Archives November 2014

Reviewing Facebook metrics can sometimes leave you confused. Data and numbers change all the time and I’m sure this is one task you prefer someone else to do for you- even I do at times!

Facebook Insights are loaded with tech terms, numbers, graphs and dates. Fear not! It can seem overwhelming if you don’t know what to look at, so allow me to simplify the process and point out which items should really matter to you.

THE INSIGHTS DASHBOARD

Your Facebook Page Insights is the tab/area to visit to learn more about your metrics and page data. This section is activated when at least 30 people like you page.

• To find your Page Insights, click Insights at the top of your Page.
• Once on the Insight page, view the metrics about your Page performance by clicking the sections at the header.
• To export your insights data, click Export in the top-right corner. You may want to do this to share with a marketing expert or to archive for your own files.

What Do You See In The Insights Dashboard?

• Likes – How many people like your page in a week.
• Post Reach – Reach is the number of unique people who received impressions of a Page post. Reach might be less than impressions, since one person can see multiple impressions.
• Engagement – How many people like, comment, share and click links of your posts on a weekly basis.

So out of all of that, what really matters?

1. Fans

Your Fans tab are the people who liked your page. You can find this by clicking People tab.

Facebook curates data on Gender, Age, Country, City and Language. Although Facebook privacy rules state Page admins cannot view detailed personal data, Insights has made statistical data for you to get a profile of your general audience.

In this screenshot, notice that my Page attracts both men and women almost equally, and most of them are between 25-34 and 35-44 years in age.

WHAT DOES IT TELL ME?

This tells me to prepare content that speaks directly to the majority of the demographic who follows my page. In this example, the audience group suggests young-middle age adults; educated and professional, both male and female, who follows my page to learn more about Facebook marketing.
So when developing content my style and tone should address that type of audience.

2. Engagement

People Engaged refers to the people who have liked, commented on, or shared your posts or engaged with your Page in the past 28 days.

So in this figure, women who are between 35-44 years old seem to engage more frequently on my Page posts.

WHAT DOES IT TELL ME?

If you look you see I have an equal number of men and women liking my page, but it is the women who are sharing the buzz… maybe I can improve engagement by posting content that is more appealing to men? Or, when I promote something on my Page using Facebook Ads, perhaps I only focus on women to share content.

3. Timing 

Under the Post tab, you will see a section called When Your Fans Are Online. This is one of my favorite things to look at because it tells me what time of the day fans are online in a week.

HOW DOES THIS HELP?

This insight helps you to schedule posts and ads during the optimal times your audience is on Facebook.

4. Types of Posts

Also under the Posts tab, you can find a table list of every post to your page over the last few weeks, the types of post and their engagement metrics.

WHAT DOES IT TELL ME?

Looking at the type post is important, since it will give you an idea what type of content your fans like. This could be photos, a link, videos or status update. Generally, photos receive the highest engagement on Facebook and fans enjoy graphics.

5. Where People Click

On the Likes tab scroll down until you see the ‘Where Your Page Likes Happened’ graph. Remember that Your Page can be liked even without loading your Page. For example, the Like button can be found on paid ads, Page suggestions, as well as like box widgets on other websites.

On this chart you’ll also see the like sources:

• On your Page – Someone hits the like button on your Page.
• Ads and Sponsored Stories- Someone hits the like button of a Facebook Ad.
• Page Suggestions – News Feed shows suggestions of pages or posts to like.
• Mobile – Someone clicked “like�? from a mobile device.
• Others – Like box widgets or links found on other places like 3rd-party apps or websites outside Facebook.

WHAT DOES IT TELL ME?

This helps you to discover where do most people click the like button. From here optimize your ads.

To recap, here are a few things to consider when looking at your insights and metrics:

• Know your fans. Who are your attracting?
• Pay attention to engagement. Who can help you spread the buzz?
• Timing is key. Determine the best time of day to post content.
• Types of posts matter. Understand the posts your fans are engaging with and why.
• Where do likes come from? Where can else you optimize your page presence to be liked?

Focus on these numbers and don’t get distracted by the vast amount of date in your Facebook Insight dashboard. If you need more help deciphering what really matters, I’m always here to help.