If you are developing an online marketing strategy for your business you already know that knowledge is power. Through the power of the internet/social media that knowledge is available to you, for FREE, and is being served up regularly on your Facebook Page. Fan Page owners, you should know that your ‘Admin Panel’ is constantly tracking data about your posts and who is responding to them. This is a valuable tool for your online marketing.
Finding the Insights
Most people that already have a Fan Page know that the ‘Admin Panel’ can be accessed by clicking on the button called Show/Hide at the far right of the Admin Panel that is at the top your Fan Page just above your cover photo. But, many of you have seldom gone further than the first page which tracks your ‘Likes’ plus has tools for building your audience. In the bottom center of this page is a section called ‘Insights’ which is showing you a trend line of your posts, people talking about your posts, and your weekly total reach. Useful, right? Right!
What most do not do is click on ‘see all’ at the top of the ‘Insights’ section. Click and prepare to be amazed! For a brief review, let’s start from the top. Notice that you are on the Overview page and that there are also buttons for Likes, Reach, Talking About This, and Checking In. Each of these buttons tells you a detailed story. For example – the Likes page is going to graphically present the gender and age of your fans in a bar chart, as well as show the location of your fans by city and country. This page will also tell you the source of new fans. Knowing where your new fans are finding you (your page, your newsfeed, your website) can be very useful information.
Take the time to drill down to see all the data stories these buttons offer you. Trust me, if you are feeling resistance to this exercise know that this information is served up in a useful format and is very user-friendly. Watch for little blue question marks – hover over the question mark and quickly learn about a particular data set.
Back to the Overview page, the next line in blue has tools for you to export data if you choose (this can be very useful for creating reports). Next to the Export Data button is a small drop down button with a wheel on it. This button gives you access to a Facebook guide to the Insights section and other resources.
Facebook Insight Trend Report as a Personal Scorecard
For me, the next line acts like a personal scorecard, giving me regular feedback on how my Fanpage is trending. I find the green up arrow or red down arrow very motivating. For example, a downward trend on the Weekly Total Reach tells me I need to look at the time and frequency of my posts. To figure out what is working I can just go to a higher point on the blue weekly trend line and review and compare the posts for that particular week.
Scroll down to the Page Posts section. Notice that it organizes each of your posts by Date, Type, Reach, Engaged Users, Talking About This and Virality. Don’t forget to use the little blue question mark to understand the data source details. What I find compelling here is the ability to instantly re-organize this data. Click on any one of these buttons and you will see your posts re-ordered from top to bottom. For example, today I found that the post that I made about the new Facebook post scheduling feature reached the most fans of all my posts. These buttons provide you with the insights you need to continuously add value and attract your customers to your page.
By the Numbers
Last, a note about numbers of fans. In order to begin to reap the benefits of your fan page Insights you need to know that the feature does not work until you hit the minimum of 30 Likes. There are also some data sets that require a significantly higher number of Likes before you can access them. If you are just getting started with your Fan Page don’t get discouraged about your low numbers. Even at lower numbers (under 100 likes) you will notice that your potential universe of friends of fans is a significant number and holds great possibility.
Also, look at the weekly total reach number – even if these numbers are in the low hundreds they can be easily improved by reviewing your Insights and taking some actions. I like to look at the weekly total reach number and compare it to a direct mail campaign. What would it be costing you in time and money to be sending out relevant weekly messages in the same quantity to your customers and potential customers? With your Facebook Fan Page you have the opportunity to do just that with only a modest investment of time. The bonus here is that you have the feedback component available to you directly from your target audience via the Facebook Fan Page Insights.
Go ahead, take a look. It can’t hurt, and it could really help.
My best to you – Katie Donovan
For more ideas, visit my Facebook Fan page K.Donovan Consulting and “Like” it to receive regular updates, you can find it on the sidebar.
