The key element to using Facebook for your business is to learn the lingo. Whether setting up a personal profile or a business page it is essential to understand the Facebook terminology. Here are some of the most common terms and their definitions that businesses will come across when doing business through Facebook:

• ACTIVITY:

This refers to any changes on your page such as status updates, check-ins to your store, and any new comments, posts from other users, uploaded video clips, photos or articles posted from the page administrator. 

• CLICKS:  

If you decide to run a Facebook pay Per Click advertising campaign, this refers to the number of clicks that your campaign received.  While 200,000 people may have seen your advert, you only pay for the 1,000 that clicked on it – taking these people to your Facebook page or you website (you decide). Clicks are different to connections as clicks do not automatically convert a user into a fan. 

• CONNECTIONS:  

Similar to fans, connections are the number of users who ‘liked’ your page, RSVPed to your event or subscribed to your app within 24 hours as result of seeing a sponsored story or ad.  

• EDGERANK:

EdgeRank is an algorithm that prioritises content and determines what should be shown on a user’s newsfeed. The higher your EdgeRank, the more likely you are to be shown on a user’s newsfeed. Nearly 90% of fans only visit your page once so it’s important to increase your EdgeRank to maintain visibility on their newsfeed. To do so, it’s vital to constantly connect with fans and encourage them to interact with your page by posting interesting content or engaging fans in conversations through status updates. 

• FAN:  

Any user that ‘likes’ your page will become a ‘fan’ of your organisation. Fans are only applicable to business pages. 

• FREQUENCY:

The average number of times each member of the target audience saw your campaign sponsored story or ad. 

• FRIEND:

Users can connect with other users by adding them as a ‘friend.’ You must ‘accept’ a friend whereas a user can automatically ‘like’ your business page and become a ‘fan.’ Friends are only applicable to personal profiles.  

• IMPRESSIONS:

The term ‘impressions’ is displayed under any new activity. It shows the number of people that have seen the content as a result of it been posted on Facebook. It is not be confused with ‘like’ as ‘like’ shows the number of people who have read the post and clicked ‘like’, whereas  ‘impressions’ indicates the number of people that have seen the post. 

• INSIGHTS:

This is Facebook analytic software. It is a free service that can only be accessed by business page owners and page administrators. It measures the success of your business page over a period of time by providing feedback on page content and users who ‘like’ or interact on with your page. Insights offers businesses useful analysis on their pages fans geographic data, age and gender and much more.  

• LIKE:

Perhaps the most flexible of all Facebook terms. It can be interpreted in 4 ways:                              

1. To ‘like’ a business page means that the user has become a ’fan.’
2. To ‘like’ a post means that you agree or, quite simply, like what has been posted.
3. ‘Like this’ shows the number of users that have become fans of your page.       
4. A ‘like’ widget can be installed outside of your Facebook to correspond with other content that your business has published e.g. on the company website, in a blog.                                                                                

• LANDING PAGE:

Landing pages are the first page that a visitor lands on. A business can decide to land visitors to an existing info page or your ‘wall’, while other businesses prefer to create a customized/branded Facebook landing page. This should be eye-catching in line with your brand rather than a generic Facebook page. They generally have a strong call to action that leads the visitor to ‘like’ your page.

• NEWSFEED:

This is a user’s homepage. It shows activity from pages and friends including status updates, posts from friends and business pages that they ‘like.’  All activity has been prioritised by EdgeRank.  

• PAGE:

Businesses should create a business page and not a personal profile. For more information on the difference between the two click here…

• PLACES:

Facebook places (which is free of charge), allows smartphone-enabled users to “check-in” to different physical locations (shops, offices, restaurants etc) using the Facebook Mobile app. This lets people share with their friends where they are now and shows if other connected friends have visited this place in the past and recommended it etc. For a business they need to activate this feature by claiming their location/place on Facebook.

• REACH:

This is the number of first-time visitors to your page. A high EdgeRank score will help expand your reach. There are two types of reach:       

1. Social Reach: It refers to all users that will see your Facebook ad/Sponsored Story as a result of a user’s friends ‘liking’ your page, RSVPing to your event or using your app.
2. Campaign Reach: The number of users who saw a campaign sponsored story or campaign ad during the selected dates.

• SPONSORED STORIES:

If a user’s friends ‘like’ a page or a Facebook ad, or subscribe to an app then this will be seen on the right-hand side of a user’s profile. Sponsored stories can only been seen by the people who are authorised to view a user’s newsfeed.  Sponsored stories/ Facebook ads help drive users to your page and create visibility. 

• WALL:  

 Not to be confused with a landing page, the wall is where all activity on your page is posted and stored. This typically contains photos, status updates, comments and interactions between the page user and its owner/manager.