Did you know that Americans spend an average of 39 minutes a day on Facebook? It’s no wonder that 40 million small businesses have a Facebook page now. But just having a page doesn’t mean you’re getting a share of that time. That’s where Facebook Insights comes in. Here’s a guide to this resource and how it can help you book more face time with fans of your small business’ Facebook page.

What is Facebook Insights?

Insights is an analytics tool that can help businesses monitor how their Facebook page is doing. Anyone with administrative access to your page can access this feature. And it’s free.

It tracks who is visiting your page and what content draws their attention. With this information, you can take action to help improve the performance of your page.

What Information is Available?

Facebook Insights provides two types of insights. User insights help you learn who your fans are. It starts with demographic information but also takes a deeper dive. For example, it tells you the number of active daily users, how many pages they viewed, and who referred them to your page.

Interaction insights stats tell you about their behavior while on your page. You’ll learn how many likes or shares a post might have received. It tracks whether they made a comment, posted it on their wall, or mentioned friends and locations.

Here some examples of specific metrics available and what they can mean to your business:

• Likes – This metric will give you the demographics of people who liked your content. It includes variables like age, gender, and geographic location. Then can you decide what kind of content to do more of. For example, a hardware store might find that their “how-to” posts get the most views, especially from fans age 20-30. That could tell them to provide more basic tips on simple repairs.
• When Fans Are Online – This metric tells you how many of your fans are online during the day. That can give you insights into the best time to reach them. For example, a restaurant may find that their fans tend to visit the page more often on Thursday evening, perhaps when they’re making weekend plans. That might tell you that the best time to publish fresh content is Thursday morning.
• Video Posts – This new metric tells you not only how many people viewed the video but also how long they watched it. You can even find out whether they tend to watch it with the sound on or off. This can help you improve the videos you post. For example, a craft store that finds people abandon their demonstration videos after the first 30 seconds might start dividing them into shorter segments.

Having a Facebook page for your business is good. But knowing who visits your page and what they interact with is even better. Facebook Insights can help you learn more about your fans and offer more relevant content to them.