You work hard to create Facebook Live videos, and to get people to watch them. So it stinks when viewers don’t take further action (e.g., visiting your website, signing up for your list, etc.) after watching, right?!
But did you know there’s actually a way to reconnect with people who have watched your Facebook Live videos in the past?
The strategy is known as retargeting (or remarketing), and it lets you market directly to people who have watched your videos in the past.
And even better, you can choose exactly who you want to connect with based on WHICH video(s) and HOW MUCH of those videos people have watched.
This article shares exactly how to do this by creating a custom audience in your Facebook Ads Manager.
How To Create a Facebook Live Video Custom Audience
The term retargeted “custom audience” can be a bit scary at first, but it’s really just a fancy way of saying “people who have already interacted with your business in the past”.
The good news is that if you’ve made other videos in the past, Facebook will have already created a custom audience for you based on people who have watched your previous videos.
You’ll simply need to tell Facebook a few specifics, and you’re good to go!
The process is actually really quick and painless, but I’ve drawn it out into 8 steps so you understand exactly what to do from start to finish!
1. Go to your Audience Dashboard
Once you’re logged into your Audience Dashboard in Facebook Ads Manager, click Create a Custom Audience.
2. Create a custom audience based on past engagement
Since you want to target people who have already watched your videos, you’ll want to select Engagement on Facebook.
3. Select video engagement
3. Select video engagementYou’ve already specified that you want to target people who have engaged with you in the past. Now you want to make sure you target only those who have engaged with your videos (live or otherwise).
4. Create an audience based on how much of your videos people have watched
4. Create an audience based on how much of your videos people have watchedHere’s the part where you can get a bit creative. You’ll now get to choose if you want to target users who have watched at least 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 25%, 50%, 75% or 95% of your video.
While it may seem obvious that you want to target people who have watched as much of your past videos as possible, this may not always be feasible. For instance, if you haven’t created a ton of videos previously, selecting 95% may result in a very small audience.
However, this isn’t always a bad thing. These people have shown that they’re very interested in what you have to say, so may already be primed to buy. It’s worth trying!
Conversely, it may seem pointless to target people who have only watched 3 seconds of your past videos; I mean, they obviously didn’t care about what you have to say, right?
Not necessarily. The fact that they even clicked on your video in the first place shows that something piqued their interest. Plus, now that they’ve seen your face in their feed, they’re more likely to recognize you next time around…meaning you’re no longer a stranger.
5. Choose which past videos to base engagement on
For the purposes of this example, let’s say I chose People who have viewed at least 10 seconds of your video.
 You’ll now get to choose which specific video or videos you want your audience to have interacted with in the past. Select Choose videos, then choose your video(s) (live or not). You can choose one video, or a number of videos.
6. Add a second segment to your audience (if you want)
 Now here’s the cool thing: you can make your custom audience more diverse, if you’d like. I’ve already selected viewers who have watched for at least 10 seconds. However, I can choose an additional subset of people (for instance, people who have watched at least 95% of one or a group of my videos) by specifying this under the second Choose a content type field.
7. Name your audience and set an engagement time limit
Finally, you’ll simply choose a descriptive name for your audience (for instance, “10 second 3 month viewers”) and add a more detailed description of your custom audience if you like.
You’ll also need to choose the number of days people will stay in your audience after they’ve engaged with your video. For instance, if you want to target only people who have watched your videos in the past three months, you can specify this here. The max number is 365 days.
8. Create an ad for your custom audience
Your custom audience is now created! You now have a group of people you can advertise to who have already shown that they’re interested in what you have to say.
You can now create a standard ad or video ad and show it to your custom audience….a group of people who are more likely than most to take action!
Need more guidance on creating ads targeted to your custom audience? Check out these helpful resources:
Facebook Ads For Entrepreneurs With Small Budgets
So….how do you decide WHAT to advertise to WHICH custom audience?
This last section will give you some tips for using your custom audience effectively.
The RIGHT Way To Use Retargeting For Your Facebook Videos
Unfortunately, retargeting can be a waste of time and money when it’s not done right.
Some examples of what NOT to do include:
- Showing unrelated videos to past viewers (e.g., Showing a video about cats to an audience of business owners)
- Showing videos to a past audience that are more basic than what they’ve already viewed. For instance, if someone has already watched 95% of a video on how to create a sales funnel, they probably don’t need to see one on how to start a business!
- Showing videos that include no call to action – no request to visit your website, sign up for your list, book a service, etc.
- Showing ads that aren’t relevant to where those people are in your funnel. For instance, showing an ad that asks someone to buy from you when they’ve only viewed 3 seconds of a past video.
So how SHOULD you use retargeting for your Facebook videos?
Following are four things to keep in mind to use video retargeting as effectively as possible.
1. Show ads that move viewers to the next stage of your funnel.
For instance, if someone has only watched 3 seconds or less of one of your videos, you need to decide if you want to target them at all. If you do, you may want to show them the same – or a similar – video again. They may have inadvertently closed the video last time, or may just be more interested in a slightly different topic.
For viewers who watched 95% of your audience, a sales page or booking form may be the next step for them.
Do what makes sense given your viewers’ past actions!
2. Consider the length of your video when deciding how to target.
For instance, if you’re including those who have viewed at least 50% of your video, but that video was only 15 seconds long, they only actually watched 7.5 seconds. These people may not be ready to move to the next step in your funnel, even though they watched half of your past video(s).
3. When creating multiple ads, be sure you exclude certain groups of viewers who fall into the same time category.
Since the options are set as “at least” 3 seconds, “at least” 10 seconds, etc., targeting only those who saw “at least” 3 seconds will result in a HUGE and not very targeted audience.
Instead, you can tell Facebook to exclude certain groups – for instance, to exclude anyone who watched at least 10 seconds, but show to those who viewed for at least 3 seconds. This will mean your ad only gets shown to those who watched between 3 and 9 seconds, meaning you can target them more efficiently.
4. Always, ALWAYS include a call to action (CTA) in your video ads!
You need to give viewers a way to connect further with you once they’re done watching. Depending on where they fall in your funnel, it could be “Check out this blog post”, “Sign up to get this free eBook”, “Book an appointment now”, etc.
If you don’t use a CTA, it’s probably best not to use video ads at all…it will end up costing you time and money, and you’re unlikely to get ANY results.
Final Thoughts
If you’re unhappy with the results you’re getting from your Facebook Lives, I’d strongly encourage you to test out some retargeting campaigns. Video retargeting lets you reconnect with your viewers, ultimately leading to increased views, leads and sales!
Looking for more info on using Facebook Live for your business? You’ll find these helpful:
Top 22 Ways To Use Facebook Live To Marketing Your Business
5 Ways To Broadcast Live On Facebook On Any Budget
Facebook Live Marketing Blueprint
Do you use retargeting for your Facebook Lives? Why or why not? Leave a comment below!
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Exactly, Patrick! Glad I could be helpful!