Dear Facebook business page users: How relevant are your ads?

Has your company recently paid for and place an ad on Facebook? If you’re keeping track of those results (and please tell us you are!) you probably noticed a new term, “relevancy score.” So, what’s that all about?

A Relevance Score metric, launched in February by Facebook, allows you to understand how your ad is resonating with your audience. This score is important, as it will affect both ad delivery and the cost you are paying for campaigns. Here’s the low-down on this new metric and how you can be using it to better your Facebook campaigns.

What is the relevance score?

The Facebook relevance score, as stated above, is a number from 1-10 that lets you know how relevant an ad is to an audience. Take note – this score measures how relevant your ad is, not the quality of your ad. This score will not tell you if you chose a good image or if you have great copy, but rather if your chosen demographic is engaging with your ad and if they find the message relevant. For example, your Facebook ad for designer hand bags, as great as your picture and content are, will not resonate well with a male demographic who is 15-25 years old and will land you a low relevance score on the 1-10 scale.

Positive and negative feedback factor into the relevance score equation. Positive feedback can include video views, conversions, website clicks and more; hidden or reported ads, on the other hand, are negative feedback and will lower your score. Facebook continually updates this relevance score as users interact and give feedback on your advertisement. Another factor to note, ads with “guaranteed delivery” or those that are bought through reach and frequency, will not be affected by this relevance score.

Why does this score matter?

Not only will this relevance score help you understand how your ad is performing with your selected demographic, but it will also be a direct link to your advertising costs. In their feature announcement, Facebook explained that the higher your score, the lower your cost of ad delivery will be. Their goal is to show users the most relevant ads, which means they will reward companies for placing quality and relevant ads. Ads that score highly will be featured higher than other ads that are targeting the same demographics. Clicks and impressions will be more expensive for those who have poor relevance scores on their ad. Business pages placing ads can also check their relevance scores to know when to refresh ads – if your score begins to drop, it may be time for a fresh ad or image.

Time to come out on top

Okay, quick refresher – the relevance score is all about your ad’s relevance. That’s easy enough to remember, right? To increase your score, you need to be creating ads that address the needs and wants of your specific demographic. Here are a few tips to improve your relevance score and stay on top of your Facebook advertisement game:

1. Be specific with your target

Identify your specific buyer persona and cater your ad to their needs. Narrow your audience down by age, location, interests and behaviors to ensure you are resonating with your audience and receiving positive feedback.

2. Attract attention through images and text

Your ad images and text need to catch your audience’s attention and also resonate with them. The image or video is the first thing your audience will notice, so focus on finding a great visual. Your message should be simple and relate to what you are trying to promote.

3. Test it out

Test multiple designs and audiences on a smaller level to find combinations with the highest engagement and relevance scores. Looks for patterns in existing ads to discover what they have in common and which ads score higher in relevance.

Facebook advertising can be a little tricky, but when executed correctly it offers great returns for businesses who are advertising and engaging online. If you have more questions on Facebook relevance scores or other business advertising, give us a shout!