Facebook Insights is the analytics tool provided by Facebook to measure the performance of your Facebook Page. Many of the features offered to you through Facebook Insights are similar to traditional web analytics data offerings, but some of the terminology is unique.

To make sure you’re not confused by any of the information you find in your Facebook Insights data, the following handy definitions should help make things clear. Use the data provided by these metrics to optimize the content you publish on your Page to meet your target audience‘s needs.

Analyzing Your Facebook Page Audience

There are a wide variety of metrics offered through Facebook Insights to help you analyze your Facebook Page audience. For example, you can learn about the demographic characteristics of your audience such as age, gender, country, city, and language. In addition, you can learn about the specific content they like on your Page, where they were before they came to your Page, and more. The following metrics definitions will help you understand what the data provided through Facebook Insights means, so you can use it more effectively.

1. Total Likes: The number of unique individuals who click the Like button to “Like” your Facebook Page. This number is sometimes referred to as Lifetime Likes.

2. New Likes: The number of unique individuals that liked your Facebook Page during a specific date range that you select.

3. Like Sources: The number of times your Facebook Page was liked, categorized by where the like occurred (on your Facebook Page, website, and so on) during the specific date range that you select.

4. Unlikes: The number of unique individuals who have unliked your Facebook Page during the specific date range that you select.

5. Friends of Fans: The number of unique individuals who are friends with the people who like your Facebook Page. These people represent the total potential reach of any content you publish to your Facebook Page.

6. People Talking about This: The number of unique individuals who have created a “story” (see definition below) about your Facebook Page during the time period you select.

7. Story:A term used to reference the ways people can interact with your page, including:

• Liking your Facebook Page
• Liking, commenting on, or sharing a post from your Facebook Page
• Answering a question you asked on your Page
• Responding to an event you posted on your Page
• Mentioning your Page within their own posts
• Tagging your Page in an uploaded picture
• Checking in to or recommending your Facebook Place

8. Total Reach: The number of unique individuals who have actually seen any content related to your Facebook Page. This could include content published on your Page, as well as Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories that lead people to your Page.

9. Organic Reach: The number of unique individuals who saw a specific post from your Facebook Page on their own News Feeds, tickers, or directly on your Page.

10. Paid Reach: The number of unique individuals who saw a specific post from your Facebook Page through a paid source, such as a Facebook Ad or Sponsored Story.

11. Viral Reach: The number of unique individuals who saw a specific post from your Facebook Page through a story published by one of their Facebook friends.

12. Active Users: The number of people who have viewed your Facebook Page or interacted with it in some way (for example, liking it, commenting on a post, and so on).

13. Monthly Active Users: The number of people who have viewed your Facebook Page or interacted with it during the previous 30 days.

14. Daily Active Users: The number of people who have viewed your Facebook Page or interacted with it on the specific day you select, categorized by the type of action they performed.

15. Engaged Users: The number of engaged individuals who have clicked anywhere on one of your Facebook Page posts. They could have liked your post, commented on it, shared it, and so on.

16: External Referrers: The number of views your Facebook Page received from website URLs that are not part of Facebook.com.

Measuring Your Facebook Page Content and Engagement

It’s also helpful to learn which content you publish on your Facebook Page is most popular and creates the most engagement from your audience. The following definitions explain some of the most common Facebook Insights metrics that you can use to measure content performance and engagement levels.

17. Page Views: The total number of times your Facebook Page was viewed during the time period you select.

18. Tab Views: The total number of times each tab in your Facebook Page was viewed when people were logged in to Facebook, during the time period you select.

19: Post Views: The number of times a story published on your Facebook Page News Feed was viewed during the time period you select.

20: News Feed: The center column in a Facebook Profile or Page which displays a continually updated list of stories published by people and Pages you follow on Facebook.

21. Page Content or Post Feedback: The number of likes and comments on stories published in your Facebook Page News Feed during the time period you select.

22: Daily Story Feedback: A breakdown of how people responded to your stories by engaging with them (through likes or comments) or unsubscribing from them (so your Page stories don’t appear in their News Feeds in the future) during the time period you select.

23. Daily Page Activity: A breakdown of how people engaged with your Facebook Page, other than by commenting and liking your posts, on the specific date you select. For example, this metric will measure when fans write on your Facebook Wall, upload photos or videos to your Page, write reviews, participate in your Page’s discussion board, mention your Page in updates they publish on their own Facebook Profiles, or mention your Page to friends.

24: Impressions: The number of times a post from your Facebook Page is displayed, regardless of where a person sees it. A single person can see a post multiple times, thus creating an impression for every time that content is viewed.

25: Media Consumption: The number of times a piece of media content that you published on your Facebook Page, including a video, photo, or audio clip, is clicked and viewed on a specific day.

By learning more about who your Facebook Page fans are and what kind of content and conversations they engage with, you can better strategize your future publishing plans and keep your fans interested in your brand on Facebook.

[Image credits: kliverap, Brenton Nicholls, Ariel da Silva Parreira]