If we suggested to you that it was possible to reconnect your brand with interested and informed prospective customers that have searched on Google for products or services that you sell, you would bite our hand off, right?

Read on to discover how your online brand can stay in touch with the 96% of users that didn’t take immediate action on your website.

If you are keen to transform your website’s conversion rate and your business’ ultimate profitability, it’s important not to underestimate the value of following up on initial interest from users online. By reconnecting your products or services with those that have already touched upon your brand, you get a second bite at the cherry to convince them to buy.

With the right messaging, content and setup, you can push your business to these customers at the right time, ready for them to make a purchase or concrete online enquiry by utilising Facebook Retargeting with strategic, paid adverts.

We have all seen the shoes or clothes we were browsing in our Facebook or Instagram timelines. Now it’s your turn to maximise your reach through strategically positioning your brand and services within your prospects’ social feeds.

Retargeting is a paid advertising technique designed to bring a visitor back to a website or store that they’ve previously landed on, using a cookie.

Facebook Ads allows digital marketers to retarget those interested users, allowing your brand to be present in their news feeds during the most valuable times of the day.

It is often said in online advertising circles that Facebook Retargeting is more cost-effective than targeting users that are completely new to your brand. These ad campaigns will often cost less per click and are more likely to convert as users typically engage more with brands they’ve seen before and are already intrigued by.

Good retargeting objectives

There are multiple reasons why retargeting on social media can make a considerable difference to your business’ bottom line. The overarching theme is to help get more people to visit (and buy!) from your online or high-street stores:

Social media retargeting considerations

• Traffic
  Send more people to a destination on or off Facebook, such as your website, app or even a Facebook Messenger conversation.
• Engagements
  Get more post engagements, Page likes, event responses and offer claims on Facebook.
  
• App installs
  Get more users to download and install your app to cement your brand on mobile devices.

Social media retargeting for conversions

• Conversions
  Drive valuable actions on your website, within your app or in Facebook Messenger.
  
• Catalogue sales
  Create ads that automatically display items from your catalogue, based on your target audience.
  
• Store traffic
  Drive visits to your high-street stores by displaying ads to people who are based nearby.

Ways of collecting customer data for social media retargeting

When it comes to Facebook Retargeting, the platform offers a plethora of ways to segment your target audiences, using a range of powerful tools that can help your brand to target specific users with personalised messaging:

Build custom audiences on Facebook

• Website
  Build a list of users that have visited specific pages of your website, ready to retarget with personalised ads about the products or services displayed on those pages.
  
• Customer lists
  Build a list of customers from CRMs or any other platforms, ready to upload into Facebook to target people with ads relevant to where they are in your sales funnel.
  
• App activity
  Create a list of people who have taken a specific action in your brand’s mobile app.
  
• Offline activity
  Create a list of people who have said in-store that they are happy to be contacted with marketing messaging.

Other ways of using Facebook for customer data

• Videos
  Build custom audiences of users that have viewed some or all of your company’s Facebook videos.
  
• Events
  Build custom audiences of users that have voiced an interest in coming to any of your company’s events listed on your Facebook page.
  
• Facebook & Instagram pages
  Build custom audiences of users that ‘like’ your Facebook and Instagram pages.

Proven social media retargeting strategies

1. Users that have viewed products or services or added items to cart (known as dynamic product ads)
   a) These users can be retargeted via Facebook for up to 30 days after they viewed your items or abandoned their ‘basket’
   b) Users can be retargeted with personalised offers or incentives to return and complete a purchase
   c) Users can be retargeted and pointed towards upcoming or live sales
   d) Users can be retargeted with news of seasonal events, such as Black Friday and Christmas
2. Users that have converted or have previously bought items from you
   a) Existing customers can be retargeted via Facebook with single images, carousel images and video content to cross-sell additional goods or services
3. Reconnect with former customers on your database
   a) Reach out to users that may have purchased from you last year, whom you can push new products or services to
   b) Customers with special accounts whom you may wish to advertise an exclusive offer or incentive to

The bottom line is that in this day and age, consumers expect to be retargeted as a memory tool. Social media retargeting can be implemented as subtly or as prominently as you wish, depending on the needs of your business.

Unity Online’s online advertising consultants are already helping businesses like yours

Our paid advertising team recently worked in close collaboration with an online kitchen company, looking to generate more sales of kitchen units and accessories from users that have already landed on their website.

Within our first month of implementing Facebook Retargeting, our team generated a return on ad spend of 2,232.84%.

Your business could be next!

To arrange a free consultation on the benefits of social media retargeting for your brand with Unity Online’s paid advertising team, please don’t hesitate to call us on 01473 350485 or drop us a line using our online contact form to start taking a different digital path.