Facebook's adding some new metrics to their ad and Page data options, though they do seem a little confusing and may not be adding a heap overall.
First off, Facebook's adding a new 'Landing Page Views' metric which will show advertisers how many users actually made it to their mobile landing page after clicking on an ad.
But the available CTR data should already tell you that, right? Do Facebook's current ad metrics not tell you how many times someone reached your Page?
Kind of - as explained by Marketing Land:
"Someone may click on a brand's ad to visit its site but hit the back button before the site actually loads, especially if the site takes too long to load over a cellular connection. So Facebook's "landing page views" metric will augment the link clicks metric by only reporting the number of times the advertiser's site actually loaded after someone clicked on the ad."
It's basically a more in-depth form of the current click metrics - but really, the only clicks you want to know about are those that actually go through to the page you're trying to promote, right? In some ways, the metric may actually raise more questions about Facebook's listed measurements than it provides more answers.
Facebook's also going to start highlighting how many ad clicks have come from new visitors over returning ones, while they're also adding some extra Page metrics:
- Growth and decline in Pages followers - including followers gained over time and how many followers have been gained through organic posts versus ads
- Exposure to Page information - Facebook will start showing Page admins how many people hovered over a Page's name (as in when its mentioned in a post) but didn't click through
- Recommendation count - this new metric will show how many times a Page has been mentioned in Facebook's Recommendations feature (released last October) for local businesses and options.
- New demographic breakdowns of Page followers
The updates are part of Facebook's ongoing effort to win advertiser trust in the wake of their various data reporting errors.
As per Facebook:
"We've heard feedback from businesses that they want more transparency and understanding around their Facebook performance. As part of our commitment to measurement, about every month or so we'll release new metrics so that businesses have better ways to measure outcomes, all in one place."
In practice, maybe these new metrics will add more value than it seems - and for specific businesses they'll no doubt have significant value. But at a surface glance, they don't appear to add a heap to the process.
The new Facebook metrics will be released "in the coming weeks".