How retargeting works
Retargeting, also called remarketing, means serving ads to people who have already shown interest: they visited the site, added to cart, watched most of a video, or followed the account. The ad platforms build these audiences from a tracking pixel or app events and from engagement on their own apps. Because the audience already knows you, retargeting usually converts better and costs more per thousand impressions than prospecting to strangers.
Privacy changes have shrunk these audiences, especially on iOS, so on-platform engagement audiences (people who watched a video or visited the profile) carry more of the load than they used to.
Which creator content works for warm audiences
A retargeting audience has seen the pitch and hesitated, so a second copy of the same ad rarely helps. Give them the content that answers the hesitation: a creator comparing the product with the alternative they are considering, a testimonial video addressing price or results, a demonstration of setup, or a clear offer with a deadline.
This is a strong reason to commission several angles from one shoot. The hook-led video prospects; the objection-handling cut retargets. Plan both in the brief so the creator films the extra lines while they have the product in hand.
Avoiding retargeting fatigue
Warm audiences are small, so the same people see the ads often. Watch ad frequency and rotate fresh creative before results slide; three or four creator variations in rotation usually beat one ad shown ten times.
Exclude recent buyers, cap the window to the buying cycle (a week for impulse items, a month or more for considered ones), and do not count retargeting sales as new demand when you judge the whole programme.
How it's used
The cart-abandoner audience is seeing the same demo for the fifth time, so swap in the comparison video this week.
Prospecting gets the hook-led cut; retargeting gets the creator answering 'is it worth the price'.