Of Facebook’s recent additional features, one of the standouts is the new, improved insights tool through which they have demonstrated that they are actively moving away from the purely social aspects of the site and concentrating on improving it for businesses.
Facebook will now be counting “stories” these being the content which fans choose to interact with and share through Facebook:
- Liking a Page
- Posting to a Page’s Wall
- Liking, commenting or sharing a Page’s posts (or other content on your page – like photos, videos, albums)
- Answering a Question, RSVP-ing to an event
- Mentioning a Page, phototagging a Page
- Checking-in and liking or sharing a check-in deal
As a Community Manager, high engagement is the name of the game, so any tool which helps measure this for the client is a winner. Facebook claims that they are actively helping brands “to get more people talking about and sharing the things brands put on their pages”. For admins of a page, they will be able to not only see what their fans are doing but also what their fans’ friends are doing, with a “total weekly reach” also calculated. It is yet to be seen how effective this will be as it has only just been introduced, however if Facebook’s claims of a more engaged community become reality – then we are definitely heading in a positive direction. Watch this space…