How To Do Facebook Retargeting

If all your 2020 goals of growing your business went down the drain in an effort to merely stay afloat, you’re not alone.

We’re in a new year now, and although the pandemic isn’t behind us, we have learned enough throughout this time to get back to business and refocus on those goals we moved to the bottom of our to-do list last year. 

If you want to see your business grow in 2021, you need to be using Facebook retargeting. When used correctly, this tool is powerful, increasing brand awareness and driving sales.

So, how do you wield it to produce the results you want? In this guide to Facebook retargeting, we will walk you through how to create a successful retargeting campaign in 5 steps so you can get back on track with your business goals.

7 Step Guide

What Is Facebook Retargeting?

Facebook retargeting is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategy that specifically targets people who are already familiar with your brand.

This means the people who will see your Facebook retargeting ads have either visited your website before or interacted with your profile on Facebook or Instagram.

They may not have been a customer or even know your brand well, but they recognize it on some level. 

The more you can establish awareness of your brand and familiarity with your products among the same people, the more conversions you can drive—this is the goal.

For example, if 80,000 people visit your website in a month, you have the ability to show ads on Facebook to a large percentage of those people to get them to buy for the first time or to buy more.

How Does Facebook Retargeting Work?

It’s simple, really. Say someone visits your website, likes your Instagram post, or engages with your Facebook page.

If that person has Facebook, the Facebook algorithm identifies that person’s account either through Instagram or Facebook directly or by using a Facebook retargeting pixel that you have installed on your site (more on this later).

When you create a Facebook ad, you can then choose to target the people who have visited your website, liked your Instagram post, or taken any of a myriad of other actions, and that person will see the ad.

Why You Should Use Facebook Retargeting

Facebook retargeting ads are much more successful at generating sales because the people who see them have already been exposed to your brand or product.

The hardest part is often getting people to see your website or Instagram for the first time, but with Facebook retargeting ads, this is already done.

You have the opportunity to meet an already warm or somewhat warm audience where they are, and you can customize the ads to each person specifically. 

Some of the greatest ways dynamic Facebook retargeting ads benefit your business are by reaching audiences that already know you, automatically showing people items they’re most interested in, and showcasing new products to your best customers.

These capabilities allow you to tailor the user experience, build brand loyalty, and drive sales, which are opportunities you don’t want to miss out on.

5 Steps to Building Your Bulletproof Facebook Retargeting Strategy

Here are 5 steps you can follow to build a bulletproof retargeting strategy for your business:

1. Install the Facebook Pixel

If you operate your business from a website, the first step you should take in order to use Facebook retargeting ads is to install the Facebook pixel on your site.

The Facebook pixel is a small snippet of code that tracks the people that visit your site and the types of actions they take on it, from the pages they visit to the items they purchase.

The code sends that information back to Facebook, letting it know an interaction has occurred. Facebook then pools visitors based on the actions they take so that you can target specific visitors later. 

Installing the pixel is crucial because it provides the knowledge you need to run a Facebook retargeting campaign in the first place.

So, even if you’re not ready to launch a retargeting campaign right now, we still recommend setting up the pixel ASAP to start recording visitors and building your potential audience list.

Ways to Install

There are a few different ways to install the Facebook pixel.

First, you can place the code directly into the header section of your site. You only have to do this once and the pixel will automatically be on all pages that use the same header code.

If you don’t want to mess with your website’s code, the second option is to use a tag manager, such as Google Tag Manager. You can place the pixel code directly into the manager and it will take care of placing the pixel on each page so you don’t have to directly edit any code.

Finally, you can manually place the code on every individual page of your website. This option is not only tedious but also unsustainable if you plan to add more website pages in the future, which is why we don’t recommend it.

2. Create Your Audience

Next up, you need to create your audience. Who is it you want to see your ads? If you have never customized an audience or are new to Facebook ads in general, read this first.

You can have the best ad possible, but if your audience isn’t set correctly, the ad won’t work. So, pay close attention to the audience portion of the set-up and make sure the ad you are creating is geared toward people who took a specific action on your website or social media account. 

