How to Run Retargeting Ads on Instagram

Most people who see your Instagram ad for the first time won't buy right away. That's not a failure on your part - it's just how people shop online. The real opportunity lies in reconnecting with those who showed interest but got distracted. This guide will walk you through setting up powerful Instagram retargeting ads, step-by-step, to bring those potential customers back and turn their initial curiosity into a sale.

What Exactly Is Instagram Retargeting?

In simple terms, Instagram retargeting is the strategy of showing ads specifically to people who have already interacted with your brand in some way. These aren't cold strangers, they are "warm" leads who have visited your website, engaged with your Instagram profile, watched your videos, or even added a product to their cart. Instead of shouting into a void hoping someone new will listen, you're having a follow-up conversation with an audience that already knows who you are. This simple shift is what makes retargeting one of the most effective advertising strategies available to businesses of all sizes.

Why Retargeting is a Game-Changer

If you're going to spend money on ads, you want the best possible return. Retargeting consistently delivers because it's hyper-focused on an interested audience. Here's why it works so well:

• Higher Conversion Rates: The average person needs to see or hear about a brand multiple times before making a purchase. A well-placed retargeting ad can be the final nudge they need when they're already partway through the decision-making process.
• Better Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Because you're advertising to people more likely to convert, your ad budget goes much further. You spend less to acquire each customer, making your overall marketing more profitable.
• Builds Brand Recall and Trust: Staying visible keeps your brand top-of-mind. When a potential customer sees your ads again after visiting your site, it builds familiarity and reinforces that your business is established and trustworthy.
• Personalized and Relevant Messaging: You can create ads that speak directly to a user's previous actions. Someone abandoned their cart? Show them an ad with that exact product and maybe a small discount code. Someone watched 75% of your product video? Show them an ad with customer testimonials for that product.

Before You Start: The Essential Setup

Before you can run a single retargeting ad, you need to lay the technical groundwork. This is the most important part of the process, as it allows Meta (the company behind Instagram and Facebook) to collect the data you'll use to build your audiences. Don't skip these steps!

1. Set Up Your Meta Pixel

The Meta Pixel is a small snippet of code that you place on your website. It acts as an analytics tool that tracks how visitors interact with your site and connects those actions back to their Instagram and Facebook profiles. It's the brain behind your retargeting campaigns.

How to get it:

1. Navigate to Meta Events Manager.
2. Click the green plus icon that says "Connect Data Sources" and select "Web."
3. Select "Meta Pixel" and give your pixel a name (e.g., YourBrand's Pixel).
4. You'll be prompted to add the pixel code to your website. You have a few options:
   • Use a partner integration: If your site is on a platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace, there's likely a simple integration that lets you connect by just pasting in your Pixel ID.
   • Manually install the code: You can copy the base code and paste it into the header section of your website's code, just before the closing <,/head>, tag.

Once installed, use the "Meta Pixel Helper" Chrome extension to confirm it's active and firing correctly on your website.

2. Verify Your Domain

Domain verification is a step Meta now requires to prove you own your website. It's essential for configuring your pixel events, especially with changes related to user privacy and iOS 14+. It gives you control over how other parties use your domain in ads.

How to do it:

1. In Meta Business Suite or Business Manager, go to Business Settings.
2. Under the "Brand Safety" tab, click on "Domains."
3. Click "Add," enter your domain name, and follow the verification instructions. You'll typically have options like adding a DNS TXT record, uploading an HTML file, or adding a meta-tag to your website's header.

3. Configure Your Conversion Events

An "event" is just a specific action someone takes on your site, like viewing a page, adding an item to their cart, or making a purchase. You need to tell Meta which events are most important to your business. Thanks to Apple's privacy updates, you must now prioritize your top eight conversion events through a feature called Aggregated Event Measurement.

For retargeting, the most common events you'll want to track are:

• ViewContent: When someone views a product page.
• AddToCart: When someone adds a product to their shopping cart.
• InitiateCheckout: When someone starts the checkout process.
• Purchase: When someone completes a purchase.

You can set these up using the Events Manager "Event Setup Tool" or through your e-commerce platform's integration settings. After setting them up, be sure to go to Aggregated Event Measurement and prioritize them in order of importance (with "Purchase" at the top).

Building Your Warm Audiences: The Heart of Retargeting

With the pixel collecting data, you can now start creating the "Custom Audiences" that your ads will target. This is where the magic happens. Navigate to your Ads Manager >, Audiences tool and click "Create Audience" >, "Custom Audience".

Here are the most valuable custom audiences you should build right away:

Website Visitors

This is your broadest and most fundamental retargeting audience. Your data source will be your "Website."

