Measuring Facebook key to Social Media Success

When you are running ads on Facebook, different options exist for executing campaigns today. That includes the tracking of actionable success metrics.

You are probably familiar with the sponsored (paid) ads. But, you might also consider the sponsored stories, which can be really good for your brand lift.

How do you determine which is better for you business? Analytics and monitoring is key.

No matter what you choose, including the (must-do) free options (the Facebook account itself, events, groups, applications, newsfeeds, etc) – it will be important for your business to reveal what your users do on your Facebook network.

Performance graphs, real-time measurements and in-line ad management are a few of the new things you’ll need to understand.

Here then are the 5 things to consider when reviewing your Facebook account for success:

Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr

1. Targeting Your Audience

Sharing and displaying your messages are part of your marketing mix. But, if you are not targeting the right audience, it’s like they never saw the billboard – even though you placed it right next to a busy freeway. With ads or sponsored stories, you can select from the 700 million users on Facebook, and target down to your exact demographic. The data will help you decide on what works. You will share your messages with your intended audience, which will really help you.

2. Discover your Overall Reach (fan engagement)

Find out the number of real people that saw your ad or story. Reach is different than impressions, which include people who saw an ad multiple times.

3. Discover your Social Reach (friends of friends ad positioning)

Reveal the people who saw your advertisement with the names of friends that saw the ads, application or event. Note that ads shown with friend’s names are twice as effective as not. This will only work when you advertise a page or similar on the Facebook platform. Sending traffic to an external page (website) will not allow this to work.

Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr

4. Frequency

Find out when your messages are going out at regular intervals if they are working. Are  they make the most sense on a Saturday (highly popular in many industries) versus a Monday am west coast time, for example. Change your marketing strategy and test this very important element.  The Facebook ad manager reporting system will help you with this.

5. Connections

Reveal the number of people who liked your page within a given time period. This includes other assets like events, applications.  Connections shows you how many people connected with your business. This way, you know you are driving results. This will only works for pages and Facebook assets, not external web properties. Even if conversations are taking place elsewhere, make sure to have a strong Facebook presence.

The data in the Facebook ads manager is continuously updated, so make sure to refresh and visit often if you are looking at intra-day management (which you should). You can also schedule reports to be sent to you via email, and direct to your phone (email).

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Finally, adjust your bids, budgets and targeting to test your advertising account regularly. This will be YOUR secret to success. And, don’t stop if it’s not working. It probably means you have not dug deep enough, worked enough ads, text and positioning.

And, remember that social networks and Facebook are about people and connections. Marketing online today is not about selling, but sharing. So, engage!

Are you running Facebook campaigns for your business today?

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