You have your Facebook fan page and you’ve placed a couple of Facebook Ads. You see new people “like” your page here and there. You even have some regular comments. But how do you know your page is “working” for you? Welcome to Facebook Insights.
Currently, when you are on your fan page, the Insights are available on the left side of the page, under your profile photo (you can view old insights on the right hand of your page). You can view insights on your page or export it to view elsewhere. Choose your data type, date range and file format. You are then off to the races.
There will be four numbers at the top of your page. First will be the total number of people who have “liked” your page. Second, Facebook lists the number of friends your fans have. This is the potential reach you would have if you used Ads or Sponsored Stories to reach just the friends of your fans. Third number is “people are talking about this.” It is the number of people who have created a story about your page in the last week. The final number is the total reach. This is the total number of people who have seen any content associated with your page (including Ads or Sponsored Stories) within the last week.
To better explain “people are talking about this,” Facebook says that it includes anyone who has liked your page, commented/liked/shared your page post, answered a Question you asked, responded to an event you posted, mentioned your page, tagged your page in a photo, or checked-in/recommended your page. The more people talking about your page, the further your reach on Facebook. The only two numbers visible to your fans are “total likes” and “people talking about this.”
The best way to get people talking about your page is to make sure you have interesting and engaging content. Post photos. Ask questions. The more people engage on your page, the more others will see that interaction and may then join the conversation.
Facebook further analyzes each individual post on your page by breaking down the reach (number of people who have seen the post), engaged users (the number of people who have clicked on your post), talking about this (the number of people who have liked/commented/re-posted your content), and virality (number of people who have created a story from your post as a percentage of the number of people who have seen it).
Understanding which posts are most engaging to your specific customer base can help you choose future posts. You can click on any of the posts to get a Reach graph. This will show you the number of people who saw the post on their page organically, the number who saw it due to a paid Ad, and the number who saw it posted from a story published by another friend (viral post).
Facebook also offers the Engaged Users graph and Talking About This graph to further decide which posts are most interesting to your fans.
You can click the Fans tab to learn more about your current fan base: the country and city in which they reside, their gender, age and language. You can also learn the number of new likes or unlikes, and the “like” sources. Did your new fan see you on someone else’s page? Did they click on a Sponsored Story or Facebook Ad? Did another fan write a Recommendation for you? You can also see other fan pages who have liked your page and whether fans liked your page through a social plug-in on an external site.
The Reach tab also gives you additional information about the people you are reaching and how you are reaching them. The Frequency graph shoes the number of people who have seen content about your page in the last week. The Talking About This tab is just one more way to break down information so you can understand who is talking about your page.
Facebook has an almost endless number of potential fans and customers. This may seem like a lot of information to process but the end result is simple: Post interesting content and the fans will come.
