Every time you scroll through your Facebook newsfeed, you probably encounter several ads of brands you know or don’t know at all. They find you, and most of the time, they even follow you on your social media accounts. It might seem peculiar to you at first, yet that’s merely how powerful Facebook advertising and retargeting works.
If you’re not familiar with those two concepts and have been curious for so long on how they work, we will explain and differentiate them for you in the following sections:
How Advertising on Facebook Works
Facebook advertising is the technique to reach new audiences for your brand. In this method, you pay an amount and choose a particular target audience. Facebook targeting is highly specific, and there are two ways to target a specific group:
- You do the targeting yourself by choosing an audience based on gender, age, location, and interests, among others.
- You use a Facebook Pixel code, which is to be added to your site. This code collects data that helps you find people who are interested in your content or products, and this is also called Facebook retargeting.
How They Differ
Both Facebook ads and retargeting ads are effective and efficient ways to promote your brand. They ensure that everyone who will see your ad will likely be interested in what you offer or in your brand itself. The only variation is that they work differently.
Facebook Ads
They allow you to choose your audience and give you many options to advertise your campaign or product. You will select which ad format you want to use depending on the message you want to communicate.
Here are several options for your consideration:
- Image ads
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Collection ads
- Slideshow ads
- Instant experience ads
- Lead ads
- Messenger ads
- Stories ads
Each type of ads complements a specific objective. For example, if you are a food brand, and you want to create brand awareness or engagement, you can make a mouthwatering video ad to capture your audience’s attention.
Facebook Retargeting
If you have a website and you want to target those people who visited your site or clicked on your products, Facebook retargeting will help you in this aspect. The purpose of this marketing technique is to remind your site visitors of the product they’re missing out and hopefully convince them to take action.
You merely need to ask your web designer to input a Facebook Pixel code to your website, and the code will do the work for you.
The Pixel code you inserted will track and tag all your website visitors, and your ads will follow them wherever they go online. The tagging happens instantly up to a few days after. It’s the experience you have when you check out a bag and visit other sites, and then suddenly the same bag or other related bags show up on your browser or feed.
When it comes to the Facebook platform itself, you also have options for retargeting:
- Manually uploading a customer list (using their email address, phone number, or Facebook user ID)
- Using Facebook Pixel (from your website)
Conclusion
The ability to set specific and highly targeted audiences is what sets Facebook advertising apart from traditional advertising. Facebook ads and retargeting ads are both effective ways of increasing brand awareness and encouraging engagement. The latter option, however, has three times more power than regular Facebook ads when it comes to engagement and conversion. Now that you know the two ways to advertise your ad convincingly on Facebook, you only need to choose which type of targeting will best meet your goals.
If you need help in setting up your Facebook pixel on your website, or you need web design services in Perth, WA, we’re here to help. We’re a digital agency that focuses on achieving results and offering solutions for our client’s online challenges. Contact us today to learn more about our high-quality services!
