Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles and Chicago. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter, or you can reach him at NickAndrewRojas@gmail.com. . .
Big data and analytics have become so pervasive you’d be hard pressed to find an industry or profession that hasn’t tried to exploit it. Whether it’s big pharma, big cities, or a startup trying to find it’s target demographic, the methods used to generate results have become an industry in and of itself.
In social media, the objective is customer conversion. In other words, it’s about turning all those “likes” into sales. As with LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media outlets, analytics are readily available. The trick is to know what data are most valuable to your business. There’s also the possibility of post-processing, or manipulating data for predictive analysis through the use of an API, for example. Data mining in areas outside of Facebook my also be used to augment your results. Let’s begin with conventional Facebook tools and work our way out. Some of the more popular Facebook metrics include Insights. They provide performance information about your Facebook page, and are divided into two main types:
- Audience Insights is based on the number of people that are connected to your Page that have logged-in to Facebook in the past month. These metrics can offer feedback on calls to action, for example. A summary of tools which will keep you informed and able to adapt include:
- Age and gender
- Geography
- Purchase behavior
- Page Insights is based on the total number of people who like your Page. Page post metrics are high on every marketer’s priority list. It’s the go-to place for metrics like “fanreach”, or the number of fans who have seen a post from your page. Other metric related to page insights include:
- Post Engagement: The percentage of people liked, shared, clicked or commented on a given post.
- Shared Videos: If you posted a video, you can track the number of times it was shared. Whether you’re a serial entrepreneur or first-timer this could offer vital insight into the number of times your crowdfunding video was shared
Develop your own applications: This doesn’t apply to the majority of businesses and entrepreneurs, but it bears mentioning. There’s a broad range of APIs available to the user which can summon data and display it in various graphic formats. However, application development can absorb significant resources. Research and consider this option carefully. Be aware of compatibility issues: Mobile devices are eclipsing all other modes of online sales, and it’s vital that you know whether or not your campaign will be effective on all platforms. Be sure to check for mobile compatibility and whether or not your have the same customer impact on both desktop and a mobile devices. It can have a direct impact on mobile page post metrics. Anyone who’s been observing social media will know that analytics tools are growing in variety and sophistication. Facebook certainly fits that description, having a very comprehensive suite. Images Courtesy of Shutterstock.
