Getting your company started on Facebook might seem as simple as setting up an account, but before you make your first post you need to take a critical step. Think about your goals for Facebook and choose how you will track these metrics.
In a recent panel discussion at PR Summit DC, experts established that ROI is King. Being able to return to your boss with solid metrics that you have exceeded a goal, improved perception for your brand, or put a quantifiable imprint in the social media landscape are career-propelling actions. You’ll want to be able to glean insights to help guide your next actions, but first you must know where to look.
When using Facebook, you’re lucky to have a robust set of tools for tracking right on the platform. Login to Business Manager and navigate to the Insights. Here you’ll find everything from Page Views to Post Engagements (and much more.) Since you’ll likely want to separate organic and paid efforts, you may need to analyze the data beyond the template.
The most commonly requested metrics for goals are:
Be sure to clarify if this metric is in regards to Page Likes or Engagement. In a Page Like, the person actually ‘Likes’ the page and may continue to see posts in their newsfeed. An engagement like occurs when someone views a posts and ‘Likes’ that specific post. One shows interest in the brand, while the other shows interest in the content.
Remember, Facebook’s Algorithm continuously weakens the reach of business pages in the News Feed. A combination of organic and paid efforts on social media are required to get eyes on your content.
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Not everyone who sees your post will take the time to ‘Like’ or comment on it. But there are still millions of eyes on Facebook scrolling through news feeds while they look for interesting posts. Your reach total will give an estimate of how many people may have noticed your post and it should be incrementally higher than that ‘Likes’ number. Fortunately for entry level Facebook professionals, you can glean these estimates before launching a paid post simply through the insights Facebook provides as you create an ad.
During the Summit, Roy Abdo of Gallup stressed the ability to, “take your content from ‘here’s where we exist’ to ‘here’s where we can help you.” This is the difference between Facebook metrics such as Likes and Reach versus Interactions and Clicks.
Since the interactions count includes likes, comments, and shares it is a good indicator of the performance of your post. These numbers show the most important capability on Facebook- the ability to connect with your audience. When growing a fan base notice how different types of content yields higher or lower volumes of interactions and strive to grow these numbers by posting authentic content that speaks your brand message.
Often you’ll want to share content that drives visitors directly to your site. You may be selling products, recruiting new members, or publishing a blog. When you consider the ROI and think about how many clicks you need, you’ll want to walk through the entire Buyer’s Journey. Do they need to fill out a form or request a sample? Very rarely is it a one-step purchase process so know that you will need to first plan your efforts for clicks and then strategically work to improve the click-through-rate.
Not sure where to start? Contact Ironmark today to forge your Facebook strategy.