Depending on how people interacted with your business, be it by putting a particular product in their cart, liking one of your Instagram posts, or watching a video you posted on Facebook, you can target them differently.

One of our best tips is this: who your audience ISN’T is almost as important as who your audience IS; make sure to set up proper exclusion parameters, excluding people who have already completed the action you want the audience to take upon seeing your ad.

One of the best things about Facebook retargeting ads is that you can customize the audience you specifically want to target in so many ways. Here’s how:

From Website Activity

These are ways to customize your audience based on activity taken on your website:

• All Visitors – 180 Days
• All Visitors – 30 Days
• Blog Visitors
• Category Visitors
• Specific Product Visitors
• Opt-ins
• Buyers

For all of these suggestions, you could create multiple variations with different lengths of time. If you have a ton of traffic visiting your site every day, it might make sense to have an audience of people who have just visited your site in the last 7 days, or 3 days, or even 1 day.

You can also segment your audience based on what page they visited. ​​Simply choose “people who visited specific web pages” and enter the URL for the specific page.

From Social Media Activity

In addition to retargeting audiences based on website activity, you can also create audiences based on activities someone has taken on your Facebook and/or Instagram posts. These can include:

• Watching or interacting with a video for a certain amount of time
• Interacting with a lead form on Instagram or Facebook in the last 90 days… even if they didn’t fill it out
• Interacting with full-screen experiences, such as collection ads or Canvas on Facebook. 
• Visiting, liking, commenting, messaging, or making any other interaction with your Facebook page or Instagram business profile
• Viewing, responding to, or attending an event created on Facebook

There are a variety of customizations you can make with any of these activities in terms of timeframe and specific action taken to hone in on your ideal audience. So, decide exactly who you want to target and take your time creating the ad audience that fits. 

3. Pick Your Ad Type

Now that you have your audience, you can customize the experience for the specific group you selected by choosing the right ad type. There are multiple types of ads, each with its own set of pros. 

Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads are one of the best options for retargeting visitors who have looked at a specific product but haven’t yet purchased it.

The dynamic ad will show the said product to the visitor via Facebook product shop feeds on both Facebook and Instagram.

Dynamic retargeting is a more advanced strategy as it requires more setup, but it can also save you time in the long run by offering unique ads to each individual lead.

Remember: exclude leads who have already completed the purchase. You don’t want to annoy customers by showing them something they already own.

Video Ads

Another great option to go with for your ad type is video. Video is one of the best forms of media for engaging your audience and persuading conversions.

You can use it to tell the story of your brand, showcase a particular product, and connect with your audience in a relatable way. Quality goes a long way when it comes to video ads, so if you decide to go with this ad type, be sure to invest in the proper equipment and experts. 

Image and Carousel Ads

Image ads are another ad type that you can use to promote a sale, promotion, or new product. They are easier to create than dynamic ads or video ads, but they also offer a limited amount of real estate.

Carousel ads, on the other hand, allow you to tell a bigger story than you can with one single image. With carousels, you can share up to 10 images or videos, each with its own unique link.

This type of ad can be particularly powerful because it plays into the addictive swipe behavior on social media. So if you have a few products you want to showcase or multiple messages you want your audience to see, a carousel might be the way to go.

Collection Ads

Collection ads combine many of the above elements in one immersive experience. The collection features one prominent video, image, or slideshow with thumbnails of inventory pulled in from your site underneath.

With this ad type, you can combine your brand story (using the header video or image) with relevant products or services (using the thumbnails). If you have multiple products in your catalog, this is a great option for you.

You can enhance it even more by customizing the ad to each individual by utilizing dynamic options.

Sponsored Messages

Sponsored messages are a unique ad type you can utilize to target people you have already engaged with via messenger, either through a bot or live chat support.

You can re-engage with customers where they left off in conversation with your bot or send them new updates and relevant offers. These are great to include as a part of your retargeting strategy because they are more personal than other ad types.

Before you decide on which ad type you should use, first make sure to understand the requirements in depth.

4. Create Your Message & Budget

You’ve installed the Facebook pixel, you’ve built the audience you want to retarget, you’ve selected the ad type, and now it’s time to craft your messaging and set your budget.

