“Guess work” was the phrase I typically used to describe the general method of tracking the activity of your Facebook Page and the amount of people each post reached. While I would never not use Facebook Pages for clients or our own website (it’s one of the the most, if not the most, powerful social media marketing tools. period.), without the installation of third party software or the development of analytics programs for each Page, it was almost impossible to draw valuable conclusions about the audience each Page reached. It was simply a powerful communication platform for fans of your organization and your organization.
Excel jockeys can rejoice - exportable excel reports contain 47 TABS OF INFORMATION!
However, today Facebook has taken their insights system for Pages to the next level. With the addition of a Google Analyticsesque system to monitor Total Likes, Friends of Fans (the assumed next in line to “like”), People Talking About This, and Weekly Total Reach (unique visitors) along with a new individual post monitoring, Facebook Pages have become a viable addition to your weekly analytic report.
Perhaps the most interesting new addition is the “Virality” percentage. Facebook describes virality as “the percentage of people who have created a story from your Page post out of the total number of unique visitors.” More generally speaking, I would perceive this specific percentage as a monitoring system for the amount of participation on the part of Facebook users. It could also be used to measure the holistic popularity of your posts. “Likes” and “Shares” are molded into one easy to monitor percentage. Think of it as a NFL Quarterback rating system for your Facebook Page posts.
Other awesome options include a “Reach” tab that allows Page admins to monitor demographics and locations as well as how Page content reaches each Facebook user. Columns like “Organic” or “Viral” can give Page admins a better sense of the “socialness” or participation of Facebook users in sharing and viewing your content.
The best addition out of all of the mentioned perks, as well as others I did not mention, is the ability to export all page information into GIANT excel documents. Each document’s 47 tabs of information should be enough to occupy even the savviest of excel jockeys.
-Matt
