​Facebook has fixed its reporting glitch, allowing Facebook marketing to resume as normal.

​Low Facebook engagement metrics get you down in February? That may have been Facebook’s fault – not a flaw in your social marketing plan. Facebook recently went through a series of technical glitches that affected brands’ analytics reports and skewed reach and impression Page data. While the social media giant acknowledged the bug and briefed Page owners via notifications and a landing page online, business owners wondered what the next steps would be to rectify the issues. Would Page owners see their reach and impression data increase significantly once the issues were sorted out, or would previous insights be lost forever?

According to a new report from EdgeRank Checker, which studies approximately 1,000 Pages post-analytics glitch, brands on Facebook should see a substantial increase in the reach of their posts. The source compared data from February 18th (before the bug announcement) and February 25th (when Facebook said it had worked out the problem).

EdgeRank Checker noted that media Total Reach increased by 31 percent per fan. The median Organic Reach improved 41 percent per fan, and the median Viral Reach rose by 275 percent per fan. These improvements show that the Facebook bug took a significant bite out of reporting data and threw off results.

Median Viral ReachHowever, a few metrics also fell post-Facebook bug. Overall engagement dropped approximately 17 percent from 0.34 percent to 0.29 percent. Shares fell by nearly 33 percent per fan from 0.04 percent to 0.03 percent.

Interestingly, Pages with more or less fans saw different changes for their Organic Reach data. For example, Pages with smaller followings saw a drop in Organic Reach. EdgeRank Check notes that the only Pages that experienced the median increase of 41 percent were those accounts with more than 10,000 fans.

Facebook announced that some Pages should expect to see a drop in Organic Reach. The social media giant stated, “An increase or decrease in organic reach, depending on many factors such as the composition of your fan base, when and how often you post and your spending patterns.”

Brands engaging in Facebook marketing as part of their social media content programs should be glad to hear that their content analytics will likely reflect more accurate patterns moving forward. It’s once again safe to evaluate metrics and make strategic campaign shifts to reach wider audiences online.

Ted Karczewski is an Executive Communications Associate at Brafton. He works to develop his own voice and apply his passions to the evolving world of SEO and content marketing, but he doesn't shy away from writing for fun. After graduating from Suffolk University, Ted used his Communications degree to test out Sports Journalism before Marketing at Brafton.