Just a few months ago, Facebook turned 13. At this point in it’s life, people think the platform doesn’t have much to hide anymore. But based on questions we get everyday, we know that this is not the case. People always have tons of questions about Facebook, with one of the most common doubts people have is about Page Like Sources. They just want to know where their fans are coming from, and were here to tell you.
Page Like sources – Why are they important?
Page Like sources show you where and how fans find your Page. This information lets you plan ahead better, shows you which parts of your Page needs more work, and helps you to better understand your audience. Are they using mostly mobile devices? Is Facebook recommending your Page to users? Are ads effectively helping my fans grow? Sources of Page Likes can help find those answers.
/ text updated in February 2019 /
Where can I find the data?
If you have access to Page Insights, You can find Page Like sources under the ‘Likes‘ tab. Facebook offers only a simplified view, where likes are grouped usually into five places where they can occur.
To get more detailed data, you need to use 3rd party tools that pull data straight from Facebook’s API. One of those tools is Sotrender. In our app, sources of Page Likes are available for all users that have at least ‘Analyst‘ level access to the Page.
After logging in, select the Page you want to look at and go to the ‘Audience‘ tab. You can expand the Sources of likes chart and even download it in .PNG, .JPG, or .PDF format.
Page Like sources in Sotrender
What do specific Page Like sources mean?
Although the current Page Like sources seems to be quite obvious, it is worth to discuss them briefly:
- Your Page: Page likes that came from people who visited your Page
- Page suggestions: Page likes that came from people who saw your Page in a list of suggested Pages
- Search: Page likes that came from people who saw your Page or post in a search
- Restored Likes from Reactivated Accounts: Page likes that came from people who reactivated their Facebook profile
- News Feed: Page likes that came from people who saw content posted by your Page or about your Page in News Feed
- Ads: Page likes that came from people who saw your Page or post in an ad
- Other
Page Like sources before 2018
Before 2018, when there was Facebook API change, it was possible to analyze Page Like sources in a much more detailed way:
Page suggestion – People who liked your Page through an invite from an admin.
Timeline – People who liked your Page from the Likes section of their own Timeline or someone else’s.
Ads – People who clicked ‘Like’ in an Ad or Sponsored Story directing to your Page on desktop.
Mobile Ads – People who clicked ‘Like’ in an Ad or Sponsored Story directing to your Page on mobile.
Registration – People you added to your Page as admins.
Mobile – People who liked your Page from a mobile device.
Wizard suggestion – People who liked your Page in the New User Wizard when registering for Facebook.
Profile connect – People who liked your Page on the Page itself or in a News Feed or ticker story.
Recommended Pages – People who liked your Page from a Recommended Pages unit on the right column of Facebook
Favorites – Other Pages that have liked your Page.
API – People who liked your Page through an app developed by a third party.
Page browser – People who liked your Page using Facebook’s Page Browser.
Mobile Page browser – People who liked your Page using Facebook’s Page Browser on mobile.
Hovercard – People who liked your Page from the popup window they get when they hover over a link that leads to your Page.
Search – People who liked your Page from their search results.
Page profile – People who clicked ‘Like’ on the Page itself.
Ticker – People who liked your Page from a story they saw about it in ticker.
Story likes – People who liked your Page from a story they saw about a friend liking it.
Facebook suggestions – Automatically suggested stories from Facebook about a friend liking your Page.
PYML suggestion – People who liked your Page after seeing a ‘Pages You Might Like’ (PYML) suggestion.
Page suggestions on liking – People who liked your Page after seeing the Page in suggestions upon liking another Page on desktop.
Mobile Page suggestions on liking – People who liked your Page after seeing the Page in suggestions upon liking another Page on mobile.
Fan context story – People who liked your Page after seeing a story of a friend interacting with the Page.
Sponsored story – People who liked your Page after seeing a sponsored story.
Page invite – People who liked your Page after being invited.
What about you? Do you know where your fans are coming from?
Torrey Tayenaka
Marta Bongilaj
