.So what happens is you get lower lead costs and could spend less on ads.What's Changed:  I've been talking to a lot of community owners on Skool. And if you're not familiar with Skool,  it's kind of exploding right now.There are two plans and the hobby plan is only $9 a month. It attracted a lot of new businesses a lot of new people that want to make money who don't have a cashflow right now to be pouring into it. But they like the idea of being able to teach or have a community about something they love and eventually make money. The thing with the hobby plan, because it's only $9, it doesn't come with the integrated pixel and the conversion API, which the more expensive plan has. Why does that matter?Well, that matters because you need those things typically to run an effective ad campaign. Well, these ads don't go to a website.Why This Works for Skool Communities Without a PixelYou could have your ad get people interested in what your community is, and then on the ad when they click, that's when you can invite them to the Skool community. It's native right there on Facebook.And these are smart, savvy business owners. A lot of them have moved their business over to Skool, and they're just trying to build up some momentum, and they want to do some ads. But they're still on the $9 plan, which doesn't have the pixel.So this is the strategy that I've been recommending to them. In fact, this is the same strategy that I'm going to use for my own Skool communityThe Strategy's Not Perfect (And That's Okay)It's not good for everybody and it's not the best strategy if you were doing something more complicated or if you had something to sell.Key Takeaways✅ Meta favors keeping people on platform—lead forms do exactly that ✅ Lead forms = lower lead costs and better budget efficiency ✅ Skool's hobby plan ($9/month) doesn't include pixel or Conversion API ✅ Lead forms solve the "no pixel" problem for Skool community builders ✅ The path is simple: ad → lead form → Skool community link ✅ This strategy works best for community building, challenges, and testing demand ✅ No

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Transcript

Hey friends! Today I'm going to revisit something I've talked about before, but it's been a while. It's about Facebook ads with lead forms. And yes, I did talk about them, but this is one of those moments where I feel the need to go back and revisit because

the context has changed, at least for me and my business. it's between how meta ads have been performing and behaving and the conversations I've been having lately. Lead forms are becoming one of the smartest low friction ways to get traction that are budget friendly. So here's what's the same. Meta still favors

people to stay on Meta, right? You're on Facebook, you're on Instagram, and that's where they want you to stay. And let's be real here, that's where the big bucks are, right? And the advertising, and what Meta lead forms do, Facebook Instant Forms, is they keep people on the platform. When you click on a lead ad form,

You're staying on Facebook. That ad brings you nowhere other than on Facebook. And when you're trying to gain momentum, that matters. So what happens is you get lower, you get lower lead costs and could spend more on ads. What's changed? So what's changed is I've been talking to a lot of community owners on school.

And if you're not familiar with school, it's S-K-O-O-L and it's kind of exploding right now. There are two plans and the hobby plan is only $9 a month. So it attracted a lot of new businesses or a lot of new people that want to make money who don't have a cashflow right now to be pouring into it. But

They like the idea of being able to teach or have a community about something they love and eventually make money. So it's really becoming popular. And the thing with the hobby plan, because it's only $9, it doesn't come with the integrated pixel and the conversion API, which the more expensive plan has. Why does that matter?

Well, that matters because if you know me long enough or you've been here long enough, and I thank you if you have, you need those things typically to run an effective ad campaign. I'm always harping on the pixel, right? The pixel, the pixel, put your pixel on your website. Well, these ads don't go to a website. Why this works on school communities without a pixel is you could have your ad.

get people interested in what your community is, and then on the ad when they click, that's when you can invite them to the school community. It's native right there on Facebook. And these are smart, savvy business owners. A lot of them have moved their business over to school, and they're just trying to build up some momentum, and they want to do some ads.

they're still on the $9 plan, which doesn't have the pixel. So this is the strategy that I've been recommending to them. In fact, this is the same strategy that I'm going to use when I launch my five day challenge in my school community. If you want to see how it works and follow along, you can get some information in the show notes. To recap, the reason why this works and the reason why you can do this effectively.

without a pixel or without a website is because you run your ad, you collect the lead directly in the form, and then you deliver your school link. No landing page, no complicated integrations. It's just a clean, simple path from interested to community. The strategy's not perfect. It's not.

good for everybody and it's not the best strategy if you were doing something more complicated or if you had something to sell. This works especially well if you're growing a community, you're running a challenge, you want to test demand before building something. It's not about cutting corners. It's just about using the right strategy.

for the moment of your business that you're in. It's simple. Simple doesn't mean lazy. It just means intentional. So yeah, I am revisiting lead forms, not because they're new, but because they're working right now and especially for community building. That wraps it up. I thank you so much for being here. I'm Stacy Covitz your host, and I will see you next week.