Marketers’ use of Facebook has exploded in recent months, and brands with niche audiences have begun to use the site’s social media analytics to better understand their fans. However, some niche brand marketers say these analytics capabilities fall far short of their need to understand how Facebook campaigns affect the bottom line.
Access to the analytics is helping companies better target Facebook posts and other marketing material distributed through the social network. Ludus Tours, an Austin, TX-based company that organizes excursions to international events like Oktoberfest and the Olympic Games, has used Facebook data to reach specific consumer segments.
“We did a post about the World Cup announcement that got no feedback — much less than events like Oktoberfest or the running of the bulls in Spain that our company is better known for,” says Victoria Whyte, social media manager at Ludus Tours. “That tells me we need to establish ourselves as a World Cup company.”
John Squire, chief strategy officer at Web analytics firm IBM Coremetrics, says the change to the website’s analytics policy is valuable for brands trying to reach very specific demographics.
“Facebook analytics are really going to help to identify what that audience looks like and where I can find more people who are just like them,” says Squire.
Many niche brand marketers gained access to Facebook user data, including per-post impressions, comments and feedback, when the social network made its analytics results available to all businesses in late November; prior to that, a company needed more than 10,000 “likes” to obtain the data. The move also provides marketers with the ability to measure their initiatives on a day-to-day basis. Brands with niche audiences can now glean information on total daily views and feedback, as well as how that data is changing.
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