Why Facebook Retargeting is a Must For Restaurant Marketers

Growth in paid social media spend has been insane in 2016. If you haven’t planned on incorporating Facebook Advertising dollars into your budget, you’re missing out on great leads, brand building, and the opportunity to retarget interested potential customers.

Facebook retargeting tools have come a long way since fist being introduced. With the general acceptance of sponsored posts on Instagram and Facebook, retargeting is more effective than it ever has been.

How are restaurant brands using Facebook Advertising and Facebook retargeting?

A couple ways. First, by leveraging an existing customer database with list-retargeting, and second, by targeting segmented website traffic with the Facebook tracking pixel.

How does Facebook retargeting work?

Essentially, Facebook retargeting is exactly what the title suggests, you retarget users or customers who’ve visited your site or engaged with your social media content. The audience segmentation capabilities can get a little tricky, but that’s where the money is made.

You can retarget customers who showed an intent to visit your store versus customers who didn’t- giving you the opportunity to produce the right Facebook ads and messaging for the right user.

Provided you have the right team to create the ads and content you need for each type of customer, you’re good target and segment as much as you see fit. If you’re strapped for time and creating the ads yourself, it’s better to focus on a single group to start.

In general, website traffic is usually a great audience to retarget on Facebook, given how few website visitors take action or subscribe to your newsletter on the first visit.

Facebook Custom Audiences

If you have an email list, you can create a custom audience on Facebook to retarget with relevant messaging or offers. Here’s the basic overview of how to get started with Facebook Audiences from an email list:

  • Consolidate your list of emails from existing customers.
  • Upload your email list in the “Audience” section of Facebook’s Business Manager.
  • Give Facebook an hour or so to match the email addresses to its own users.
  • Started testing ads targeted specifically to your existing email list.

Straightforward, yet highly effective. You have control over exactly who you’re retargeting, and with what ad content.

Facebook Retargeting Your Website Traffic

With pixel retargeting, you have the ability to monitor the Facebook users who visit your website. While each individual user is anonymous, Facebook’s pixel gives you the opportunity to create audiences, (and retarget them with ads) based on who views a particular page on your website.

Here’s the gist:

  • Once you add the line of Javascript tracking pixel to your site, it starts triggering immediately.
  • When a user visits your site, the pixel creates an anonymous browser cookie to track what pages the user views.
  • If the user leaves your site without making a purchase or subscribing to your newsletter, you’ll know. The pixel on your confirmation page informs Facebook that a specific user viewed X and Y pages, but didn’t make a purchase or the action you’d hoped.

It’s most effective to retarget warm audiences who know of your brand. Someone who has previously shown interest in what you offer, but didn’t take action, will be much more likely to convert than cold traffic.

It’s worth mentioning that you have the ability to segment your retargeted Facebook audiences as well.

If you go ahead with retargeting marketing, (and you should) make sure your ads are clear, simple and enticing. Consider introducing a time-limited offer that people can’t get on the website.

Of course, be cognizant of the duration of which you’re retargeting a certain audience. If you’re still retargeting users, months after a visit without results, chances are they won’t purchase because your ad is irrelevant.

As with all things Facebook ads, split testing everything is the best way to find what delivers the best ROI.

Blue Bear Creative is a Denver social media agency focused on helping food and beverage brands market to millennials.