Do you have a Facebook Business page? I’m sure you do. But I wonder how many of you bother with Facebook Insights – the analytical tool that is integrated into your Facebook page. In terms of functionality, it is quite similar to Google Analytics, although it is not as detailed and power packed. However, it is very useful in helping you see how your page is doing on Facebook, and also helps you to set up goals in a similar way to Google Analytics. Here is a simple guide to teach you to see how you are engaging with your fans.

Before you start delving into Facebook Insights, here are four questions that should guide your use - Who liked your page? Who saw your posts? Where did your visitors come from? How engaging is your page?

Who liked your page?

(Un)Fortunately, page admins never have access to a fan’s personal data. Also thanks to Facebook’s recent tightening of security, it is nearly impossible to conduct a demographic survey just by looking through what little information the user has shared. Therefore, to know whether your fans are genuine or not, one has to click through the “New Likes” to access their list of fans, and nit-pick the dodgy sounding ones. This is essential especially when running a Facebook like campaign. Getting likes from people named “Tron Infinity” and “Huhwat Ghehe” should immediately set off alarm bells of the quality of your page likes. Another possible indicator of spam users is whether they have a profile picture or not. Based on personal experience, legitimate Facebook users are too self-conscious to not have a profile pic – but that's one debate I’m not too keen on delving in this particular article.

Who saw your posts?

Yet again, there are privacy settings in place that hinders admins from learning the names of who actually saw your posts – but that's ok, because Facebook will tell you how many people saw them, that is, how far was your reach. They are divided into organic and paid reach – so you can conveniently find out if your Facebook advertising is working or not. This is important not only to see how well you’re getting noticed, but also for knowing if the sponsored posts or ads are getting the desired reach. Also, as a good comparison tool, Insights will tell you how much your post reach as increased (or decreased :o) compared to the previous week in percentages. Bonus with a cute line graph.  

Where did your visitors come from?

Other fun information which Facebook provides you with includes which country and city your fans come from, and what language they use for Facebook. Moreover, it does the same for people reached and people engaged. Ultimately, this tells you whether you’re targeting the right market, that is, are you engaging in effective geographic segmentation in your market?

How engaging is your Facebook Business page?

So, how engaging is your page really? Do you bore your audience to the point that they unlike you? According to Insights, likes are assets. It gives you ‘net likes’, which equals none other than likes-unlikes. Also, it tells you where your page likes came from – page suggestions, mobile, ads, etc. What’s most interesting is probably the external referrers – that is, the number of times people came to your page from a website off of Facebook.