3 Strategies For Setting Up Your Facebook Retargeting Campaigns

One of the most essential ad campaigns you can run is the Facebook retargeting campaign.

This is because retargeting ads allow you to generate new sales by retargeting potential customers who are aware of your brand but who have not purchased yet.

Retargeting campaigns are often confused with Facebook remarketing campaigns.

A Facebook remarketing campaign is targeted ads toward existing customers. The goal of your remarketing efforts is to re-engage your existing customers toward your particular campaign goal.

Facebook Ads Retargeting Types

There are two types of Facebook retargeting ads. The first is based on the Facebook tracking pixel the other is based on your customer list

Using Pixel-Based Retargeting

The first way you can use retargeting ads is via your tracking pixel.

The Facebook pixel is a small snippet of code that you add to your site. Once installed the Facebook pixel will track the activities of users who visited your website.

One of the benefits of using pixel-based retargeting is you can create retargeting ads based on very specific pages or actions that your site traffic reaches.

For example, if your website traffic reaches the add-to-cart page and does not buy or they visit your Facebook page you can retarget those users with retargeting ads.

List Based Retargeting Ads

With list-based retargeting ads, you are targeting a customer list you have uploaded to Facebook.

This retargeting audience could be anything from an upload of your existing customers to leads you collected at a conference.

When you upload a retargeting list you will need to upload the name of your customer along with other identifying information that you have collected like their email or SMS.

The downside to this type of Facebook retargeting is that someone can use a different email or SMS number than the one they use for their social media account. This would result in the potential customer not seeing your retargeting ad.

The good news about this type of list is that because you are uploading it you have way more control over what goes into the list.

Facebook Retargeting Strategy

Here are 3 Facebook retargeting strategies you can use for your next campaign.

• Ads retargeting based on intent

• Segmented retargeting campaigns

• List-based retargeting

Facebook Retargeting Ads Based On Intent

Retargeting ads based on navigation is one of the best ways to meet your site visitors where they are.

Visitors have higher intent the closer they get to purchase, you want to be getting in front of high intent visitors again.

To do this I like to use Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) for this type of retargeting.

How To Set Up DPA's on Facebook

If you want to set up DPA's on Facebook there are a few key steps you need to take.

The first step is creating to creating your dynamic ads is to set up your product catalog.

A product catalog is just a file with all of your products and their corresponding details like price, description, and image.

You can create a product catalog manually or if you have an eCommerce platform like Shopify you can search and install the Facebook channel and then set it up to sell your products on Facebook.

Once you have your product catalog created the next step is to create your DPA ad campaign in Facebook Ads Manager.

When creating your DPA ad campaign you will need to choose a few key details like your campaign objective, your ad set details, and your product set.

For retargeting campaign objectives, I always recommend using the conversions objective as it is designed to get people to take action on your site.

Your ad set details will include things like your target audience, bid amount, and schedule.

When creating your ad set be sure to target add to carts who did not purchase and not viewed but did not purchase.

Add to cart is a higher intent visitor and we want to start with this visitor first.

And finally, for your product set, you will need to choose which products from your catalog you want to include in the ad.

You can choose to show all products or create a custom selection.

Once you have all of your details filled out the next step is to create your ad.

When creating your DPA ad there are a few key elements you will need to include.

The first is your image.

If you have connected Facebook to your eCommerce manager. The ad image should be pulling your images from your storefront.

You will also need to include your headlines, description, and call to action.

And finally, don't forget to include your product catalog feed link.

The product.url deep link allows Facebook retargeting ads to send add to cart visitors directly to the right product page.

Once you have all of your elements in place, the last step is to submit your ad for review.

Facebook will then review your ad and if everything looks good they will approve it and your ad will start running.

Retargeting Ads Based On Segmentation

The next way to use Facebook retargeting ads is to retarget based on the segment a particular target audience falls into.

Here are some segmentation ideas to boost your retargeting campaigns.

• Segment based on engagement with your social media channels like Facebook or Instagram.

• Create custom audiences that segment your audience based on the stage of the marketing funnel they are in.

• Use date-based retargeting campaigns.

Segment Based On Social Engagement

Within Facebook audiences, you can create a custom audience that takes an advantage of your organic growth on your social media channels.

Custom audiences are great because you get to decide who falls into your custom audience.

In this case, we will want to create 3-4 new custom audiences.

The first custom audience is for your Facebook page to track your Facebook page engagement.

