Facebook Moves from “Connections” to “Actions”
Facebook recently phased out its “Connections” metric in favor of a richer, full-bodied “Actions” metric. The connections metric has functioned mostly to track user “Likes,” as well as basic initial actions such as app installs. In addition to these traditional insights, the new action metric allows marketers to understand users’ post-click behavior through more action-based analytics, and measure beyond clicks and downloads with daily, weekly and 28-day view-through and click-through conversion reports. These insights will make it easier for marketers to boost page post presence, increase viral exposure, and to target users based on behavioral patterns leveraged from these insights – compulsive coupon clippers, event frequenters, game players, etc. Metrics and optimization are now available for the following actions:
- Page/page post likes and comments
- “People Talking About This”
- Shares (posts, offers, photos, videos, etc.)
- Mentions
- Check-ins
- Photo tags
- App installs and uses
- “Yes” and “maybe” event RSVPs
- Offer claims
- App credit spends by number and amount
While Facebook’s past has been very “Like-centric,” this change, especially in light of November’s new “People Talking About This” metric and March’s mandatory timeline switch, marks a strong move to support marketers’ push toward increasing user engagement. Engagement has and continues to emerge as the key to social success as brands realize that unengaged fans are like benched players on the social playing field – they simply show up and sit there. The focus has shifted to extracting deep customer insights to support and grow an actively engaged fan base – the goal that Facebook’s new actions metric champions.
See here for more details about Facebook's new action-based metrics.
