As BtoB Magazine reported earlier today, Facebook has officially launched a new ad retargeting tool that allows advertisers to bid real-time for Facebook ads that target users based on their browsing activity across the web. This new option presents some great opportunities for advertisers, but before you run off and start bidding on ads, there are a few things you should know:
1. There are creative constraints on retargeted Facebook ads. Just like any other Facebook unit, your retargeted ad will need to comply with Facebook’s standard size and format regulations. Unfortunately, this will make it difficult to maintain consistency between ads on Facebook and those elsewhere on the web.
2. Facebook targeting parameters cannot be used on top of retargeting parameters. This means you can set up parameters for the type of web browsing activity you want to target, but you can’t further filter users via Facebook’s internal parameters like age, interests, or locaiton.
3. Retargeting is limited to marketplace ads and desktop browsing only. Perhaps the biggest limitation with Facebook’s new retargeting option is the fact that it can only be used with marketplace ads. Despite being one of the most common Facebook ad formats, marketplace ads don’t show up on mobile device. This means you might want to hold off on running a Facebook retargeting campaign if you target an audience that is active on mobile devices.
Facebook’s new retargeted ads certainly have some limitations, but they also present great opportunities to reach your target on a site where they spend a great deal of time. Be sure to let us know what you think of the new ad format if you decide to give it a try.
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