Should I use Facebook re-targeting?
Facebook Re-targeting is another re-targeting platform like Google's but does it offer anything different?
If you are not familiar with re-targeting or re-marketing then check out this post here!
I am not a massive fan of re-targeting but this is mainly due to how people abuse it and make it creepy and annoying.
However done right it can produce results without a doubt.
So how does it work? It works by placing a pixel on your website (a bit of code) that tells Facebook that somebody has visited your site. When that person later at some point logs into Facebook they are presented with with one of your adverts to remind them that they were on your site.
We are used to this on the internet on a daily basis. You view something on Amazon or another site and then there advert follows you round the internet for weeks like a bad smell.
When re-targeting is done badly it does nothing but annoy.
When using re-targeting in Facebook there are few differences to consider. It is not super simple to set-up and will require some low level technical ability or your marketing consultant or agency to set it up.
When done well with a genuine strategy the results can be incredible. When the right kind of people are targeted with relevant and contextual content and advertising combined it has proved time and time again a great ROI.
When used to spam people and chase them round the whole internet you may get some results but equally annoy the hell out of people.
A good example of this done well to win new customers could be as follows:
Using promoted posts on Facebook you target you ideal audience with a relevant and useful piece of content. This page has the Facebook re-targeting pixel enabled so anybody that visits that page can be reached again using the Facebook adverts.
You then create a Facebook advert promoting a webinar, course or ebook and have it displayed to those people who visited your promoted blog post. The webinar or course will capture their email addresses and enable you to continue to nurture and when ready convert to a customer if not already.
By using the two stages of helpful and useful content and increasing the commitment from the prospect at each stage you are increasing the chances of them converting.
The first blog post needs to be valuable and the promoted post needs to go to relevant and targeted people not just anyone for this to work best.
Re-targeting is often used in e-commerce environments. When someone leaves a site without purchasing they are then presented with that item with reminders to buy. Now this does work for some people and if you are going to do this please think about how many times you are going to keep presenting adverts to that person.
I have seen lots of examples of how not to do it. I had one companies adverts follow me round for what felt like months. It 100% put me off working with them as I could see how they felt about using this technology.
I still today get the local college presenting me with irrelevant adverts. I am not the ideal audience and are clearly only targeting me based on my location. They are wasting money advertising to me. Worse it leaves me feeling that they clearly don't know what they are doing with this kind of marketing or have a consultant or agency who does not know either.
Another to consider when using Facebook re-targeting is peoples intent when on the platform. People in general use Facebook in their moments of downtime to keep up to date and for longer periods in the evening. They also are not really in a business mode so much. Make sure your promoted blog and your 2nd level offering are really good. Offering your brochure or a 5% discount code is simply not going to cut it.
If you need help setting any of this up or have questions please do not hesitate to contact me in the form below.
If you liked this post and want to get more like this in my monthly email newsletter please join my list in the form in the footer.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Author- Speaker - Consultant. Passionate about all things digital.