We know we shared a lot of information re: ad types, so take a second to revisit your audience. They need to be top of mind as you create your message.

Remember, this is a retargeting campaign, so your message should reflect that. Adjust your messaging to speak to someone who’s already somewhat familiar with your brand or the product you’re promoting.

Don’t assume that they only just learned about you or that they have visited your site for months; be very aware of where they are at in your sales funnel so that your message takes them to the next level. 

You also want the message to be personal, but not too personal. As apps and their algorithms have adapted, consumers are very aware of tracking and are increasingly concerned with privacy, and software changes reflect this.

Creating overtly personal messaging or using sensitive information in your ad will have the opposite of the intended effect and could leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouth.

Prioritize establishing trust over closing a sale with potential customers who are new to your site and your ads will perform better in the long run.   

Retargeting Messaging Ideas 

There are two simple and easy messaging options we recommend for retargeting campaigns.

The first is a call to revisit an abandoned cart. This retargets anyone who has started the checkout process but didn’t complete their order.

The ad can be a simple reminder of what they were looking at or appeal to why they should buy the product, which could include product benefits, lifestyle images, testimonials, or product uses.

Another way to retarget those who have abandoned their cart would be to offer a discount code after a certain number of days.

For example, if someone abandoned their cart 10 days ago and still hasn’t completed the purchase, you can show them an ad with a code for 15% off.

The next best option is to direct messaging at someone who visited your site but didn’t take further action. For example, they visited your landing page but didn’t opt into your email list, or they visited a product page but didn’t click “add to cart.”

Give them a reminder to take that next step by advertising a freebie for signing up for your list, or showing them similar products to the one they viewed.

Go Live!

Your message is the second to last piece of the puzzle. So, at this point, your ad should look good from the creative to the copy. It should be enticing to a very specific audience and have a clear call to action. Once the ad is ready to go, set your budget, plug in your audience, and go live!

5. Track & Measure Your Success

Your ad may be live but your work isn’t done yet (almost!). The final step to this bulletproof Facebook retargeting strategy is tracking the performance of your retargeting ads.

Facebook provides extensive insights into ad performance, but we recommend focusing on the following most important metrics:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The click-through rate is a good indicator of how well your ad resonated with your audience because it is the number of clicks relative to the number of impressions. A high CTR means that most of the people who saw your ad clicked on it, so the higher the number the better. 
• Leads or Purchases: Leads or purchases reveals how much each new lead (someone who opted in on your landing page) or each new purchase (someone who completed a purchase) cost you, which can help you determine if the ad was worth it. It is calculated by figuring out the total amount you spent on your ads and dividing that spend by the number of leads or purchases you gained.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Return on Ad Spend can be thought of as ROI; it reflects how much money you make off of your investment in the ad. It is imperative to understand whether or not you are turning a profit on your ads. If you aren’t, it’s a good idea to test multiple ads with small amounts of money, before running a big-budget campaign. 
• Frequency: Frequency is how many times users are seeing your ad. If the ad performance begins to suffer, this is the first place to look as ad fatigue is often the number one reason. 

These metrics will help you measure the success of your ads, but before you look at them, you need to first determine what success means for you.

Which of these metrics is most important for your business today? If you are working on building brand loyalty, for example, you shouldn’t weigh ROAS too heavily, but instead, focus on Leads.

Before you launch your retargeting strategy, decide what the outcome of a successful strategy looks like. 

If your ads return the response you want from your strategy, congratulations!

Now tweak, rinse, and repeat. If your ads weren’t successful, go back to the drawing board. Consider running some tests and re-evaluating the success metric you measured last time, asking yourself why it didn’t work and if you need to measure another form of success.

Get Started

Facebook retargeting is an important strategy your business should incorporate if you want to increase brand awareness and drive sales.

Now, you know how to use this powerful tool, and can wield it to grow your business this year.

It may seem complex, but the more ads you create and campaigns you run, the more you will learn and the more successful you will be. 

So, don’t wait. Get started with Facebook retargeting ads today. As you go, refer back to this guide as well as our How-To on creating successful Facebook ads, and you’ll have everything you need to set up your ads with ease.