Facebook, FourSquare Up Analytics Power
How do you know whether a social network is bringing value to your business or how you should tweak it? Analytics, analytics, analytics! And last week two of your favorite (or at least your customers’ favorite) social networks upped their analytic power to give you more insight into how customers are interacting with your brand, which deals are reaching them, and what it all means to your bottom line.
Below includes everything you have to know about Facebook and FourSquare’s recently analytic power plays.
Facebook Insights & Real-Time Analytics
Last week Facebook released a new version of Facebook Insights to give business owners better intel into how people are interacting with their content to allow them to optimize their sites in real-time and get the most bang for the buck. A new post over on the Facebook Developer blog breaks down some of the main feature updates, including:
- Like button analytics: Facebook will now use anonymized data to show the number of times users saw your Like buttons, clicked Like buttons, saw Like stories on Facebook, and clicked Like stories to visit your website.
- Comments box analytics: Similarly, Facebook will show the number of times people saw Comments boxes, left comments, saw comment stories on Facebook, and clicked to see the content on your site.
- Popular Pages: Expanded to show the top 100 pages that people are liking, commenting on and sharing.
- Demographics: Facebook will provide demographic information for the interactions happening both on your site and on Facebook to give insight into who your audience is.
- Organic Sharing: Curious to know how many users are sharing links to your website and/or content by copy and pasting it into their status bar or using the told Share functionality? Now Facebook can tell you. This one is actually pretty cool.
With the Like button analytics, the organic sharing and the comment box analytics, site owners are getting a world of real-time information directly at their fingertips courtesy of Facebook’s new analytics platform. By looking at the content users are engaging with most often, as they’re engaging with it, business owners can identify the content pieces with the most potential to go viral. That means you can help fan flames while they’re still burning or simply get a better understanding of what your audience wants.
This is really important, as Facebook employs an EdgeRank algorithm that determines whether or not content gets seen. You want to know which types of content your users are most apt to engage with to allow you to build a model of success.
If you haven’t yet, I’d encourage you to skim through the new Facebook Insights Product Guide for Page Owners.
Worth noting: Last week, Facebook also announced new reporting on Facebook Page checkins and Facebook Deals. So check that out, as well.
FourSquare Goes 3.0 With Specials, New Analytics Platform
Last week during Search Marketing Expo West, FourSquare CEO Tristan Walker was on hand to deliver a keynote regarding the newly launched FourSquare 3.0. During his chat, Tristan talked about many of the new features and opportunities that would be available to business owners, including the whole new world of Specials.
Though FourSquare is no stranger to offering business deal, FourSquare 3.0 will offer business owners even more robust deal options, including:
- Flash Specials for doorbuster-type deals
- Friends Special for when customers check in with their friends
- Swarm Offer to reward people who check in at a location in a large group
- Newbie Specials for new customers
- Loyalty Specials for return customers
- Mayors Specials for FourSquare Mayors
As you can imagine, the specials allow business owners a unique opportunity to target and market toward a wide variety of customer types. However, what’s really cool about them is the new analytics platform they’re all perched upon.
Released alongside FourSquare 3.0 was a new analytics platform that will allow you to run multiple campaigns simultaneously and aggregate stats before and after a special goes live to let you see how successful it was.
If you love data, right now is a beautiful time to be entering the world of social media!
About the Author
Lisa Barone is a noted writer, content marketer and social strategist. She has been a trusted voice in the search world since 2006 and is most known for her brutally honest search observations. She has been featured on sites like The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, PBS, Duct Tape Marketing, Copyblogger and many others. Lisa blogs irregularly at VoiceInterrupted. 
Co-Founder of Understanding Marketing
Founder of Card Hub
Founder of Small Business Trends
It’s great that 4sq are offering more, but we’ve still not seen many businesses use these tools here in the UK. Groupon, they love. Foursquare, not so much.
If Facebook ever got savvy to the needs of business users, they’d be dangerous.
Is 4[] still around, really? Think pet rock….
I have to give Foursquare a lot of credit. Making the deals more prominent will encourage usage and allow participating businesses an opportunity to get new customers. Like Groupon but without as large of a commitment.
And of course I love me some analytics.
“Swarm Offer to reward people who check in at a location in a large group”
Hadn’t thought of swarm offers as an incentive. But these offers are a good idea for restaurants and places that charge admission such as movie theaters or amusement parks.
I often use foursquare on facebook in my mobile. Indeed there will be much more opportunities with business deal now. Great insight on Facebook and FourSquare’s recently analytic power plays!
Facebook, FourSquare Up Analytics Power…
Both FourSquare and Facebook have added some powerful analytcis to their system. These can help you better understand how these tools are helping you reach new customers….