• All Website Visitors: Create an audience of everyone who visited your website in the last 30, 60, or 90 days. This is great for general brand awareness campaigns.
• Visitors by Specific Page: Target people who visited key pages, like your pricing page or specific product collections. This shows high intent. Example: Target people who visited "/new-collection" but not the "/thank-you" purchase confirmation page.
• Visitors by Time Spent: You can even create an audience of the top 25%, 10%, or 5% of your website visitors by time spent. These are your most engaged browsers.

Instagram Engagers

This group hasn't necessarily been to your website, but they've actively engaged with you on Instagram. Your data source will be "Instagram Account."

• Everyone who engaged with your professional account: This includes anyone who visited your profile, liked, commented, saved, or messaged you. An excellent all-purpose warm audience.
• People who visited your profile: These people were curious enough to tap through to see who you are.
• People who saved any post or ad: A save is a huge indicator of interest. They are keeping your content for later, so remind them why they saved it.

Video Viewers

Video is a powerful way to gauge interest. Someone who watches a significant portion of your video shows much higher intent than someone who just scrolls past an image. Your source will be "Video."

• Create audiences based on the length of time people watched: 25%, 50%, 75%, or 95% (ThruPlay).
• Pro Tip: Create a highly engaged audience of users who watched at least 50% of your key product demonstration videos. Then, retarget them with a testimonial ad to seal the deal.

The Abandoned Cart Audience (For E-commerce)

This is perhaps the most profitable retargeting audience you can build. These people were *this close* to buying.

• Source: Website
• Event: Choose "AddToCart" in the last 14 or 30 days.
• Crucially, click "Exclude" and choose the "Purchase" event for the same time frame. This ensures your ad only goes to people who added to a cart but did not buy.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your First Instagram Retargeting Ad

With your audiences ready, it's time to build the campaign in Meta Ads Manager.

Step 1: Choose Your Campaign Objective

For retargeting, your goal is almost always to drive a direct action. In Ads Manager, you should choose the "Sales" objective (formerly known as "Conversions"). This tells Meta's algorithm to find the people within your custom audience who are most likely to complete a purchase based on their past behavior.

Step 2: Define Your Ad Set (The "Who" and "Where")

This is where you tell Meta who to target, where to show the ad, and how much to spend.

• Audience: In the "Custom Audiences" section, select one of the warm audiences you just created. For example, choose your "Abandoned Cart - Last 14 Days" audience. Remember to use the exclude function to remove recent purchasers.
• Placements: You can select "Advantage+ Placements" to let Meta decide where to show your ad for the best results, or you can choose "Manual Placements." For a campaign laser-focused on Instagram, pick Manual Placements and select only Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels.
• Budget &, Schedule: Start with a modest daily budget, like $10 or $20. You can always scale up once you see positive results.

Step 3: Design Your Ad Creative (The "What")

Your ad creative needs to be tailored to a warm audience. They've seen your brand before, so don't run the exact same ad you showed them the first time. Here are some strategies for high-performing retargeting ads:

• Overcome Objections: Was price the issue? Offer a 10% discount code or free shipping to encourage them to complete their purchase. Were they unsure? Show a user-generated content (UGC) ad featuring a happy customer or a short video testimonial.
• Use a Carousel to Show Product Variety: If they looked at one pair of shoes, a carousel ad could show them similar styles or different color options.
• Remind them with Dynamic Product Ads (DPA): For e-commerce stores with many products, this is a must. A DPA campaign automatically creates and shows ads to people featuring the exact products they viewed or added to their cart on your website. It's automated and incredibly effective.
• Create a Sense of Urgency: Use ad copy like "Your cart is about to expire," "Limited stock remaining," or "Sale ends tonight" to encourage immediate action.
• Keep the CTA Clear: Use a direct call-to-action button like "Shop Now," "Finish Checking Out," or "Get Your Discount."

Final Thoughts

Running Instagram retargeting ads isn't about complexity, it's about having a thoughtful conversation with an already-interested audience. By setting up your Meta Pixel, building strategic Custom Audiences based on user behavior, and serving them relevant creative, you can create a powerful system that consistently turns warm leads into loyal customers and maximizes the return on every dollar you spend.

Of course, a powerful retargeting campaign is fueled by a strong organic social media presence, which builds the interested audience in the first place. That's why we built Postbase. Our visual planning tools make it easy to map out a steady stream of engaging content, while our unified inbox helps you nurture the community interactions that create brand affinity long before they'd ever see an ad. A solid, reliably scheduled content calendar isn't just good for growth - it's the foundation for your most profitable paid campaigns.