A primer for event marketers on the history of the Facebook ad relevance score and the latest round of updates.
The one constant in social media marketing is change – and it’s especially true on the world’s largest social platform, Facebook.
In recent years, not only has Facebook received a visual upgrade, made updates to its algorithm, and put a greater emphasis on privacy and messaging, but the ad platform has evolved too, which has a trickle-down effect to Facebook ad metrics.
To help event marketers get a better handle on the history of the Facebook ad relevance score and the latest round of updates to the metric, the Tag Digital team put together this primer.
The History of the Facebook Ad Relevance Score
It was back in 2015 when Facebook launched its ad relevance score. Scored between 1 and 10, with 10 being most relevant, the ad relevance score provided advertisers with valuable insights into how relevant and engaging ads were to audiences.
As explained by Facebook at the time:
“Relevance score is calculated based on the positive and negative feedback we expect an ad to receive from its target audience. The more positive interactions we expect an ad to receive, the higher the ad’s relevance score will be. (Positive indicators vary depending on the ad’s objective, but may include video views, conversions, etc.) The more times we expect people to hide or report an ad, the lower its score will be.”
The relevance score also influenced how much Facebook charged for a click and how often the ad was served. The higher an ad’s relevance score, the less the delivery cost.
Ultimately, the ad relevance score provided advertisers with basic information on how to create a better ad experience for potential customers and maximise ad spend.
Replacing the Ad Relevance Score
After several years with the single ad relevance score, earlier this year, Facebook announced it would begin rolling out updates to ad metrics and replace the single relevance score with three new, more granular relevance metrics:
- Quality ranking
- Engagement rate ranking
- Conversion rate ranking
Facebook has said that these new levels of “granularity will offer reporting that’s more actionable” for advertisers.
How will these new metrics improve ad relevance measurement?
- The new quality ranking metric allows marketers to measure the perceived quality of ads compared to other ads competing for the same audience.
- Engagement rate ranking provides insights into the expected engagement of ads compared with ads competing for the same audience.
- Conversion rate ranking compares an ad’s expected conversion rate with other ads having the same optimisation goal and competing for the same audience.
For advertisers, and especially event marketers, these new relevance diagnostics make it easier to identify specific elements to optimise ad performance. For example:
- If quality ranking is lacking, look for ways to make the ad more relevant to audiences, such as updating the creative (the image, the copy, or both).
- If the engagement rate ranking is low, consider changing the call-to-action or up-leveling the creative to increase likes or comments.
- And if the conversion rate could use a boost, re-examine the campaign landing page or form to see if improvements can be made.
For more insights about understanding and analysing the new Facebook ad relevance metrics to create effective event marketing PPC campaigns, let’s chat!