Imagine the journey of a typical visitor to your website. Perhaps they found you through a Google search, a Facebook ad, or a referring link from someone else. They arrive on your site, and immediately they click on a painting of a ship that you have for sale. Then they leave. Even though this person is fascinated by your work and is your ideal customer, this is the end of your interaction with that person- no sale, no further relationship.

Now imagine that you use a marketing tool to create an ad about your series of nautical paintings. After the visitor leaves your site, you have a system set up to place the ad in front of that person in a setting they’re comfortable with and using often (Facebook). Your ads show up regularly until they remember how intrigued they were by your work… and eventually you make the sale. Nice!

What is Retargeting?

This is the essence of retargeting- which you may have also heard of as “remarketing”. Retargeting is about using the information you have on visitors to your site to create targeted ads based on what seems to interest them. Understanding how to retarget potential collectors can be a powerful key to growing your list, maintaining awareness of your brand and increasing sales. A very specific ad placed on front of people who have already visited your website can result in a much higher chance of making a sale.

Using a Facebook Pixel

You often agree to the use of “cookies” on various sites when browsing the web. These cookies are sometimes called pixels, and they are the trail of breadcrumbs that enables retargeting all over the internet. If you’ve ever shopped for bird baths on Amazon and then suddenly started seeing ads for birding stuff all over the place, you’ve experienced retargeting.

Once a Facebook pixel has been installed into your site’s code, you will be able to segment your audience in Facebook Ads Manager very specifically down to people who have visited only certain pages on your site, and deliver targeted ads to them on Facebook. These ads can be really effective if used correctly.

Tips for successful retargeting

• Retarget using products you know those visitors already showed interest in. If they spent time looking at a certain type of painting, that’s the series you’ll want to advertise to them in your targeted ads.
• Retargeting needs to be part of a larger marketing strategy, in which you have a plan for driving traffic to your site, a plan for what to do with them once they’re there, and a plan for retargeting. To that end…
• You need to know what you’re doing. Retargeting is not a strategy for beginners- working with an experienced marketer can help you learn the ropes and see an increased return on your investment.

Interested in Learning More?

Our self-directed course Facebook Marketing for Artists goes into more depth with Facebook pixels- how to get yours and install it on your site, as well as other strategies for using Facebook to increase your online art sales. Find out if this course is the right fit for you.