Spoiler; Yes, yes it is! One of the things I've noticed about people working on community management or social media for their company is, they don't always check the Insights tab on Facebook. This could be for a variety of reasons, but the most common I've found are;
- I don't have the time
- I just manage the posts, planning and reporting are someone else's job
- Huh? What insights tab?
So, being a complete data geek (seriously), I can spend a fair bit of time with insights. I understand everyone doesn't feel the same. Why bother? After all, you see some stats at the top of the page each time you login, and under each post every time you post something.
Here's why. If you don't understand your audience, you don't really have a good understanding of what they want from you.
So here's a round up of my favourite things to check out in the Insights tab. Getting a handle on these stats will give you tangible ideas you can action today.
Unfollows
In the Followers tab, Facebook outlines for you the number of unfollows you had in any given period. If you drill down, you can see where the unfollow happened, and what caused it. Note that you may have to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out how the unfollow happened, as Facebook can only report on things that happened on its own platform.
This is very handy to figure out if you're posting too frequently, if an ad isn't working for you, or if you need to change your content strategy altogether.
Time to Post
Ahhh that often asked question - when should I be posting on social media. While there are many articles dedicated to the topic in a general sense, why not check out when is the best time for your individual Facebook community?
Within the Posts tab, you will find 'When your fans are online'. Here you'll be able to see the weekly spread, as well as average times. Most pages do follow the peaks and troughs of the work day, however I have seen some that get a massive second spike well into the evening.
Post Types
If you post a variety of content, you should be spending a bit of time in this section. Here you'll find all your posts by type, and the various engagement metrics. I like to change the last column to show 'engagement rate' by using the drop down to the far right of the graph. Engagement rate is a far truer measure of interest in your content. It allows you to evaluate what types of posts are getting the most actions, so you can create more of those!
Age/Gender of community
Within the People tab, you will see a graph showing you the age and gender of your community. It's split by your fans, your followers and people reached. This is a very handy tool for content planning purposes. If you've ever wondered why your posts aren't appealing to your community, this information could hold some clues as to why.
Can your content be presented in such a way to appeal more to your fans?
Pages to Watch
What are your competitors doing on social? How many new likes have they received this week? What are their top performing posts? Oh, you don't know?
Well, you can add your competitors, brands you admire or pages with similar audiences into your 'Pages to Watch' list. It gives you a quick comparison into how your page stacks up in likes and engagement, and a bit more info around top performing posts from each page. This will allow you to see what is resonating with their audience. After all, they're your audience too right?
The page will be notified if someone has added them to their Pages to Watch list, however it won't disclose any names. Happy adding!
So, if it's been too long since you've last taken a deep dive into your Insights, grab a coffee/water/wine or all three, and get comfortable! Or, alternatively, monthly reporting and monitoring with actionable insights to help your business grow, is something we can assist with. Contact us to find out how!