If you create a monthly report each month, it’s likely that one of the things you report on is reach, or how many people saw your posts.

But if you also run ad buys, how do you determine how much of the success of your reach was from your ads, compared to your organic efforts?

Well, today I’m going to break it down for how to measure this from Facebook.

Reporting for Facebook: Organic vs Paid

1. Export your raw data
Facebook Insights section has a lot of data in pretty chart already. But I actually find it a lot easier to export the raw data, and work from that.
To do this, head to your Page Insights > Hit Export Data.

Select ‘Page Level’ data, your desired date range, and hit Export Data.

Now, you’ll get an Excel document on your desktop breaking down the raw data from your page.

2. Find organic vs paid
Facebook actually gives you the breakdown of organic reach and paid reach in separate columns already.
All you need to do is add them up.
At the time of writing, you need to look at:
Organic Reach – add up column AM
Paid Reach – add up column AP
Organic Impressions – add up column AY
Paid Impressions – add up column BB
That’s it! You can now easily see your Facebook reach or impressions broken down by paid vs organic.

ADVANCED TIP
If you want to save time, create an excel document where you have a summary report on the first tab, and paste the raw data on the second tab and have it autocalculate these columns for you. It’ll save you time if you prepare these regularly.

Create an Excel document, and have a first tab which is your ‘Summary’ tab. The second tab can be titled anything, but I like to give it an obvious name like ‘Paste Page Data’.

Then, tell a cell in the first tab to calculate the column you want to add up in the second tab using a formula like: =SUM(‘Paste Page Data’!AM:AM)

Bam. All you need to do is paste your data in the second tab each month, and it will tally the results for you on the first tab automagically. What a dream.

Recap

Facebook often gives you a lot of information if you scratch beneath the surface and export the raw data. Then, when you know where to look, it’s a lot easier to custom design reports that suit your needs.

---

Want to work with Rachel?

Rachel Beaney is a writer and social media content specialist, helping businesses connect with their audiences.

She’s worked with local, national and global companies, in addition to not-for-profits and government bodies. She loves helping businesses tell their stories with creative and data-driven solutions.

She is based in Sydney, Australia.

Want to work together? Rachel would love to hear from you. Get in touch today.