Ok — you’ve set up a Facebook page for your business. You post to it every once in a while. You may have even amassed a decent following. But are you taking advantage of all of the ways that you can grow your business on social media?
There is some low-hanging fruit that you might not be aware of. It’s called Facebook Insights.
Facebook Insights is the accumulation of the data that Facebook has collected related to your brand page and your followers. You may have given this section of your Facebook page a cursory glance, but the data here deserves a deep dive. It is not only a powerful visual representation of how your social media account is doing, but also an opportunity to improve your page, reach more people, and build the kind of Facebook presence that will make your competition jealous.
If you’re just starting out with Facebook Insights, here are three sections that could have a tremendous impact on your page.
Posts
The posts section of Facebook Insights gives you two powerful metrics:
1: When your audience is online
2: How your audience interacts with your posts
Have you ever wondered when you should be posting on social media? Should a new post go live at 9 am or 5 pm or midnight? And what day of the week is best? Do posts do better on weekdays or weekends?
Posts on Insights can help you make these determinations.
This section shows you a graph of the days and times that your audience is on Facebook — so you can determine when they are online the most. Posting at this time gives you the best opportunity to reach the most people.
In this section, you also have a detailed breakdown of all of your posts. Specifically, you can see how many people are interacting with specific posts, what kind of posts do best, and how your audience engages with your posts.
This can go a long way in helping you give your audience what they want.
If the data suggests that videos do great, but your text posts have limited engagement, post more videos.
If you see that posts about your office and staff have huge reach, but posts about your services don’t, post more about your office.
Over time, you will be able to tailor your Facebook page to the content and mediums that your audience connects with. This will bring focus to your page and keep your audience engaged, while giving you the opportunity to reach new followers.
Reach
Reach is a great section to look at in conjunction with the posts section. In this section, you can see what kinds of actions your audience is taking on your posts.
Are they commenting on posts? Sharing? Answering your questions?
This data is important because it can help you determine the strengths of your call to actions.
If you are telling your audience to share your posts, and you have strong share numbers in the reach section, you know that this call to action resonates. Your audience is engaged and willing to share the content. What you are doing is working.
If, on the other hand, you ask them to comment, and you see that the comment data is weak, you can determine that this call to action is not working.
Then you know that it is time to tweak your call to action.
The reach section helps you make sure that you are not just screaming into the void — but that the actions you ask your audience to take resonate with them. This matters for your reach, engagement, and your business overall.
People
The people section of Facebook Insights gives you a sense of who makes up your audience.
Are they mostly men or women? Which age range do you reach the most? Where does your audience live?
This data can help you establish personas for your business. Knowing who your audience is based on data can help you figure out how to cater to that audience. If you tailor your posts to this audience, it will engage them even more and attract more people who fit the persona.
Taking Action
Facebook Insights can be a data point to gloss over or use in a theoretical sense. However, it can be much more than that. It provides actionable ways that you can improve your Facebook page and grow your business.
All you have to do is take advantage of it.
