We’ve talked about important trends to spot in a Twitter analytics dashboard. We’ve also touched on Google Analytics metrics and why LinkedIn marketing is a must. Now it’s time to take a closer look at Facebook analytics, including five must-track metrics.
Fans
Fans, fans, and more fans. There is nothing more important than this, right? While there are other metrics to track, this one definitely deserves your attention.
In short, this is the cumulative number of people that like your page. Breaking this down, pay close attention to your daily, weekly, and monthly growth.
Tip: Test out a Like Facebook ad campaign and see what happens. Facebook Ads expert Jon Loomer has a great article on how to get more Likes and Fans. At Dasheroo we have one constantly running so when we have something to announce we’ve built a big audience to talk to.
Shares
Posting content to Facebook is a good thing. Having this content shared by others is powerful.
You should track the shares of content on your page by day, week, and month. Just the same as fans, you want to experience positive growth. And shares are more powerful than likes since the content someone is sharing is actually displayed on their page.
And since someone doesn’t have to Like your page in order to share your content even better!
Facebook expert Mari Smith has a great infographic on how to increase Facebook Shares.
Comments
Much the same as shares, this is an “engagement” metric. It shows that people are doing more than reading your content. They are also commenting, giving you valuable feedback that can help you generate a more targeted Facebook marketing strategy.
You want to know how many comments your page is receiving (daily, weekly, monthly).
Scott Ayers Co-author of Facebook All-In-One for Dummies tells you 4 types of posts that will get your more comments.
Likes
Likes have been driving the Facebook engine since day one. In the same mold as shares and comments, likes show that your audience is interested in what you’re saying.
A steady increase in likes shows that your audience is growing and your content is “sticking.”
Reach
Facebook marketing success is all about activity. You want to reach as wide an audience as possible. Furthermore, you want to track your reach (also referred to as impressions).
With this metric, you can track the total number of people who could have seen any activity on your page, such as: posts by the page, posts by other people, page links, mentions (and more).
Final Word
With more than one billion daily active users, Facebook provides the opportunity to reach a humongous audience. You should have three goals in mind:
- Reach as many people as possible.
- Experience positive growth.
- Track the appropriate metrics to pinpoint your successes, failures, and potential strategy changes.
P.S. Don’t forget to check out our free social media dashboard from Dasheroo. Track all of your important social media KPIs in one nifty spot!