Many marketers focus heavily on maximizing reach when running paid social campaigns. While it might feel good to see your content viewed by tens or hundreds of thousands, the real question is: are those views from people who matter?
In today’s competitive landscape, targeting the right audience with a relevant message is far more valuable than broadcasting to the masses. Reach might provide visibility, but relevance delivers engagement, leads, and ROI.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Projected global and U.S. social ad spend, highlighting growth and cost metrics
According to a 2024 Meta Performance Report, ads with high relevance scores had a 36% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) than those with low relevance. In addition, campaigns that optimized for audience relevance achieved 23% higher conversion rates.
What Is Relevance in Paid Social?
Relevance in paid social campaigns refers to how well your ad content aligns with the interests, behaviors, and needs of your targeted audience. This includes:
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Contextual ad creative
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Audience behavior insights
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Granular demographic targeting
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Custom audiences built from behavioral data
The Facebook Relevance Score (now evolved into three separate metrics: Quality Ranking, Engagement Rate Ranking, and Conversion Rate Ranking) emphasizes the importance of delivering the right message to the right user.
Why Reach Alone Falls Short
Mobile-first ad revenue trend: U.S., China and Europe social spend rising sharply since 2017
High reach doesn’t guarantee impact. Here’s why:
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Wasted Budget: Showing your ad to a broad, uninterested audience leads to low engagement and high CPA.
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Ad Fatigue: Broad targeting often results in people seeing the same ad multiple times without taking action.
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Lower Relevance Score: Platforms like Facebook penalize irrelevant ads, reducing delivery and increasing costs.
Instead, optimizing for audience match and message alignment drives actual business results.
Precision Targeting with Lookalike and Retargeting Strategies
By using advanced tools like custom audiences and lookalike audiences, brands can zero in on users who are most likely to convert. Retargeting warm audiences (such as website visitors or Facebook Page engagers) with tailored messaging often leads to conversion rates 2-3x higher than cold prospecting.
Learn more about how to use lookalikes and retargeting in our articles:
The Power of Behavioral Data
Using behavioral data to build custom audiences allows for campaigns with laser-sharp relevance. With LeadEnforce, you can create hyper-targeted Facebook Custom Audiences based on:
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Page engagement
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Competitor followers
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Specific interest groups
This level of granularity ensures your message resonates with people who are already primed to engage.
Improve Facebook Ad Performance with Relevance First Strategy
To get the most out of your paid social efforts, prioritize relevance across all campaign elements:
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Use interest-based targeting
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Analyze and adjust for engagement metrics
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Craft ad creatives tailored to each audience segment
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Continuously test and refine for higher conversion
Also check out our guide: 10 Ways to Improve Facebook Ad Performance
Conclusion: Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
Paid social is no longer about casting the widest net. It's about smart, strategic engagement with the right audience. Brands that embrace relevance over reach are more likely to see lower costs, higher engagement, and better overall ROI.
Start focusing on what matters: audience quality, message match, and campaign relevance. The reach will follow—and it will be worth far more.
