Facebook Analytics (FBA) is product analytics used for driving growth. The following blog post provides an outline of the key aspects of using the interface and the key metrics that are available.
Understanding Facebook Analytics
Originally Facebook Analytics focused on providing analytic information on apps, allowing app developers and businesses to better understand the interactions people were having with their products and encourage growth.
In recent developments, Facebook Analytics introduced web measurement and cross platform metrics allowing business users to have analytic information from Facebook pages, websites and apps all in one place. This implementation allows businesses to understand how their audience is interacting with their product (website and/or app) across multiple channels and devices.
Data in Facebook Analytics is driven by events. You can customise events to measure and understand the actions people take on your website, app and other channels. For example, your event could be a sign up on a website or an app install.
Facebook Analytics is implemented by adding Javascript SDK code to a website or app or by using a Facebook Pixel. Users that already have a Facebook Pixel on their website automatically have access to Facebook Analytic data.
Facebook Pixel
A Facebook Pixel is a piece of code added to websites that help users understand the actions people are taking on their website. It is an analytics tool that helps measure the effectiveness of advertising and provides insight into audiences. Facebook Pixel provides information on what pages people are looking at, what devices they are using and what actions they are taking.
Omni Channel Analytics
One of the best features of Facebook Analytics is the ability to use Omni Channel Analytics and track people’s behaviour over different channels (i.e. apps and websites). Tracking these movements allows for a complete overview of the customer journey, even if they switch between devices and channels. Research shows that people often initiate a task on one device and complete it on another i.e. researching a product on mobile but purchasing it on a desktop. Omni channel analytics allows for this behaviour to be easily tracked, thus providing further insight into customer actions.
Key Benefits of Facebook Analytics
- In Depth Demographics – Get to know your customers on a deeper level with demographics and insights that only come from Facebook
- Measure Across Channels – View unified data across your different channels to get the complete picture.
- Optimize To Grow – Build funnel, cohort and retention reports alongside segmentation tools to analyse specific audiences in depth.
The Interface
The 5 main sections of the Facebook Analytics interface are; overview, dashboards, activity, people and settings.
1. Overview – Provides easy access to an overview of top level metrics such as active users, age & gender, country, post shares etc
2. Dashboards
Facebook Analytics allows you to create custom dashboards so you can easily view and compare data. They allow you to track all your key performance metrics in one place and easily view them at a glance. Simply create a dashboard and then add charts to it. Dashboards can be shared with other users who are granted permission to access them
3. Activity Section – Provides information on the actions people are taking on your website/app.
Active Users – The number of unique people using your product.
Overlap –View users who take actions across channels with other parameters.
Lifetime Value – Data from logging purchase events on website or app.
Funnels – Allows you to monitor peoples journey through your selected event. Helpful to see where you are losing people in your purchase flows.
Retention – Shows the percentage of people returning after initial use. See how well you’re engaging and retaining your customers.
Cohorts – Shows information on groups of people who performed the same 2 actions during a certain time period.
Breakdowns – In-depth analyses of events.
Events – Shows the actions people take with events you have defined.
Event Debugging – Shows last 20 events logged within 24 hours. Used to check which events are logging so you can verify implementation.
4. People Section – Provides demographic information and audience insights on the people interacting with your website/app. Custom audiences can be created to focus on specific audiences.
Highlights – Shows general information about your audience.
Demographics – Shows characteristics of your audience such as age and gender.
Page Likes – Interests of audience based on Facebook page likes
Technology – The device your audience is using.
Household/Purchase – data regarding the household income and spending of your audience.
Summary
Facebook Analytics provides collective analytic information for Facebook, websites and apps. It allows businesses to gain valuable insight into customer behaviour and demographics by using Omni Channel Analytics, the ability to track information over multiple channels and devices. The interface allows for custom dashboards to be created to easily track key metrics. The activity section provides different breakdowns on the interaction people have with your website or app and the action they take and the people section provides demographic information on your audience.
