Understanding your Facebook and Instagram insights (a.k.a your analytics) as a small business owner is an important part of your digital marketing strategy, specifically on social media. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 - meaning, these separate apps are now owned and operated by the same company. Similarly, in October of 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta to signal that the company is more than just a social media app and that they offer several other products. Social media marketing is changing by the minute, and we’re here to keep you updated! To access your social media insights via desktop, head over to business.facebook.com (see below) to get started.

How to Access Your Facebook & Instagram Analytics on a Mobile Device

You can also access Facebook and Instagram insights using the Business Suite App on Android or Apple devices. See below. This app can be downloaded in the Play Store (Android) or the App Store (Apple).

Accessing Your Analytics on Desktop Vs. Mobile

It’s important to note that you will not be able to access analytics for your business if you are using your personal page for business. In this instance, “Marissa Brubaker” is the example personal page. If you are unsure whether you have a personal page or a Facebook page, you can check this on a mobile device or on a desktop computer.

Mobile Device

On your mobile phone, go into the Facebook app. On the home page of Facebook right when you log in, select “Menu” at the bottom right, and then the drop-down arrow to the right of your name (in this instance “Marissa Brubaker”). From the “Menu,” you will be able to see a list of all of your business pages (see below) – if any.

As the app continues to update, it’s likely that these steps will change, but the concept will stay the same.

Desktop Computer

An easy way to check if you have a business page on your desktop is by logging into facebook.com and then on the home page, at the top right, select your profile image, and then “See Profiles.”

Conclusion

If you do see a Business Page listed (or multiple), this is known as your Facebook Business Page. If you do not see any pages listed, you do not currently have a Facebook Business Page.

Personal pages (like the example below “Marissa Brubaker”) do not offer analytics at this time of writing. If you are unsure if you have a business page or how to set one up, see here.

**Mobile Access to Your Business Pages (Facebook App)**

**Desktop Access to Your Business Pages (https://www.facebook.com** **> log in)**

You can also contact us, (hi!) MP Media, for help setting up your Facebook Business Page here:

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How to Access Your Facebook and Instagram Analytics on a Desktop Computer

Accessing your Facebook and Instagram Analytics for your Facebook Business page can be done multiple ways. Here are a few ways you can access your analytics, The first way is directly within Facebook the app (on mobile or on desktop).

Desktop - Facebook.com

On your desktop computer, you can access your Facebook page’s analytics on the Facebook home page by selecting the home feed, and then viewing the menu bar to the left of your screen. If you do not see “Meta Business Suite” select “See More” (not pictured) or keep scrolling down until you do.

A simpler way to access the “Meta Business Suite” is by going to business.facebook.com, logging in using your personal account, and then accessing your analytics from here. Keep scrolling to learn more about this!

Access Meta Business on Facebook on Desktop

Mobile - Meta Business Suite

You will not be able to access the Meta Business Suite the same way on a mobile device using the Facebook app. Instead, you will have to download a separate app to your phone called “Meta Business Suite” by Facebook, which we briefly talked about above using the "Playstore” on Android or the “App Store” on an Apple Device. Here’s what the app looks like.

A side note - all of the business you will be doing in Facebook has a separate app. As you can see above, if you want to manage your paid Facebook ads, you would need to download “Meta Ads Manager.” If you want to manage your content on a mobile device, you would need to download “Creator Studio from Facebook”, etc. to access these tools created and provided by Facebook, the app (also known as Meta), instead of doing it directly in Facebook, the app, because that’s not confusing at all!

Let’s Talk Analytics!

For the sake of keeping things simple, we will be using the Desktop version of Facebook’s Insights to walk you through your analytics.

If you are on a mobile device in “Meta Business Suite” viewing your analytics, please note that the location of the information you’re viewing might be slightly different, but the insights will always be synchronous across any device you’re using to view your analytics.

Once you have accessed the Meta Business Suite (whether that’s on your mobile device or on a desktop), you’ll want to make sure you’re under the correct Business Page by selecting the dropdown menu at the top left of your screen under “Meta Business Suite” and selecting your Business Page of choice.