The second custom audience to create is for your Instagram account to track visits to your Instagram account.

The last custom audience is with your Shopping account to track anyone who engages with your shopping on Facebook or Instagram.

You can create a separate custom audience for both Facebook and Instagram from the shopping option.

Segmentation Based On Stage Of The Funnel

One retargeting strategy you can use for your next retargeting campaign is segmenting based on intent.

Did a customer simply view product pages or add to cart? These customers should be treated differently.

Below is my ranking based on intent.

• Website Traffic

• View content

• Add to cart/Initiated Checkout

For your website traffic, you can set up a retargeting campaign that further explains your mission or displays your product offering.

These potential customers are still in the awareness stage and need more info to make a decision.

For view content consider running a carousel ad that contains products from a collection that your web traffic viewed.

If you have long sleeve shirts and short sleeve shirts. And the customer views 3-4 different short sleeve shirts. The carousel ad would show a collection of short sleeve shirts.

You may already have set up dynamic ads to target your add to carts. If this is the case you may not need to set up a specific retargeting ad for this.

However, while you are creating your custom audiences consider creating a new custom audience for add to cart anyways. This way you can create a lookalike for your prospecting campaigns.

Want to learn more about how to create a lookalike campaign you can do that in our guide.

Use Date-Based Retargeting

As you create your retargeting audiences keep in mind that you can change the timeframe that you are targeting.

For your Black Friday retargeting campaigns, consider stretching this from the default of 30 days to Facebook's maximum window of 180 days to reach as many people as possible who have visited your site.

List-Based Retargeting ads

You have two different ways to acquire your retargeting audience with any social media campaign. Tracking pixels and customer lists.

The retargeting strategies we've discussed so far involve using the tracking pixel to identify and retarget your audiences.

Here are my two favorite Facebook retargeting campaigns.

• Event-based retargeting campaigns

• Email-based retargeting campaigns

Event-Based Retargeting Campaigns

If you attend a conference you may find it beneficial to upload your customer list to Facebook.

If this is your first time uploading a customer list, consider going to the audience manager in the Business manager and downloading the template if you would like more details on what needs to be uploaded.

Email-Based Retargeting Campaigns

Email-based retargeting is uploaded in the same way as your event-based targeting.

Uploading your email list to Facebook has some advantages.

With all the changes in tracking. There is the possibility that your tracking pixel is not picking up everyone they should be for your retargeting ad.

To solve this you can use your email list for retargeting. Just be sure to exclude purchasers from your ad targeting to the best of your ability.

How To Set Up Facebook Retargeting Ads

Now that we have looked at the different types of Facebook retargeting ads you can run.

Let's dive into how you can set up your retargeting ad.

The first thing you will need to do is create a campaign in Ads Manager.

If you do not know what the Facebook ads manager is you can read our guide to get started with the business manager which is where the ads manager is located.

To get started, click on the "Create" button and select the "Sales" objective.

Hit next and you will be taken to the "Ad Set" level where you will need to create your audience and set your budget.

For your budget, use a daily budget and keep it low.

Within your ads manager, you want to track your frequency.

Frequency describes how often a Facebook user sees your retargeting ad.

If you see your frequency climb above a 3 consider reducing your budget.

You will want to track your overall frequency as well. If you are running a retargeting ad for website visitors, view content, and add to cart. You may want to look at these three campaigns together to see what the frequency is.

In the "Audience" section add in your target audience. I'm adding in website visitors in the last 180 days. I'll also need to create a new custom audience for all my existing customers and exclude those customers from seeing the ad.

Depending on your level of detail you may think of additional audiences you want to be excluded.

Add in additional details if needed for age, gender, and location.

Now that you have created your target audience, it's time to create your ad.

To do this hit the blue next button in the bottom right corner.

For this example, we will be uploading a video.

Since we are targeting website visitors in the last 180 days the goal of this video is to show our product width as well as explain our mission.

Once you have selected your ad format, you will need to enter your ad copy and choose your call to action.

Don't forget to connect your website event to this ad. This allows your Facebook pixel to track future actions and pages your visitors may take or visit.

Once you have entered this information, click on the "Publish" button and your ad will be created.

Facebook Retargeting Works

Facebook retargeting is a great way to bring in new customers to your business.

To be successful be sure that you are using the right audience for your retargeting strategy.

If you would like to learn how to create your first ad campaign we have a guide to help you.