These days, everyone follows brands that they "Like" on Facebook. But we've all been guilty of removing those annoying postings from our newsfeed without ever going to the actual page and clicking, "Unlike." It's the same as marking a newsletter as spam, rather than taking the simple steps to unsubscribe from their emails.

Blocking a fan page's postings can make it increasingly difficult for a brand or business to understand how many people are actually seeing their Facebook postings. A restaurant might have 5,000 Facebook fans, but if that restaurant isn't providing relevant, engaging postings they may actually only have 500 people seeing their postings.

How can a business tell if their fans are seeing their postings?

A great way to find out how many people are actually seeing your postings is to go to the individual posts on your page. Facebook provides pages with the opportunity to see how many "People Saw This Post." This metric is provided at the bottom of each post and can only be seen by the page administrator. This is a great way to see how your postings are doing, as well as give you some insight as to what time of day you should be posting. *Note: This information is not viewable on personal Facebook accounts. This data is only provided to a brand business pages.

What metrics help measure how valuable your fans are?

Most brands make the mistake of assuming that getting a lot of "Likes" on a post is a great sign of user engagement. This doesn't mean that Facebook "Likes" are worthless, but they are not nearly as valuable to a business page as "Comments" and "Shares."

"Comments" and "Shares" cause your posts to be seen by the fans' friends, giving them a chance to engage with your posting, even if they aren't currently fans of your page. They also serve as literal endorsements from that fan who is engaging in your postings. Endorsements are the most powerful form of social media marketing. Marketers are realizing that people are much more likely to take the recommendation of a close friend rather than respond to a brand's recommendation.

Another great way to see if your fans really love you is to check your Facebook Insights (see below). These insights provide you with valuable information, such as your "Weekly Total Reach" and "People Talking About You."

To access Page Insights:

• Open the menu below your Page's cover photo
• Select View Insights

You can access your Insights data through the dashboard, or export it using the Export button in the top right corner.

Your reach is determined by how viral your postings were. They show you how far they went outside of your normal community of fans.

"People talking about you" is a great metric to keep track of, but its name tends to be a bit misleading. It is not how many people are actually talking about your brand, but rather, your Fans who have taken an action on your Page that will be visible to their friends. (Nicky Kriel, Social Media Coach)

For example:

• They clicked "Like"
• They made a comment
• They shared an update on their Page or Profile

The absolute best way to determine if your social media fans love you is by checking your books. Are your sales increasing due to your social media efforts? Is your brand getting exposed to your target audience? Is your community engaged with your content? While these results will most likely not happen overnight, they are an excellent way to determine if your social media efforts are worth your time.