Three game-changing metrics can help you improve your Facebook performance.
Achieving business results with social media can be a dicey topic. Facebook’s newly revamped Facebook Insights analytics tool gives page owners a staggering amount of information about fans, but who has time to sift through all of the data to find truly actionable items?
Facebook marketing guru Amy Porterfield says paying attention to these three key metrics is a good start:
1. Track ”People Talking About This”
People Talking About This is a new metric for Facebook Pages. It’s also the only one visible to the public, unlike other measurements on your dashboard.
It shows the total number of people who have engaged with your Page in any way over the past week— by Liking it, commenting on or sharing a post, answering a question, tagging your Page, or responding to an event. The Facebook Insights dashboard also shows a percentage increase or decrease from week to week.
People Talking About This seems to be a good measure of overall engagement, still the holy grail of social media metrics.
Porterfield reminds us that the best way to increase engagement is to ask. Ask questions vs. crafting static posts, and give your audiences mini calls-to-action, e.g., “If you found this tip useful, share it with your friends.”
A great tip: Never let a post go unattended. When someone does comment, Like or share your post, reach out personally to acknowledge the action with a thank you, or use it as an opportunity to expand the conversation. But whatever you do, don’t leave fans hanging.
2. Track “Engaged Users”
On the Insights dashboard, there’s a chart in the Page Post Information area with a column called “Engaged Users.” It shows the number of unique people who have clicked anywhere on that post. (Note: Insights only tracks this for 28 days.)
Hint: If you click on the number itself, you’ll also see a pie chart with types of clicks, including “other,” which counts the clicks not included in any other metric (clicking on someone’s name, for example). This shows you how many people are really paying attention, even if they don’t comment or click Like.
Your goal should be to steadily increase clicks on your posts over time. If that’s not happening, you may need to think about how to create more targeted posts that address the relevant information your target audience wants, and focus on challenges you can solve for them.
3. Track “External Referrers”
By clicking on Reach (under Insights in your sidebar) and scrolling down to find “External Referrers, ” you can find out how many times people arrived on your Facebook Page from an external site during a selected date range.
In order to drive more traffic to Facebook, start by determining where your current referrals are coming from. Then, Porterfield suggests asking the following questions:
Am I optimizing my Facebook Page so that when Google indexes Facebook, users find my Page too?
Including keyword-rich information on your “Info Tab” can help users find you easily.
Am I doing enough outside of my website and Page to bring traffic in?
Guest blogs from popular bloggers, webinars, online chats, and interviews with experts are all good strategies to drive traffic to your page.
Does my website account for some of my referrals?
If not, your website might need some updates. For example, add a Like box social plugin, include share buttons, and display your social icons in a visible place on every page.
Are you using Facebook Insights yet? What metrics do you find most valuable? What else are you doing to show effectiveness in the social media arena? Please share.
Posted by Julie Robinson 
