In October 2013, Facebook officially rolled out their revamped Page Insights.

This tool is for any business or person with a Page, and allows them to gain valuable understanding about how their online visitors are interacting with the content the business posts. One of the reasons this is so useful is because it provides you with a potential way to optimize your marketing efforts.

Here are four ways you can use the various measurements presented by Page Insights to help figure out what content and posts work. From here, you can work out what strategy to adopt or focus on next when it comes to connecting with your customers.

1. Look at overall engagement

If you open your Page Insights (select the Cog which is below your Page’s Cover Image and select View Insights). Scroll down to the middle of the page that opens, where you will see a section with information on your last five posts. Take a look at the Engagement column and you will see two numbers beside each post. The upper number is Post Clicks while the lower is Likes, Comments and Shares.

These two numbers, according to Facebook, are presented with bars to visualize how engaged visitors are with your content. Naturally, the higher the number means greater engagement. You can keep a running tally of these figures and the different posts on your profile. Over time, you should begin to see patterns emerge as to what type of content your visitors interact with most, and what type they are more likely to share or like. If you can continue to create similar content, you should see overall engagement increase.

2. Pay close attention to the Likes

While the Engagement column presents you with a quick glance at the figures, you can also look deeper into your content. One measurement to focus on is Likes. If you take a step back and think about how Facebook works, this makes sense. When people click Like for content, they are essentially broadcasting it to their friends. This increases your Page’s potential exposure. To go one step further, many who ‘Like” content will also share it, thus increasing exposure even further.

In order to get Likes, you first need to know what works and what doesn’t. This means looking at the Likes tab. When you click on it, you will see a breakdown of your content by type – Photos, Status and Link. You will also see four sections that present data on a daily, total and net basis. The first section you should look at is Total Likes. This graph visualizes the number of likes each type of content has received, allowing you to see what type works best.

Combine this with the other sections and you should gain a pretty clear picture as to what type of content is working, where it works best, and even the best time to post. From here, you can tweak content and posts, and see how your visitors respond. In theory, if you begin to provide what they like, your exposure should increase.

3. Know who your fans are

We all know that people are different, especially when it comes to age. Those who are 50 will generally not be interested in the same things as those who are 20. Therefore, in order to drive Likes and your marketing success, it pays to know who your audience is. Posting content that is not aimed at your target group will generally result in lower interaction and even loss of followers, leading to a possible downturn in business.

On Facebook, figuring out your audience is actually fairly easy. Open your Page Insights and click on the People tab. On this page you will be able to narrow down those who interact with your page demographically. This can help you determine age, sex, location, and even check-in information. If for example, you see that women make up 70% of the users who like your content, creating content that is aimed more at them could see some great payoffs.

4. Take a look at the Reach of your content

The Reach of your content is how many people actually view it. A higher reach means more people see your content and thus there is more exposure for your company. This is a positive indicator and something all Page owners are striving for.

When you click on the Reach tab from the Insights page, you should see a wealth of useful data. Some of the more interesting sections include post reach, which displays exactly how your content reached people – paid or organic. You can also look at the Likes, Comments, and Shares section to see how many users liked your content. This graph also shows the number of users who hid or unliked your posts.

This can be really helpful in helping you figure out what type of posts and content to avoid and what content was seen by the highest number of people.

You can also see this information applied to specific posts from the main overview tab. If you scroll down on the main Insights page you will see a breakdown of your posts. Take a look at both the Engagement, (as we mentioned above), as well as the reach. If you see posts with lots of interaction but a low reach this is worth looking into. The same goes for content that has achieved a high reach with little engagement.

In general, tracking the information displayed on your Page Insights can be helpful in shedding light into what content works and what doesn’t. When you have an understanding of this information, you can then look into creating content that will work best for your business. The truth is, there is no general answer as to what works best, and this varies for each individual company.

If you would like help figuring out your Facebook Page and content, please contact us today to see how we can help.