Good decisions are backed by data. When you’re building a Facebook strategy to promote your business, you need to track the Facebook metrics that tell you how well your marketing strategy is working. The number of social buyers on Facebook is projected to reach nearly 65 million in the US by 2025. That’s a huge potential customer base, and you need all the data you can get to take full advantage of it.
Track these metrics through your Facebook page to gain a better understanding of your brand’s Facebook presence, and grow your business through social media.
Metrics to use to analyze your Facebook posts
Track these Facebook metrics at the post level to understand how your Facebook posts are resonating with your page followers and other Facebook users. Make your organic posts more effective and broaden your organic reach with audiences.
1. Engagement
Your Facebook post engagement metric measures how many users interacted with your Facebook post. Track engagement to see if your social media posts are engaging with audiences.
Engagement measures three actions:
Reactions - when someone reacts to your post with an emoji or like.
Comments - when someone comments on or replies to your post.
Shares - when someone shares your post with their followers or the Facebook groups they participate in.
2. Impressions
Facebook impressions are a key Facebook metric that measures the number of times a post is seen. They measure how far your posts reach and who is seeing them.
3. Reach
Reach is the number of people who saw your post. It's an important metric to track because it gives you a broad picture of how many users are viewing your content.
4. Engagement rate
Facebook engagement rate calculates how much engagement you get based on how far your posts reach. Engagement metrics give you more precise feedback on how effective your posts are for your audience. For example, if your post received 100 impressions and 90 of them engaged with it, your post is effective but you need to boost its reach. If your post received 1,000 impressions and 90 engaged with it, your reach is good but your post wasn't especially effective for your target audience.
Engagement rate = (# post engagements/# post impressions) x 100
Calculate your engagement rate percentage by dividing the total number of engagements with a post (reactions + likes + comments + shares) by the total number of impressions that the post received and then multiplying by 100.
Metrics for understanding your Facebook page and followers
Audiences will engage with the Facebook pages of businesses they are interested in. An advantage that Facebook marketing has over other social media networks is that your audience can subscribe to your feed, visit your page for information, and even repost your content for their friends. Facebook page insights will give you information about who is interested in your brand.
5. Page likes and followers
Track page likes and follows to see how many users are voluntarily demonstrating interest in and support of your brand. Likes and follows are slightly different:
Likes are public. They show that a user is publicly showing they are a fan of your brand.
Followers are users who have signed up to receive updates from your page in their Facebook feed. This means they actively want to see your content in their news feed and engage with your brand.
6. Follower growth
Follower growth tracks how the number of users following your page changes over time. You'll inevitably lose some followers, but a healthy page should see the number of followers growing month to month. Measuring follower growth helps you understand how effective your organic content and ads are in reaching target audiences and driving engagement.
7. Referral traffic from Facebook
Referral traffic measures the number of visitors to your website or landing page who have come from Facebook. Tracking referral traffic from Facebook is critical for understanding how effective your organic content and ads are in driving brand engagement beyond just Facebook's platform.
This metric gives you an insight into which posts are resonating with users, as well as how many people click through on your ads or organic content to visit your site. Conversational ads can drive more traffic to your website, and help you capture contact information and build your subscriber list off Facebook too.
8. Follower demographics
Understanding the demographics of your followers on Facebook is an important part of optimizing your social media strategy. Knowing who your followers are and what they’re interested in can help you target ads more effectively, tailor content to resonate better with them, and create campaigns that will drive more engagement.
Follower demographics can include:
age
gender
education level
geographic location
interests
9. Share of voice
Share of voice measures how much of the conversation on Facebook is about your brand or product. It helps you understand how effective your content and ads are in driving conversations about your brand, how well it resonates with users compared to other brands, and what topics and keywords related to your brand are trending.
Key Facebook metrics for analyzing ads
Since your Facebook business page is paying money for Facebook ads and ad campaigns, you need to track key metrics that tell you how far that money is going. Track Facebook ads metrics to see if your social media ad strategy is paying off. If your paid advertising is costing too much for how many positive ad metrics you're seeing, you may want to change your ad campaign approach.
Facebook's analytics tool gives you specific information to track your engagement rate and other key Facebook metrics for ecommerce ads on Facebook. While you might use various social media analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, for your website and social media platforms, Facebook analytics itself also offers a powerful built-in tool for tracking the most important metrics for your Facebook page.
10. Click-through rate (CTR)
Click-through rate (CTR) measures the number of times users click on your ad after seeing it. Link clicks will give you insight into how effective your ads are in driving engagement with potential customers. A high CTR indicates that your ad copy is doing its job in convincing people to take action on it. To calculate your CTR, divide how many clicks your ad received by the number of total impressions it received.
Click-through rate = number of clicks on an ad/number of impressions on an ad
11. Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per click (CPC) measures the amount of money you have paid for each user who clicks on your ad. This metric helps you understand how cost-efficient your Facebook campaigns are.
12. Cost per mille (CPM) - cost per thousand impressions
Cost per mille (CPM) measures the amount of money you have paid for every 1,000 impressions on your ad. This metric helps you understand how much money you are spending for each impression and gives insight into the effectiveness of your Facebook campaigns in terms of reach and engagement.
13. Cost per action (CPA)
Cost per action (CPA) measures how much money you have paid for each user who takes an action after seeing your ad. Beyond just clicking on the ad, you want to see if they make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter. Tracking CPA over time can help you optimize your campaigns and ensure they have a positive return on ad spend.
Facebook metrics for tracking Facebook video performance
Video content is exciting and engaging for audiences, but it can be logistically harder and more expensive to create. Facebook was the second most popular place for users to watch short-form videos in 2021, behind YouTube but ahead of other social media platforms. Facebook video analytics will give you important video metrics to track so you know your video content is hitting the mark.
14. Video views
Track video views to identify which videos users are actually watching. You can also compare views across videos to see which are most popular among your audience.
15. Video engagement rate
Facebook video engagement rate measures how many users like, comment, and share your video content. It's a key metric to track when creating Facebook video campaigns, as it helps you see if people are responding to your content.
Use Facebook insights to drive the success of your brand
Advertisers spent 5.5 billion dollars on Facebook advertising just in Q2 of 2021. There's immense value in advertising through social media platforms like Facebook, and the metrics those ads give you will help you improve your brand’s advertising across the board.
Tracking, understanding, and taking action on Facebook metrics does so much more than just promote your Facebook page. It gives you information about your customers - who they are, what they like, and what they want to see from you.
Use the data you’ve gained to grow your followers outside of Facebook, drive traffic to your website, and engage more deeply with your audience with conversational marketing.