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How to Use Facebook Insights to Inform Your Social Strategy

Facebook Insights August Blog Header

4 simple steps to determine what and when to post using Facebook insights

Social media plays an imperative role in almost any company’s success. However, as most are finding out, it goes beyond just posting photos of products and responding to customers online. Having an effective social media presence takes time. And time is money, am I right? So, let’s make sure we’re using social media effectively AND efficiently. Here’s the secret sauce:

Serve the right content to the right person at the right time.

 

“But Kristyn,” you ask, “I don’t know what the right content, the right person, OR the right time is.” Neither do I, TBH. You know who does though? Your Facebook Insights. Let’s dive in.

To better understand how to take advantage of Facebook insights, you must know where to find them. The GIF below shows how to navigate to the parts of Facebook Insights you will need today.

How to Find Facebook Insights GIF

1. What’s the right content?

There’s a section of Facebook Insights that breaks down the success of different post types based on average reach and engagement specific to your page. In the screenshot below, you can see that our link posts (mostly blog posts) are currently outperforming our other content types.

Try to keep a good mix of content types flowing through your Facebook Page. But, if your insights are telling you that your blogs and videos outperform your photos, what should you be investing time in creating? More blogs and videos, of course! Check out the results of this section on your own page for guidance on the types of content you should focus on creating.

Facebook Insights Post Types

2. Determine Content Themes

Now that you know which content types are resonating with your audience, you need to determine what content themes will perform well. If you scroll down on this same page of your Facebook insights, you will come across the section below. Here you will find a breakdown of the individual performance of your most recent posts. The most important metric here is your per post engagement rate. The higher this percentage, the better.

Facebook Insights Picture 4

Take a look at this section of your insights to see which posts outperform others. Try to draw conclusions based on that data. Maybe you will start to notice common threads. Perhaps fun facts about gemstones perform really well or lifestyle photos get more likes compared to jewelry photography. Pay close attention to this section to better understand what to post in an effort to get the most engagement out of your audience!

3. Who’s the right person?

Now, you’ve used your insights to generate some effective content ideas! The next step is to make sure your audience engages with that content. What’s the key to getting your audience to engage with your content on social media? Understanding who they are in the first place. Think about it. How can you create posts your audience will like if you don’t even know who they are? That’s why I encourage you to check the Your Fans section of your Facebook Insights regularly:

Facebook Insights Your Fans

Do you have a predominantly male audience? That could definitely change the way you speak to them in your posts. What age is the majority of your followers? You probably have products that steer more toward that age group. Knowing what types of content resonates with your audience AND having a clear picture of who you’re talking to will help create content that works!

4. When’s the right time?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever Googled something like: When’s the best time to post on Facebook? 🙋‍♀️ Same! And it did not give me the correct answer, so who do we trust?

In your Facebook Insights, choose the Posts tab and that’s when you will see this data:

Facebook Insights When Your Fans Are Online

Here, you’ll find which times and days of the week most of YOUR Facebook audience is online. This data is much more valuable and targeted than any general recommendations found using Google search. This section will tell you not only what days of the week will work best, but what time of those popular days, too.

Here’s the pro tip: If your Facebook insights tell you that Thursday at 8PM is when the highest concentration of your audience is online, schedule your post for 7PM. Publishing at 7PM will give your content enough time to get through Facebook’s algorithm and start showing up to your active 8PM audience.

So what’s the recipe for social media success? No, it’s not funny memes or viral cat videos. Simply put: deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.


Have I convinced you to be more deliberate with your social strategy? Let me know in the comments down below so I can cheer you on!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristyn Shay

Enthusiast of all forms of social media, but Instagram is my go-to • Avid reader of science fiction • Know more Harry Potter spells than I care to admit • Possibly the single largest contributor to Community Coffee’s annual revenue • Lover of camping, hiking and sleeping under the stars