Data showed in your DashThis widgets can sometimes look different than what you see in your Facebook account due to some particularities in the API.
2 - Data Comparison
1 - API particularities
Here are the technicalities you need to keep in mind when comparing your data between DashThis and your Facebook account.
Page VS Posts data
The metrics in Posts, Post, and Post video will showcase data only from posts published during the selected time period. For example, if you search for Posts Likes in April, you will have all the Likes on the posts you published in April. If more likes occurred in May for those same April posts, the new data will be included in the KPI.
However, Page, Page video, Reactions, and Check-ins metrics will showcase the data for all events that occurred during the selected time period, no matter when the post was published. For example, if you look at Page Impressions for April, you would see all the Impressions that occurred in April, even Impressions of pages created prior to the month of April.
“Reach” metric timeframes
Facebook doesn’t allow the exportation of your Reach Metrics within a personalized time frame. Facebook only allows the fetching of data for the last day, last week, or the last 28 days. This is why DashThis metrics are: Daily Total Page Reach, Weekly Total Page Reach, and 28 Days Total Page Reach.
We recommend using the 28 Days Total Page Reach for monthly dashboards, Weekly Total Page Reach for weekly, and the Daily Page Reach for daily dashboards.
2 - Data Comparison
There are multiple ways to ensure your data is up-to-date in your DashThis reports. Here are a few examples.
Comparing Meta Business Suite export
In the content section, you can export your data in a spreadsheet file, which will allow you to clearly compare your data on a similar basis with DashThis.
This export is supposed to match exactly what Facebook's API is sending to DashThis. Therefore, it is the best way to compare your data correctly.
Make sure to select the right period when comparing your data, matching the period in your DashThis report.
You can also customize your export by clicking on "Columns". You'll have the ability to select the exact right KPIs you want to look at.
Compare with your Facebook posts
Facebook’s API only gives access to the data as it is displayed under your post.
The data in your dashboard does not take into consideration the replies of comments, only the comments themselves.
For example, if your post gets 3 comments with 2 replies to those comments, your dashboard will show 3 comments, not 5.
In addition, the data displayed in your dashboard relates to the post itself, not its shares.
For example, if your post got 45 likes directly on your page, but 10 likes from its shares, your dashboard will only show the 45 likes on the original post, not the total 55.
Should you have any questions regarding comparing your Facebook data, please reach out to our Support Team 🤘
What's next:
How to see the results for organic vs promoted Facebook Posts?
Facebook Insights notes/limitations