Most social media advice is based on “rainbows and unicorns”.

That phrase has been coined by Dan Zarella, a Social Media Scientist with Hubspot.

Most social media advice is fluff. These stories spread through Twitter like wild fire, like old myths passed down through generations.

The problem is, you don’t know what will really work. No one does. Every person, company, industry and market is different. What works for one person may never work for another.

The only way to find out is to test, experiment, and use data to tell you what worked and what didn’t.

You need to look at actual data and infer some actionable results.

Image courtesy of afagen

If you’re new to Facebook Insights and looking for a basic overview, then please watch these two videos on User and Interaction data.

The Goal of Analytics

The goal of analyzing data (for the purpose of a writer) is to identify what your audience enjoys (wants more of), and what they don’t really care too much about (to stop or do less of).

The following questions are important to answer, but don’t get bogged down by the data.

In any data analysis, most of the time you’re trying to identify trends (correlating data), or looking for outlying (unexpected) data.

So with that in mind, here is a quick Facebook Insights check-list to help you figure out what your Facebook Fans really love or hate.

Number of New Likes in the past 30 days