Facebook Retargeting Guide: Best Re-marketing Strategy for Better Results [2024 Edition]

By the end of this issue, you'll have a simple workflow you can follow to correctly set up retargeting campaigns.

Let’s dive in.

Why Marketers Struggle with Retargeting

The primary reason why many marketers struggle with Facebook retargeting is that they don't leverage the latest Meta tools available.

Most marketers still "micro-manage" re-marketing audiences in Facebook, by setting up small audiences such as:

•  30-day view

•  7-day view

•  14-day abandon cart

•  180-day visitors

•  30-day video views etc.

Unfortunately, this funnel type of strategy is becoming obsolete as I write these lines.

Facebook's new approach to targeting by using A.I. and machine learning will help us use pre-defined audience segments, which we can set up in the Ad Account Settings:

1/ Existing Customers

2/ Engaged Audience

3/ New Customers - obviously this is automatically created in reporting, if the a Conversion event does not come from the pre-defined segments.

If you a want a full breakdown of this setup, read DAS #23 - How to Define Audience Segments in Meta Ad Accounts.

But don’t worry, I’m going to explain how you can overcome these problems and make your Facebook campaigns highly effective, yet again.

Common Re-marketing Advice that falls short

A common strategy is to use video ads to create a funnel: optimize an ad for ThruPlay or Video Views, then create a custom audience of whom watched 75%+ of the video, and target them with a separate conversion campaign.

However, the quality of these views is often poor, especially with un-skippable or rewarded video placements, where viewers are forced to watch without genuine interest.

Assuming these viewers are interested in your product is usually incorrect, making this funnel-based remarketing approach costly and ineffective.

There could exceptions to approach, as well.

When videos receive significant organic views, as these viewers are genuinely interested, but this segment is usually small.

These days it's really hard to make your Facebook videos go viral organically.

Slightly better results can be achieved if the initial video ad is part of a conversion campaign optimized for sales.

But quality is yet again questionable, as users may be forced to watch some portion of your videos in certain ad placements.

A smarter approach to Retargeting

At my agency we’ve mostly stopped using general remarketing.

Now, the algorithm, especially with Advantage+ Shopping or Advantage+ Audience, automatically includes these people.

We still use manually created custom audiences (365-day views, 180-day visitors, video engagers etc.) but only as targeting suggestions in the Advantage+ Audience.

This way the algorithm prioritizes these users first before expanding.

Here’s a step-by-step approach you can follow when you are faced with this problem:

Step 1: Leverage Facebook’s Advanced Tools

First, it’s crucial to use Facebook’s advanced tools like Advantage+ Shopping and Advantage+ Audience.

These tools allow the algorithm to automatically include high-potential audiences, enhancing your campaign's efficiency.

Instead of manually targeting all your website visitors from the past 180 days, you can use Advantage+ Audience to prioritize these users before expanding to a broader audience.

This makes your approach effective and more scalable.

Step 2: Use Custom Audiences while You CAN

Use custom audiences while it's still available. I have a feeling that this will go away in the near future.

Anyway, till then, create custom audiences and use them as suggestions in Advantage+ campaigns.

Here are some must have audiences:

1. Upload a database of existing customers

This helps you match existing customers with their Facebook profiles. This is the greatest starting point for Facebook's algorithm to target.

2. Engaged viewers of your videos (organic views + video conversion ads)

Create audience that have at least 75% view-through on your videos.

I recommend 95% view-through because of the short nature of reels.

3. Converted audience

Create an audience out of customers (buyers, leads, signups). This is the strongest starting point you can feed Meta's algorithm.

4. Engaged Users (Facebook & Instagram)

This type of custom audience used to be the most accurate as this data is collected by Meta.

People who engage with your ads, posts, videos and profile are tracked by Meta, so this audience is, so called, first-party data.

Probably, the Advantage+ algorithm starts with this audience in mind, but I still recommend using it, while you can.

That's it, I wouldn't go deeper into segmenting custom audiences.

But, as always there is room for testing micro audiences who act or do something specific on your website.

Don’t forget to add these audiences to the Engaged or Existing Segments in the Ad Account Settings.

Step 3: Utilize Micro Audiences [but rarely]

Finally, while micro re-marketing can be effective, but it should only be a small part of your strategy.

There are cases where you want to target certain groups with personalized messages.

Think of specific events, like abandoned carts, where you can deliver tailored messages to a small, high-intention group of people.

This used to be a huge part of our e-commerce retargeting campaigns.

Or think about users who downloaded a lead magnet from your website, and you want to re-target them with an offer.

In this case, you can combine email marketing with Facebook ads to re-engage this specific audience.

By doing this, you ensure that your micro retargeting efforts are impactful without draining your resources.

However, this might be redundant since the Advantage+ algorithm might already target these users.

That’s why I always test and make decisions based on results.

Don't listen to random people on the internet, like myself ;)

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can transform your Facebook retargeting strategy, making it more efficient and effective.

With the right tools and strategy, you’ll see improvement in your KPI metrics, higher conversion rates, and better overall results.

Have you tried this in your Facebook retargeting campaigns? What is your current approach?

Hit me up to me (hello[at]digitaladsnack.com) and share your experience.

I'd love to hear how it's working for you!