For artists looking to get to know their online audience a little better, there are a variety of online tools at their disposal, but perhaps none is more powerful than Facebook Analytics. Here we offer some tips for those new to the service on how they can get the most out of it.
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Guest post by Angela Mastrogiacomo from the TuneCore Blog
When it comes to knowing your audience, you have a lot of tools at your disposal. Yet one that often gets overlooked despite its powerful diversity is Facebook analytics. When you can see how your audience interacts, where they thrive and where they drop off, it opens up a world of possibilities for connecting with them. Once you know what they respond to and how to best reach them—it’s just a matter of implementing those adjustments to really change the way you interact and as a result, connect in a more profound way.
While every platform now has its own set of analytics, each with its own strengths (and we do suggest you use them all to offer better insight into your fan base) none seems quite as in depth as Facebook’s. The reality there’s a LOT to dive into with Facebook analytics, and the easiest way to get familiar is to arm yourself with a super in depth guide and just get in there and get some first-hand experience. However, time is precious, so when you’re short on time but eager to expand your connection with fans, check out these areas and get a quick overview.
OVERVIEW
This is what it sounds like—it’s where you get a quick overview of what’s been happening over the last 7 or 28 days, depending on which you choose. Everything from total page views to likes to engagement happens here. It’s basically a snapshot of how you’re doing, but it doesn’t offer a ton of specifics, which is where “posts” comes in.
POSTS
The meat of it! This is where you start to get some hearty insight into your fans. The first thing you’ll notice is a few tabs at the top that say “When your fans are online” “post types” and “top posts from pages you watch.” These are all powerful tabs, so we’ll go through each.
When your fans are online
You can filter to a specific day by hovering over the corresponding day, otherwise “Times” will give you a general snapshot into when fans are online. There’s a lot of studies out there as to when the best time to post is, but this is by far going to be the best insight, since it’s highly personalized to your audience.
Scroll down a bit and you’ll see a full breakdown of each post’s performance. Everything from the overall reach to engagement.
This is an incredible way to get a feel for what kind of posts are getting the most engagement. Is it funny photos? Is it lyrics? Is it music videos? Numbers don’t lie, so pay attention to what they’re saying.
If you click any of the posts, it will open up to show you even more insights such as the specific reactions, engagements, and people reached, as well as give you the option to boost.
Post Types
This brilliant section breaks down your post interaction and engagement by links and photos, so you can see which type of post tends to get the best reaction.
Top Posts From Pages You Watch
This is one of my absolute favorite features of FB analytics. Here you can add similar pages and see which of their posts are performing the best and worst. It’s like a sneak peak into someone else’s analytics and it’s a great motivator and inspirer for your own posts.
This requires some setting up, but once you add the pages you want to watch, it’s such an eye opener. I suggest adding similar bands in the same genre and life stage as you, so you can get some valuable insight.
Event
This is your insight into how well your events are performing. Everything from how many people they reached to the tickets you sold.
People
Wondering how your demographic breaks down? This is your spot. You can see how many of your fans are women vs men, and the age range most fall into. You’re also able to see what countries and cities most of your fans come from, and even which language most speak.
Angela Mastrogiacomo is the founder and CEO of Muddy Paw PR, where her artists have seen placement on Alternative Press, Substream, New Noise, and more. She’s also the owner of music blog Infectious Magazine.
