Last Friday, I conducted a webinar about Advanced Facebook Insights strategies. It was dense and info-packed, but I still didn’t have the time I wanted to cover a couple of the topics in more detail.
Today I want to tackle one of those topics.
People often ask me what metrics I follow. While this should vary based on your goals, I have assembled a list of ratios that I monitor.
Understand that Facebook does not create these ratios for you. You’ll need to do a little bit of dirty work. But I’ve provided information on how you can calculate each ratio yourself.
Following are ratios that need to be on your radar, why they’re important and how you can calculate them yourself. Each one is on a post-level basis.
[A Facebook Insights glossary of terms can be found here.]
1. Consumptions vs. Impressions
Stats Used:
- Lifetime Post Consumptions (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column T)
- Lifetime Post Total Impressions (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column L)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of times a post was clicked over the amount of times it was shown.
Why This Ratio is Important: This allows you to measure how well a particular post attracted clicks, regardless of how many people saw it. If you base success and failure on number of clicks only, you could overlook important factors that will significantly impact impressions that lead to those clicks, including time of day and day of the week.
2. Consumers vs. Reach
Stats Used:
- Lifetime Post Consumers (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column S)
- Lifetime Post Total Reach (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column H)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of users who clicked on a post over the number of users who saw it.
Why This Ratio is Important: See above. This is another way to measure how well a particular post attracted clicks. This time, however, it is not impacted by outlier users who may have influenced the results with a high number of clicks. The focus here is entirely around number of users instead of number of clicks.
3. Engaged Fans vs. Page Likes
Stats Used:
- Lifetime People who have liked your Page and engaged with your post (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column AA)
- Lifetime Total Likes (Page Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column H)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of your Fans who clicked anywhere on a post, whether they saw it or not.
Why This Ratio is Important: We often hear marketers complaining about the percentage of Fans they reached. My response is always, “What percentage of your Fans engaged?” This question tends to be met with silence. This gives you a much better idea of the percentage of your Fans who had any interest whatsoever in a post, whether it resulted in a story or not.
4. Engaged Fans vs. Fans Reached
Stats Used:
- Lifetime People who have liked your Page and engaged with your post (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column AA)
- Lifetime Post reach by people who like your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column X)
What This Ratio Means: Of those Fans reached, percentage who clicked anywhere on a post.
Why This Ratio is Important: Very slight variation from the ratio above. This time we’re measuring engaged users over Fans who were reached instead of total number of Fans. This could help give you a better idea of the true success of a post in the eyes of your Fans while cutting out factors like day of the week and time of day.
5. Fans Reached vs. Page Likes
Stats Used:
- Lifetime Post reach by people who like your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column X)
- Lifetime Total Likes (Page Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column H)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of your Fans who were reached with a particular post.
Why This Ratio is Important: Oh, it’s the Facebook Marketing Special. I’m actually not that interested in this, but I know everyone else is. What percentage of your Fans were surfaced a particular post? This can be influenced by level of engagement. Can also be influenced by a long list of things, including time of day and day of the week. Always remember that half of your Fans won’t be on Facebook during the day you publish a post.
6. Fan Stories vs. Fan Impressions
Stats Used:
- Lifetime Post Stories by people who have liked your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column AB)
- Lifetime Post Impressions by people who have liked your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column W)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of times your post was shown to Fans that resulted in a story in friend News Feeds.
Why This Ratio is Important: While any clicks give you an idea of raw number of people who expressed interest in your content, clicks that result in stories are even more important since they help your post go viral. This post focuses on those most important clicks (comments, likes, shares, claims, etc.).
7. Fans Talking About This vs. Page Likes
Stats Used:
- Lifetime People talking about your post by those who have liked your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column AC)
- Lifetime Total Likes (Page Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column H)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of your Fans who have created a story about a particular post, whether they saw it or not.
Why This Ratio is Important: This ratio cuts out the outlier Fans who created multiple stories so that you can focus on the percentage of Fans who created at least one story. This gives a good gauge of true impact of a post on your Fans.
8. Fans Talking About This vs. Fans Reached
Stats Used:
- Lifetime People talking about your post by those who have liked your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column AC)
- Lifetime Post reach by people who like your Page (Post Level Export, Key Metrics Tab, Column X)
What This Ratio Means: Percentage of your Fans reached who created a story about a particular post.
Why This Ratio is Important: Only difference between this ratio and the one above is that it doesn’t punish a post for reaching fewer people. It helps level out factors like time of day and day of week.
