What is Facebook retargeting?

James Hussey

Your website can attract hundreds of visitors and still produce very little – no calls, emails or orders.

When you have paid to bring those people in, it can feel as though that money has been wasted.

But people get distracted. We all do it. Someone might find one of your products during their lunch break, only for the phone to ring or a meeting to start. By the evening, they can’t remember the name of the company they found. They were interested – they just weren’t ready to buy at that exact moment.

This is where Facebook retargeting can earn its keep. It puts your business back in front of previous website visitors while they are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, giving them a timely reminder of what they were looking at.

By installing the Meta Pixel on your website, you can build audiences based on the actions people have taken. This could include visiting a particular service page, viewing a product, adding something to their basket or beginning the checkout process.

You can then show those people relevant adverts when they use Facebook or Instagram.

For example, an online retailer could remind someone about a product left in their basket. A home improvement company could show customer reviews to people who viewed a particular service. An accountant could promote a useful guide to visitors who looked at its page about starting a business.

These people already know something about your company. They have shown enough interest to visit your website, which usually makes them more valuable than a completely new audience.

However, successful retargeting requires more than installing a pixel and showing everyone the same advert. Audiences should be separated according to what people viewed and how recently they visited. Existing customers or people who have already enquired should also be excluded where appropriate.

The adverts themselves are important too. Showing somebody the same image repeatedly can quickly become irritating. Different images, videos, testimonials and messages should be tested to find out what brings people back.

Your website also needs to finish the job. Retargeting someone to a slow page, poor product description or a confusing enquiry form is unlikely to produce a better result.

If you are already investing in search engine optimisation (SEO), social media or other advertising but are not using retargeting, you may be missing opportunities from traffic you have worked to generate.

If you need any help with promoting your business using Facebook Ads, contact our team at Engage Web.

About
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James Hussey

Digital Marketing Executive at Engage Web

Having once gone to school in the Burnage area of Manchester known for being the childhood home of Noel and Liam Gallagher, “Some Might Say” that James is a “Supersonic” presence within Engage Web, happily turning his hand to “Whatever” tasks his role throws at him.