Facebook Analytics Is Going Away: 4 Things Marketers Can Do

The standalone Facebook Analytics Tool is going away on June 30, 2021. If you use Facebook as part of your marketing efforts, it’s possible this news is freaking you out right about now. 

But fear not! Facebook Analytics Tool is not the only way to measure engagement. In fact, I have viewed various Facebook metrics daily, for years, while running paid ads and handling content promotion for clients. But with the wealth of data available within individual Facebook pages or ad campaigns, I have never felt the need to use this dashboard-style standalone tool to monitor Facebook performance.

So while there were helpful aspects to the tool, the fact that Facebook Analytics is going away soon doesn’t have me concerned in the least. 

That’s because there are other solutions available that will give you what the standalone tool provided and, in my opinion, much more! It’s vitally important to have a social media strategy for B2B that includes tracking engagement as part of your inbound marketing plan. Here, I will give you four other ways you will still be able to monitor and measure Facebook Analytics once the calendar flips to July 2021.

So What Is The Facebook Analytics Tool?

Before we dive into alternatives, it’s important to recap what Facebook Analytics Tool is and was, and what it offers. 

Facebook Analytics Tool is a “dashboard-style” tool that shows engagement for each page you have access to, with metrics like:

• Monthly Active Users
• Monthly New Users
• Monthly Revenue

This information is helpful, but there’s plenty of other ways to analyze and improve Facebook campaigns with the following four tools. 

What are the Best Facebook Analytics Tool Alternatives?

1. Facebook Business Suite
2. Facebook Events Manager
3. Facebook Ads Manager
4. HubSpot CRM

1. Facebook Business Suite

Use the Facebook Business Suite to manage all Facebook accounts you are connected to, and Instagram, too. This is a tool I use daily and find it to be full of extremely helpful insights, and it allows you to not only view activities but also manage them. 

When viewing your Facebook through Business Suite, many features are made available to you, especially when doing so on a desktop. While making small changes here and there or viewing basic metrics can be done easily from a smartphone, I recommend using the desktop version of Facebook when managing your business profile. It’s not only a better user experience, but you’ll also have access to more insights.

Just some of the features you’ll find include: 

• View Your Business at a Glance — see an overview of your account from the home screen that includes updates, recent posts, ads, and insights 
• View Activity and Notifications — see who reacted to your posts, sent messages, or made comments
• Use Inbox — view new messages and set up automated responses with answers to frequently asked questions or other information
• Create Posts and Stories — use publishing tools to view past posts and create and schedule new ones
• Access Commerce Manager — create or manage your Commerce account
• View Insights — you’ll access a wealth of information here, including an overview, page views, actions on page, response rates, which posts are getting more engagement, and more

2. Facebook Events Manager

Events Manager shows the number of events fired on your website (such as page views), both organic and paid. This number may be different from what shows in Ads Manager because Ads Manager only counts events that can be attributed to the ads you are running. To use the Events Manager feature requires a little more know-how; it’s accessible once you add the Facebook pixel and event code to your website or set up the Conversions API. 

Some of the features you’ll want to take advantage of in Facebook Events Manager include:

• Custom conversions — Create rules for events or URLs to measure more specific customer actions. Set parameters and filter customer conversions, such as purchases of a specific product. You can also use the insights to optimize your ad delivery and retarget your audience to those who are more likely to engage. 
• Events — When someone takes an action on your website, like filling out a conversion form or making a purchase, it’s considered an “Event.” By using Events, you can leverage various Facebook advertising tools to measure campaign performance and results and attract the type of audience that is most likely to engage with your brand.
• Facebook pixels — Ever wonder how effective your advertising is? With Facebook pixels, you can get a glimpse into how people interact with your website and the actions they take. The pixels tool helps you know who to show your ads to and guide potential customers on their buyer’s journey once they’ve engaged with your website. It also allows you to set up automatic bidding and measure your ad results. 

3. Facebook Ads Manager

Another tool I use on a daily basis is Facebook Ads Manager. It helps you create, run, and optimize paid ads on Facebook. Unlike many other Facebook features, there is a cost element with Facebook Ads Manager, since you will need to spend money out of pocket to run paid ads. You aren’t required to run ads, of course, but if you do, you will see metrics like these in Ads Manager:

• Link clicks
• Cost per result
• Impressions: number of times someone sees your ad in Facebook
• Reach: number of people who have seen your ad at least once
• Amount spent
• Frequency: the average number of times each person sees your ad 
• Social engagement metrics like post saves, comments, and shares

There are many other metrics available for tracking success, such as Video Engagement and App Engagement metrics, among others. Working with an agency that has skilled specialists who are adept in setting up and running paid media campaigns will help you leverage the most out of the Facebook Ads Manager and paid advertising in this channel. 

RELATED: A QUICK GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING PAY-PER-CLICK AD TERMINOLOGY 

4. Don’t Forget Your HubSpot CRM

Robust CRM and marketing automation systems like HubSpot can sync to your Facebook account and show a more holistic view of your metrics. What’s great about this feature is that you can gain insights into how social posts and advertisements from Facebook are working in combination with your other inbound marketing efforts, including other social media channels like LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as Google Ads. HubSpot CRM allows you to compare performance across multiple channels and campaigns, and ties activities to specific contacts and customers.

HubSpot provides a surprisingly large aggregate of data from integrated social channels, meaning you don’t always have to dig into individual platforms to see the most relevant analytics. If you notice that there is significant activity tied to a specific Facebook post or ad, however, you always have the option to dig deeper directly within Facebook’s metrics using one of the other three ways mentioned above.

Measure the Metrics that Matter

As you can see, the end of Facebook Analytics Tool doesn’t need to be cause for concern. Just as your B2B organization continually seeks to improve and streamline its operations by removing repetitive workflows or unnecessary processes, it seems Facebook is doing the same. 

Metrics matter, but not all data carries the same weight, especially when analyzing your marketing efforts’ ROI. Use our eBook below to identify and calculate the metrics that will get you (and your boss) excited and prove your value with hard data. Just click the link below.