Under this example, we will be using MP Media (our business), to share with you how you can better understand your Facebook and Instagram insights.

Once you have selected the correct Business Page, in the menu bar (seen above), select “Insights".”

From here, you will be directed to a hub of information that gives us lots of details about what is happening with your social media pages.

Facebook & Instagram Insights - Where to Start?

Once you have accessed your Insights, you will be brought to a page that looks like the one you see below.

The insights you see above will default to the last 28 days. You can change the time duration for the analytics shown by selecting the dropdown menu. See below.

Note: if you’re on a mobile device, your customization options might be slightly limited.

How to View Facebook & Instagram Insights

If you have correctly connected your Instagram Business Page to your Facebook Page, your Facebook and Instagram insights can be seen side by side (see below). For the remainder of this post, you will only be seeing Facebook insights, but both will be there if your accounts are set up correctly!

If you do not know how to properly connect your Instagram page to your Facebook page, learn more here.

Faebook & Instagram Insights - Overview

The Overview tells us a lot about your current social media strategy. Essentially, your Facebook & Instagram overview is giving you a full picture of the number of accounts your content reached during that time duration from your Page – including posts, stories, ads, social information from Accounts Center accounts that interact with your Page and more (Facebook).

Organic Reach Vs. Paid Reach on Facebook and Instagram

Organic Reach - when your posts reach an audience without paying for ad space (the content was organically recommended due to relevance, content type, and more).

Paid Reach - when you pay for ad space on the platform to get in front of a targeted audience outside of your current following.

Ideally, we want as much organic reach as possible, because this is free marketing! Your reach will fluctuate considerably over 28 days. This is totally normal, and a natural part of the social media content cycle.

Organic content is essential to your social media strategy. Likewise, it might be beneficial for you to run paid ads during timely events such as recitals, webinars, in-person events, sales, and more.

Facebook & Instagram Insights - Understanding Reach vs. Page Visits vs. Follows

Understanding your social media results will better prepare your content strategy for the next round of posting. Here you can see a breakdown of Facebook reach, Facebook Page visits, and new Facebook likes. Let’s talk about what those are and why that matters.

Facebook Reach - the number of accounts that saw any content from your Page or about your Page, including posts, stories, ads, social information from Accounts Center accounts that interact with your Page and more (Facebook).

Facebook Page Visits - the number of times your page was visited by a real user (a.k.a a person with a Facebook account who was logged in and viewing your content).

Facebook Page Likes - The number of new likes on your Facebook page.

Which Metric Matters the Most?

The metric you want to focus on depends on what your social media goals are. For example, if you’re looking to get in front of as many new faces as possible with your content, you’re going to want to focus on reach. If your goal to is bring people to your page to engage with your content, you’re going to want to focus on Page visits.

In terms of Facebook likes, this depends on the nature of the viewer. Ask yourself, “How often do I like a Facebook page AND follow one? Does this impact my ability to engage with this community or page?” Likely the answer is no.

Facebook & Instagram Insights - Your Audience

The “Audience” is simply a demographic that explains who is viewing your content (male vs. woman), how old they are, and where they live.

As a small business owner, this is incredibly useful infomation. Not only does this tell you about the types of people who are buying your product or service, but it also tells you how to market to your current online audience and (hint, hint) gives us clues on how to run an effective paid ad, in the event you decided to promote your content for further business reach.

In essence, your current “Audience” tells us a lot about who is interested in your product or service.

Conclusion

There you have it! That’s a super simple explanation of how you can better understand your analytics as a small business owner and use them to your advantage.

Using social media is a powerful (and free!) tool that allows your business to get in front of billions of people, in theory, without paying a dime. That’s pretty amazing, really. Social media, when used correctly, is a powerful tool that small businesses can start implementing to advertise to their current and potential audiences.

We hope that this article made the “big, scary apps and numbers” feel a lot more manageable. Data is an important part of running a business. The fact that these apps give us so much information about people who are completely free to us to communicate with, is huge potential for your business.

When was the last time you checked out your social media analytics? If you're still feeling overwhelmed and you’re not sure where to start with your social media management, send us a message, and we would be happy guide you through our free consultation. See you in the next one!