With over 800 million users, Facebook is the largest online social network. Every day, enormous amounts of information are collected about each active user. This allows Page owners to gain insight into their fans and discover what needs to be done in order to offer them a better experience, which will help improve marketing results.

When you know which metrics to focus on, it is easy to get the most vital information without having to sort through infinite data. Here are the three most important metrics to watch when it comes to improving your Facebook pages.

How many people are “Talking About This”?

This metric is viewable by everyone who visits your page. This number totals up the number of people who have interacted with your page in one way or another within the last seven days. That includes people who have liked you, shared or commented on a post, tagged your page, answered a question, etc. Each week, you will be able to see the increased or decreased percentage of People Talking About This.

Engaging users is the key to creating avid fans. It is important to create a strong online community if you want to build up your fan base. Ask them questions, take a poll. Encourage users to respond and like your posts. Add little calls-to-action in each post in order to foster interaction between your fans and your page. When people leave a comment, respond! Show them that you really are there and ready to talk.

Keep track of your “Engaged Users.”

The Page Post Information section on your dashboard will tell you how many unique users have clicked on your post or in the comments. This information will be tracked for 28 days.

This metric will give you better insight into what types of posts encourage the most interaction from users-like questions or pictures. When you know what is getting the most engagement from users, you will be able to gear your posts specifically for them.

Know your “External Referrers.”

When you click on “Reach,” you will be able to see how many times people were brought to your Facebook Page from an outside source and on what dates. This is important because you want to know where and how people are finding you. It could be from one of your blogs, an outside blog or a search engine.

When you know where your traffic is coming from, then you need to make sure you have your Facebook Page optimized so that it can be indexed by Google. You can do this by having key worded information in your “Info Tab.”

To get more traffic from outside sites, try to guest post for others in your niche. When you put yourself out there, you will increase the likelihood that more people will find you.

Have a Like button on your websites and blogs so that you can gain more traffic from your own sites as well. Let visitors know that you have “Gone Social.” To build up your fan numbers, you need to take action and drive them to your Facebook Page.

Are you monitoring your Facebook Insights? What has been the most helpful to you? Share with us!

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Many business owners know that it can take time to build up a lot of traffic through social media. In order to boost your results, you need to make a plan and stick to it. When you know how social media works, you can establish a plan that will give you more consistent results from your social networking efforts.

These are eight things that you can do in order to improve your success right away. Decide which ones you can easily implement and get started.

1. Cut back on the number of social media sites you are on. If you are trying to maintain an active presence on a dozen or more social networking sites, you could be wasting your efforts and your time. Don’t spend all of your energy networking this way. You’ll only end up with lackluster results. Instead, choose a handful of sites that best suit you and give them your attention, including one or two that are focused on your niche.

2. Generate post ideas. You want to have content for your blog or website that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking. Sit down and come up with a list of potential blog post or article writing ideas. This will give you a place to go when you feel stumped in your writing.

3. Good posting is about quality instead of quantity. You might be under the impression that it is best to have a new blog post every day. Unless you are able to write stellar content on that kind of schedule, don’t put yourself through that stress! Your readers will be happier to wait a few days for a fantastic post rather than get a daily dose of mediocre musings.

4. Concentrate on post readability. Many blog readers, and especially social media visitors, will only give your posts a scan instead of a word-for-word read through. To make your posts more reader-friendly, make sure that the content is broken up into smaller paragraphs, use sub headers, and throw in a bullet list or two. Readers also like content that is broken up with images and pictures.

5. Vote for others. A lot of bloggers only use social media as a way to promote their own sites. This is not the way to gain fans. If you are consistently pushing for your own content but snubbing others, you aren’t going to see better results. People will notice this behavior and it will show you in a negative light. Instead, take part in the community and start voting for others. This is the best way to have the votes come back your way.

6. Take part in a voting co-op. There are groups of bloggers out there who are happy to vote for each other’s’ content on social media sites. If you can’t find a group, reach out to a few bloggers who also write in your niche topic and ask them to become part of a group with you. Be sure to only vote for quality content in order to protect your reputation.

7. Install voting buttons on your blog. Decide which sites are the most beneficial to you and include their button on your page. This allows readers to immediately take action and share or vote for your posts through whichever social network they use.

8. Make use of the tools out there. There are a number of tools and resources out there that can help save you time. These will keep you from wasting away in front of the computer screen. You can hire a ghostwriter to do your writing or an article marketer to post your content online for you. These things can help you streamline your social media strategy.

What have you done to boost your results in social media? Have any of these tips been helpful to you? Share with us!

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