Facebook insights: three numbers worth checking once a week

Every Facebook Page has insights that plenty of owners never open — the professional dashboard. There are dozens of numbers in there, but checking three of them once a week is enough to see what’s working and what isn’t.

1 / 4Where to find your insights

1. 01
   Switch to your Page

   Switch into your Page profile on Facebook, open the professional dashboard and choose Insights in the left-hand menu.

2. 02
   It may have another name

   Facebook says the dashboard is sometimes called something else — a creator or business dashboard, for example.

3. 03
   Business Suite

   You’ll find the same numbers in Meta Business Suite, which is often easier to use on a computer.

2 / 4The three numbers

1. 04
   Views

   The headline metric: how many times a video was started or replayed, and how many times a photo or text post appeared on screen. One person can account for several views.

2. 05
   Reach

   How many people saw a post. Facebook shows separately how much of it was organic and how much came from ads.

3. 06
   Engagement

   Likes, comments, shares and other actions. It’s most useful divided by reach — that way you can compare big posts with small ones.

3 / 4Who your audience is

1. 07
   Age, gender, city

   The audience section shows who your followers are. Facebook shows this once it has information on 100 or more people.

2. 08
   Compare with your customers

   Does it match your real customers? If not, rethink your post topics or your ad audience.

4 / 4Ten minutes a week

1. 09
   Same day every week

   Check your insights every Monday and write down three numbers: views, reach and engagement.

2. 10
   Best post, weakest post

   Find the week’s best and weakest posts and ask yourself: what’s the difference?

3. 11
   Two years of memory

   Facebook shows Page insights for the last two years. If you want to track growth for longer, keep your own record.

✓The bottom line

Insights only help if you look at them regularly. Three numbers, one day a week and one question: what worked, and why?

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