How to measure the value of Facebook for your business
When both Facebook and Instagram announced they would be hiding likes on posts it raised a lot of questions about engagement and measurement on these platforms. Likes have long been an easy way of measuring the success of social media posts. But it is far from the only way and is actually quite limited if you want to track the return on your investment. So how do you measure the value of Facebook for your business and why is it important to do so?
Why hide likes?
The motivation behind Facebook and Instagram’s move to make ‘likes’ private is to do with social media’s perceived impact on the mental wellbeing of users. Chasing and agonising over online affirmation can be a cause of depression.
However, removing ‘like’ numbers from public view hasn’t obliterated this measurement metric altogether. People and businesses running accounts can still see the number of ‘likes’ and other engagement, so the impact on measuring your social media posts’ success is minimal.
What hiding likes has done is reminded us that measuring the value of Facebook and other social media to your business is multifaceted.
So how do you measure the value of Facebook?
Like any PR or marketing channel, measuring success has to start with setting objectives.
Think about why you are using Facebook. Is it to:
- Build brand awareness
- Grow a loyal community around your products or business
- Provide customer support
- Win new business and drive sales
Tools to measure success on Facebook
Facebook insights
Facebook Insights is a free tool built into your Facebook Page. It gives you a range of metrics to measure the success of your Page and Posts against your chosen objectives. These include: followers, reach, comments, shares, click-throughs, actions on-page and page views.
Here’s which metrics to monitor to measure success and progress against each goal:
Objective 1: Build brand awareness. Measure with Reach, Followers, Page Views
Objective 2: Grow a loyal community. Measure with Reactions, Comments, Shares, Followers
Objective 3: Provide customer support. Measure with Comments, Click-Throughs
Objective 4: Win new business and drive sales. Measure with Reach, Click-Throughs, Actions on Page, Page Views.
Google Analytics
Another helpful free tool for measuring whether your Facebook Page is driving sales is Google Analytics.
Look at the Facebook referrals to your website compared to your other social media and track these visitors’ journey through your site.
Facebook pixel
If Facebook is a priority marketing tool for your business then you will want to set up an advertising budget for it. Facebook Ads can be super targeted and you can integrate them with your website.
The best way to measure the success of Facebook Ads is to install the Facebook Pixel on your business website. This will give you analytics information about the actions people take on your website when they click-through from Facebook. It will also let you target Facebook users who have already visited your site.
Here’s how to install the Facebook pixel on your website.
Creating a Facebook strategy for your business
If you need help with your Facebook strategy, content or measuring its value for your business then we can help. Amplify PR is a Hampshire PR agency that can carry out social media audits, run social media training and manage your channels for you.
Get in touch to find out more about our social media services.