Facebook Analytics: What Marketers Need to Know

Wondering how Facebook Analytics differs from other analytics tools?

Want tips for improving the performance of your funnels and ads?

To explore how Facebook Analytics can help marketers, I interview Andrew Foxwell.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Andrew Foxwell. He's a Facebook ads expert who runs Foxwell Digital, an agency for direct-response eCommerce brands. He's built and run numerous trainings for Jon Loomer and co-hosts the eCommerce Influence podcast.

Andrew explains how Facebook Analytics compares to Facebook Insights and Google Analytics.

You’ll also learn how Facebook Analytics helps you analyze funnels and the lifetime value of a customer.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Facebook Analytics
Andrew's Story

After college, Andrew worked as a Windows server engineer but realized that type of work wasn't for him. In 2008, he volunteered for a congressional campaign, where he worked on the candidate's website, among other things. After the candidate won the election, Andrew went to Washington, D.C., where he worked on the congressperson's press, Facebook page, and Twitter.

As part of Andrew's work in D.C., he also worked on new rules for members of Congress so they could use their official funds to advertise on social media. Before that, members could only send glossy mail pieces. After the rules changed, candidates could run ads that said, "Like my page to learn more about my economic policy," and things like that.

After continuing to work with members of Congress through another company, around 2013, Andrew became director of social at 3Q Digital in San Francisco. There, he worked with brands like GoPro, Fitbit, Eventbrite, and Square. Soon after he started that job, Facebook announced the ability to run ads in the Facebook news feed; whereas before, ads appeared only on the right.

Seeing the full arc of Facebook advertising and its development has been an interesting experience. Andrew believes it's become much more effective for advertisers. Now we're in an age of transparency with Facebook advertising, which is fantastic.

Today, Andrew runs Foxwell Digital, where he and his wife help people understand how to build a social direct-response program and make sure it's lucrative. He also stays on top of new social advertising features and capabilities, which is how he found Facebook Analytics.

In fall 2017, after playing around with Facebook Analytics for a month, Andrew called John Loomer and said they should create a program about it right away. Their program began running in December 2017. Andrew is interested in Facebook Analytics because it begins connecting a lot of dots for people.

Listen to the show to hear Andrew discuss his work with the internal Facebook Analytics team.

What Is Facebook Analytics?

To introduce Facebook Analytics, I ask Andrew to explain what it is and how it's different from Facebook Insights and Google Analytics. Andrew says Facebook Analytics, at its core, allows you to see how your Facebook properties connect. For instance, you can see how audiences for your Facebook page and Facebook pixel connect or overlap.

You also see how people interact with your website. Because Facebook pixel is a core component of Facebook Analytics, you can see how people travel through your site and interact with different parts of Facebook events. As an example, Facebook pixel has a purchase event, a lead event, and other events you can customize. Facebook Analytics gives you an idea of how these interact.

You'll find Facebook Analytics in Ads Manager or Business Manager (click the menu in the upper left, select All Tools to see all options,