Start taking advantage of Facebook Insights immediately! With Insights, Facebook essentially shows you what content your fans want to see, when they want to see it, and what type of post triggers engagement within your community.
In order to view Facebook Insights, you must be an admin on your hotel’s Page. Page admins can find the “Insights” tab in the menu located on the very top of their Page, sandwiched between Notifications and Publishing Tools.
There is a lot of data to be uncovered. As a starting point, we will dive into a few of the sections and metrics Insights has to offer: Likes, Reach, Posts, and People.
Getting Started
After clicking on Insights, you will land on the Overview section. Here, a Page Summary displays the last seven days of data (and compares that data to the previous seven days). Metrics include the amount of actions taken on your Page, Page views, how many Page likes were received, the number of people who saw your posts (reach), and the number of people who engaged with your posts.
One of the most helpful tables on the Overview is the “Pages to Watch Section.” If you have not already, add your competitor’s here. After all, how can you decide if your Page is doing “good” without knowing what “good” really is? Once you have added the Page’s of your competitors to this section, you can compare Page likes, post frequency, and engagement from that week.
Likes
Navigate to Likes (the third option in the left-hand column). Benchmark your Page’s performance and check out the average amount of likes over a given period of time. Pro tip: every area on the various graphs are clickable, creating an interactive experience. You can edit the time period that data is displaying for as well. Options include one week, one month, one quarter or you can choose your own customized dates. This section allows you to monitor growth, get a visual perspective on many fans were acquired by paid ads versus organic efforts, and see where these likes occured (on your Page, via ads, etc.).
Why This is Helpful: These detailed breakdowns assist social media managers in determining where to allocate their time and effort, how to budget ad spend, and put in place strategies to acquire more fans.
Reach
Reach is defined as the number of people who saw any of your Page’s posts. On any of the graphs in this section, if you click on a specific day, a pop-up window will appear displaying posts that received any type of activity (engagement, impressions, etc.) on that date and shows detailed insights regarding the posts’ reach.
Why This is Helpful: This provides social media specialists insight into what type of content received maximum engagement over time and what content captures the most views. Was there a captivating visual? Was there a video snippet? Did the post tag another page?
While it is important to understand what types of content a user engages with, it is equally important to know what type of content may turn a user away. Facebook Insights also highlights posts that caused users to hide, unlike, or report your content as spam. Compose your Facebook posts accordingly to avoid losing fans!
Posts
One of the valuable categories to pay attention to in Posts section is “When Your Fans Are Online.” Hover over specific days to see timing trends. Why schedule a post between 6am and 9am on Saturday when you have evidence in front of you that shows you can reach more users between 11am and 2pm?
Keep in mind, this information can be skewed based on when you publish content. If you have someone in-house doing your posting (i.e. the Front Desk Attendant or your Director of Sales), they are likely posting on a schedule – their schedule. If they only work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and only have time to post on their lunch break, your engagement will be likely higher during those days around that time. For more insight on this topic, check out an excellent article on the Social Media Week Blog, I Can’t Tell You The Best Time to Post on Social Media – Nobody Can.
To dive further into the habits of your fans, scroll down to “Post Types.” Based on reach and engagement, which is more appealing to your audience – text, links, videos, or photos? At Blue Magnet, we have seen that video tends to be the most successful form of media to engage followers (and you will probably notice this trend as you continue to monitor this report as well). Captivating images and videos breathe life onto a Facebook Page, making the user feel like they are actually at your hotel, not strictly reading about the property or local area on their computer screen.
Why This is Helpful: The Posts section is a great place to gain insight on what makes your followers hit that “share” button and when is the most optimal time to post on your page. Use this “insider information” to your advantage! The more you pay attention to these reports, the deeper you can go inside the minds of your followers.
People
Understand who your audience is and dive into demographics like age and gender, where they live (broken down by country or city) and what language they speak. This information is not only availble for your Page’s fans, but the people your posts have reached and the people who interacted with your posts as well.
Why This is Helpful: While it is important to keep your fans happy, keep in mind that the people you are reaching with your content stretch far beyond the users that like your Page. Compare the demographics of the people you have engaged (i.e. who have liked one of your posts, left a comment, or shared your post with their friends) to your fans. This information can be used to tweak your targeting strategy for your Page’s next ad campaign; allowing advertisers to really hone in on users that are more likely to engage with the content your hotel is publishing or to adjust your content strategy to more effectively draw the attention of engaged users.
Key Takeaways
Facebook wants Page administrators to publish content relevant to their users so they literally like what they see; after all, engaged fans will end up spending more time on their network. As hoteliers, our end goal is to ultimately convert these engagements into bookings. If you analyze your Page’s Facebook Insights regularly and pay close attention to your fans’ behavior, you will be able to tailor your strategy to maximize brand awareness, online exposure, and generate bookings. Remember…
- Do not post when your fans are not online. Note the most popular days and timeframes, and plan your content calendar/ publishing schedule accordingly.
- Share your hotel’s specials while keeping in mind who your audience is. Are the majority of your fans male? Instead of constantly pushing that “Girlfriend Getaway” offer, share packages that appeal to the male audience as well.
- Is your organic growth slow or are the majority of your likes coming from paid efforts? Set aside a small budget for this campaigns. If you have not ran a Facebook ad previously, you may be surprised to learn that $25 can go a long way in developing a quality fan base (especially if you take the time to do the research and implement a solid targeting strategy).
- Pay attention to what people are hiding and reporting – and stop sharing that type of content since it is clearly not what your fans want to see.
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