Once a month, check which posts reached the most people, where your followers live, when they are online and how many people tapped to call, get directions or visit your website. Ignore the rest.

Insights, opened once

Every Facebook business page has an Insights tab, visible to the people who manage the page. Most owners have opened it once, scrolled through a wall of charts and closed it again.

That is a reasonable reaction. Insights is built for people who manage pages full time, and it reports almost everything: likes, follows, reach, impressions, engagement, video views, page views by section, clicks on every button.

An owner who posts a few times a week needs far less. A handful of numbers, checked monthly, answer the useful questions: what worked, who is listening, when to post, and whether the page sends anyone in.

The numbers worth ten minutes

The fourth is the one closest to the till. Reach describes attention; a tap on the phone number or the directions link is someone deciding to come in.

Which posts reached people

The Posts section lists every post with its reach, the number of people who saw it at least once, alongside clicks, reactions, comments and shares.

Sort last month's posts by reach and look at the top three and the bottom three. What the top ones share is the useful finding: a photograph of the product, a notice people needed, a face they know.

Compare posts with each other, not with your follower count. Facebook shows page posts to only a small share of followers, so a low number on its own says little.

Leave boosted posts out of the comparison, or look only at their organic reach. Paid reach is bought, and it says nothing about what followers chose to read.

Who the followers are

The People section shows followers by age, gender, city and language.

The question to ask of it is simple: do these people live where your customers live?

A page that ran a contest years ago, or was shared by someone with friends far away, can have many followers who will never visit.

That does not make them worthless, but it changes how to read reach. A post seen by people two hours away is not the same as one seen by neighbours.

Check the cities list once, note roughly how much of it is local, and read every later number with that in mind.

When followers are online

Also in the Posts section is a chart of when followers are online, by day of the week and by hour.

Most owners post when they have a spare minute, which is rarely when their followers are scrolling. The chart shows the gap.

Facebook lets a page schedule posts in advance. Write the post when it suits you and set it to go out shortly before the evening or lunchtime peak the chart shows.

A worked example

A waffle shop near a college campus opens at seven on weekdays and eight on weekends. The owner posted most mornings at about six, before opening, because that was her quiet moment.

When she finally sat down with Insights, three things stood out.

Her followers were mostly online in the evening, peaking after nine. Many of them lived in a city two hours away, left over from a contest the previous owner had run.

And the posts that reached the most people were not the close-ups of waffles. They were the Sunday notice of the week's special flavour and a photograph of the line out the door on a Saturday.

She now writes the next morning's post in the evening and schedules it for half past eight at night. The weekly flavour goes up on Sunday evening.

The far-away followers are still there. She reads the reach numbers knowing that.

Actions on the page

Insights counts taps on the phone number, the directions link, the website link and the page's action button, such as Call Now or Book Now.

These are the closest Facebook comes to showing that the page brings in customers. They miss everyone who saw a post and simply walked in, so treat them as a floor rather than a total.

Note the monthly totals and set them beside that month's posts. A month that stands out usually has a reason worth knowing.

What to ignore

Impressions count the same person several times and flatter every post. Reach is the better number for a small page.

Video views are counted after a few seconds of play, often with the sound off, so they say little about whether anyone watched.

The page's like total is a running score of the past, not a measure of this month. And comparisons with other pages invite effort on someone else's goals.

None of these is wrong. They answer questions an owner with ten minutes does not need to ask.

Write the numbers down

Insights keeps history, but its layout changes and its charts are slow to compare across months.

A spreadsheet with one row per month works better: the best post and its reach, the top follower cities, the online peak, and the month's calls, directions and website taps. Insights can also export its data to a spreadsheet.

A year of rows answers questions no single chart can, such as which season brings the most taps on the directions link.

The counter-case

A page that posts once a month, or a business whose customers find it mostly through search and referrals, will see small numbers that jump about from month to month. For them, a look each quarter is enough.

A business spending money on Facebook advertising needs more than this. Ad reports deserve a closer and more frequent look, usually by whoever manages the ads.

For an owner posting a few times a week without ads, these few numbers once a month are enough.

Once a month

  1. Open Insights on a computer rather than the phone.
  2. Sort last month's posts by reach.
  3. Note what the top three have in common.
  4. Check where followers live against your area.
  5. Read the online chart before scheduling posts.
  6. Count calls, directions and website taps.
  7. Write the numbers in one spreadsheet.

Step five changes the most for the least effort. Moving a post from the hour the owner is free to the hour followers are online costs nothing and needs no new material.

What to do with the messages that arrive is covered in messenger response times on a business page.

Frequently asked questions

Who can see a page's Insights?

Anyone with a role on the page, from admin to analyst. Followers and visitors cannot see it, and nothing in Insights is shown publicly.

What is the difference between reach and impressions?

Reach is the number of people who saw a post at least once. Impressions count the same person several times, so reach is the better measure for a small page.

Why do my posts reach so few followers?

Facebook shows page posts to only a small share of followers. Compare your posts with each other rather than with your follower count to see what works.

When is the best time to post?

Shortly before your followers are most often online, which Insights shows by day and hour. Schedule posts for then rather than whenever you have a free minute.

Which number shows the page brings customers?

Actions on the page: taps on the phone number, directions, website link and action button. It misses people who simply walk in, but it is the closest measure.

What can an owner safely ignore?

Impressions, video views counted after a few seconds, the page's like total as a goal, and comparisons with other pages. They describe attention rather than customers.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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