# How to Set Up Facebook Retargeting Ads
Ever noticed how you visit a website to look at a pair of boots, and suddenly those exact boots are following you around Facebook? That isn’t magic—it’s retargeting. For Australian small businesses, retargeting is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase sales because you are speaking to people who already know, like, and trust your brand.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up a professional retargeting campaign that brings "window shoppers" back to your site to complete their purchase.
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Prerequisites: What You’ll Need Before Starting
Before you dive into the Meta Ads Manager, ensure you have the following ready:
- A Facebook Business Page: Your brand's official presence.
- A Meta Business Suite Account: This is where you manage your ads professionally.
- The Meta Pixel Installed: You must have the Pixel (or Conversions API) already active on your website to track visitors.
- An Ad Budget: Even $5–$10 a day can work for small local audiences.
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Step 1: Access Your Audiences Tool
Log into your Meta Ads Manager. Click on the All Tools icon (the three horizontal lines, often called the 'hamburger' menu) on the left-hand side. From the fly-out menu, select Audiences.
Screenshot Description: You should see a dashboard showing any existing audiences you’ve created. If this is your first time, the screen will be mostly empty with a large blue button to "Create Audience."
Step 2: Create a Custom Audience
Click the blue Create Audience button and select Custom Audience. This is the foundation of retargeting. Unlike "Saved Audiences" (where you target by interests or demographics), "Custom Audiences" allow you to target people based on their previous interactions with your business.
Step 3: Select Your Source
A pop-up will appear asking where you want to pull your data from. Since we want to target people who visited your website, select Website.
Pro Tip: If you have a physical shop in Brisbane or elsewhere in Australia and collect emails for a loyalty program, you can also select "Customer List" to upload your CSV file of email addresses. This is a great way to reach existing customers with new offers.
Step 4: Define Your Website Visitors
Now you need to tell Facebook who specifically to track. In the setup window:
- Source: Ensure your Pixel is selected (it should have a green dot indicating it's active).
- Events: Choose "All website visitors".
- Retention: This is how long someone stays in your audience after visiting your site. The default is 30 days, but you can go up to 180.
Step 5: Name and Save Your Audience
Give your audience a clear, descriptive name like "All Website Visitors - Past 30 Days." Click Create Audience.
Common Mistake: Don't try to run ads to this audience immediately. It can take a few hours (or days if your traffic is low) for Facebook to "populate" the list with enough people to serve ads.
Step 6: Create a New Campaign
Navigate back to the Campaigns tab in Ads Manager and click the green + Create button. Select your objective. For retargeting, Sales or Leads are usually the best choices. If you just want to stay top-of-mind, Awareness works too.
Step 7: Set Your Campaign Level Details
Name your campaign (e.g., "RT - Website Visitors - Summer Sale"). Leave the Advantage Campaign Budget (CBO) off for now if you want more control at the individual ad set level.
Step 8: Configure the Ad Set (The Targeting)
Scroll down to the Audience section of the Ad Set setup. Look for the box labeled Custom Audiences. Click inside it and select the audience you created in Step 5.
Important: Ensure you aren't adding extra layers of interest targeting (like "People who like coffee"). You want to reach everyone who visited your site, regardless of their other interests.
Step 9: Choose Your Placements
Under Placements, we recommend choosing Advantage+ Placements. This allows Facebook’s AI to show your ad where it’s performing best—whether that’s on the Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories, or the Audience Network.
Step 10: Create Your Ad Creative
Now for the fun part! Since these people already know who you are, your ad copy should be different from a "cold" ad.
- Acknowledge the relationship: "Still thinking about that service?"
- Offer an incentive: "Use code WELCOME10 for 10% off your first booking."
- Add social proof: Use a testimonial from a happy local customer.
Step 11: Review and Publish
Double-check your links! Ensure your Call to Action (CTA) button leads to a relevant page, not just your homepage. If they were looking at a specific service, send them back to that service page. Hit Publish.
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Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Audience Too Small: If your website gets fewer than 100 visitors a month, Facebook may struggle to deliver your ads. Try increasing your retention period to 180 days or running a "Traffic" ad to cold audiences first to build up your Pixel data.
- Ads Not Showing: Ensure your Pixel is firing correctly. You can use the "Meta Pixel Helper" Chrome extension to check this.
- High Frequency: If your audience is small and your budget is high, people might see your ad 10 times a day. This leads to "ad fatigue." Keep an eye on the "Frequency" metric in Ads Manager; aim for a frequency of 2–4 per week.
Pro Tips for Australian Business Owners
- Exclude Recent Buyers: Don't waste money showing ads to people who just bought from you. Create another Custom Audience of people who reached your "Thank You" or "Success" page and Exclude them from your ad set.
- The ABN Check: Ensure your Business Manager account is verified with your ABN to avoid account disables, which Meta has been stricter about recently for Australian advertisers.
- Test Different Formats: Try a Video ad showing a "behind the scenes" of your Brisbane office versus a Carousel ad showing different products. See which one converts better.
Next Steps
Setting up retargeting is a game-changer for ROI. Once you have this running, your next step is to look at Lookalike Audiences to find new customers who behave just like your website visitors.
Need a hand getting your Meta Pixel sorted or want a professional to manage your Australian ad spend? Contact the team at Local Marketing Group and let’s grow your business together.