By now, a Facebook account is practically a required part of any business' marketing strategy. However, as those owners and entrepreneurs who have and operate one already know, maintaining relevancy and connection on the networking site can be a full-time job.

It seems like every year, month or week Facebook produces some new tool, app or metric that will help businesses reach consumers and eventually monetize these interactions, and 2012 will be no different.

A recent article on Mashable introduces three metrics that it claims will "change the way you market on Facebook." These metrics include "People Talking About This," "Engaged Users" and "External Referrers."

With "People Talking About This," companies will be able to measure the number of people who have "liked," commented, shared or posted, answered a question, responded to an event or engaged with their page in some manner during the week, the source explains.

The tool will help businesses see where they are winning with content and where they need to work a bit harder to engage consumers. The source suggests that companies that fall in the latter category speak up and ask their followers for help.

"Don't post, 'I'm excited about the Superbowl this year!' Instead, write, 'Click Like if you're excited about the Superbowl this year!'," the article suggests. "I might write, 'If you found this tip useful, make sure to share it with your friends.' Inserting mini calls-to-action reminds your audiences to act, not just read."

"Engaged Users" shows businesses the number of unique users – no recurring clickers – to have interacted with a post within 28 days. Since this allows companies to track which posts are getting the most attention, it will eventually help them to better target future posts by what has been successful – or not so successful – in the past.

Lastly, "External Referrers" provides companies with information on the number of people who have been directed to their Facebook page via an outside website.

"All business owners should know where and how people are finding them online," Mashable explains. "While it's important to direct traffic from social media to your main 'hub,' whether it's a blog or a static business site, bringing traffic onto your Facebook Page is also important."

Facebook's new metrics all demonstrate a tenet of marketing and being successful on the social networking site: engagement. For these tools to be useful, companies need to continue talking, posting and, perhaps most important of all, listening to their followers.