Now that we’ve got you covered when it comes to Twitter Analytics, (see Shamyla’s posts: Twitalytics & Twitter’s Hidden Gem) lets have a look at Facebook Insights.
There’s a lot of metrics available to help you understand what’s going on with your Facebook page. But sometimes this can be a bit of information overload, especially if you don’t know what to make of it. You’ll find this blog is broken down into 5 subsections, corresponding directly to the tabs on your Facebook page’s Insights section: Overview, Likes, Reach, Visits, Posts and People. Our goal is to give you a little cheat sheet as to how to handle the information in each of these sections.
Overview
This is a 7 day summary including the present day. This doesn’t tell you much, but it’ll hint if your hard work paid off or if you’ll need to rethink your whole approach. If graphs are going up, smile! If they’re going down, it’s time to roll up your sleeves. Either way, you’ll need to delve into the data further.
Likes
Data here is broken down in the long and short term as well as where they came from. You should be looking at how your page likes are reflecting growth. Look over the data to see which posts triggered spikes for a better understanding of what’s working (likes) and what’s not (unlikes).
Do not overlook where your likes happened! Was it from an ad or story? On your page? On mobile? From a page invite? Or even the suggested pages section? You might gain some strategic information on where likes are coming from and you’ll be able to potentially adapt your posts to optimize your conversion rates.
Reach
Use this page to answer the questions: How did my Facebook advertising dollars perform? How many Facebook users did I reach organically vs. paid? Use this information to tweak your budget.
Visits
Here again we focus on the where. Look at the External Referrers chart. This is your Facebook page’s equivalent of traffic sources on Google Analytics. Your website is probably going to be the number one referrer here and if it’s not, you should probably get yourself a like box on your website!
Posts
There is a lot in this section, including another 3 subsections. But there’s a great reason for it. Say you’ve seen a spike with an unlikely post. Here you can really explore the granular details of that individual post’s performance. Use this information to further target and speak to your fans, keeping your page relevant.
There’s also a chart that breaks down when your fans are online. By scheduling posts at times when your fan base is especially active, you’ll be able to further engage them.
Another fun tool here is the ‘Top Posts From Pages You Watch’ subsection. This gives you some small insights into how your competition is doing. You might want to apply some growth hacking here if you see they’re having better-than-average success. Look over their posts and review what’s working for them and if a similar approach would work for you. Launch an exciting promotion to bring your fans back, but whatever you do, don’t ignore this data.
People
The very last tab gives you the demographics about the fans you reached, the fans who liked your page and the fans who are actively engaged. Be proactive with this information and contextualize your marketing, adjusting your approach to maintain relevancy with them.
We’d love to hear more from you and how you’ve been using Facebook. Share your tips and tricks in the comments section below!