Facebook Insights is one of the newest and most helpful features that can help business owners track exactly who is looking at their Facebook business page, when they are looking, and what they are looking at. Facebook Insights provides you with the information you need to see what parts of your Facebook marketing tactics earn the largest response from your customers. However, as informative as this tool can be, it can also be confusing and overwhelming. In this post we’ll cover the basics of Facebook Insights, some important metrics, and how to view them and make sense of them.
What are Facebook Insights?
Facebook Insights is a tool that collects, tracks, and displays user interaction data on your Facebook business page. Like Google Analytics for your website, Facebook Insights is used to quantify, measure, and optimize your business page’s performance. Insights can be seen by all of your business page’s administrators, and can help you identify the best times to post, the most popular and engaging content for your users, and much more.
Related: How to Make Facebook Work for Your Business
How to View Insights on Facebook
To view Facebook Insights for your business page, head to your page and at the top there will be a menu bar with an Insights tab. Once you’ve selected this, you can see different metrics about your page by clicking on the various options on the menu on the left side of the screen. There, you will have options to view such as Page Views, Publications, and Videos.
Facebook Insights Metrics
Below is an example of what your dashboard look like when you viewing Facebook Insights Metrics. You will be able to see Actions on your page, Page Views, Page Likes, Reach, Engagements, Messages, and Videos over the past seven days. In addition, you will be able to graphically see the changes week over week, as well as the exact percentage of change.
Facebook Metrics will also let you compare a group of your most recent posts to see what type of content is attracting the most engagement. With this strategy you can find exactly which types of social media posts to focus on, whether your audience responds more to text posts, curated link posts, or another type of status update.
You can use Facebook Insights to not only see how many likes and unlikes you’ve received, but you will also be able to see exactly where they came from, whether it’s from your page, page suggestions, an ad, or other platform. In terms of reach, this graph from Insights shows the exact number of people your posts have reached, both organically and through promotions. This will give you an at-a-glance look to see if your Facebook ads and posts are working.
Facebook Insights Glossary
Overview
This tab allows you to easily view and interpret the most important data on your page, including new page likes, and engagement over the past week.
Promotions
Facebook promotions can range from a giveaway, contest, competition, or other offering that helps you interact with your followers while simultaneously highlighting certain aspects of your business.
Likes
Likes are a fast and easy way for your followers to let you know they have seen, enjoyed, and acknowledged your post.
Reach
The number of unique Facebook users who see your content. This affects other trackable metrics such as engagement, likes, comments, clicks, and negative feedback. There are also different types of reach such as post, page, organic, viral, and paid. This is similar to search engine marketing, where your business can appear as an organic or paid listing.
Page Views
This section of Facebook lets you see information about the people who view your Facebook. Page Views show that people are taking part in a higher level of engagement by actually seeking out information on your page, rather than simply liking a post that shows up on their own Timeline.
Actions on Page
Actions represent the number of times people have taken an action, such as liking your page, after being exposed to your ad on Facebook.
Posts
Also known as a “status update,” a post is a comment, picture, or other type of media that is posted on a Facebook user’s Timeline. Keep in mind that not all posts have to be status updates. In fact, it might be that none of your posts are status updates. Typically, businesses post useful and relevant content for their target audience, with some company updates sprinkled in here and there.
Branded Content
Content that features a third party product, brand, or sponsor. This type of content is usually posted by media companies or other thought leaders and influencers.
Events
Calendar-based resource that can be used to alert your Facebook fans of upcoming events that you are hosting or attending. These can be open to the public so your followers can invite their friends, or private so that you specifically select who you are inviting to the event.
Video
Videos are now auto-played as users scroll past them, making them much more eye-catching than before. Videos provide an outlet to educate your audience about who you are and what your business does, include a call to action to tell your audience how to further engage with your business, and how to contact you. These videos create a more personal experience for your customers rather than having them just read a text post.
Local
Once called “Facebook Nearby,” Local is a mobile application feature is a way for users to find local business recommendations. This feature can be used by tapping the menu button in the lower right hand of the app, then clicking on “local search” in the menu. From there, users can search by name or type of business to see what’s around them.
Messages
Messages that your Facebook fans send will go directly to your business’ account so you can keep your personal account private. This feature allows your fans to send you personal messages without having to call or visit your business.
Hopefully this post as equipped you to view and make sense of Facebook Insights, ultimately being able to specialize your Facebook page to the needs and wants of your Facebook Fans.
