There is not much offered for free these days, and when we find a golden duck egg it is not uncommon to be weary of the nil price tag. But, Google Analytics is a welcoming exception to the rule.
Google Analytics is a web-based tool designed to help business owners and online marketers track the performance of their website. The platform offers important data such as the number of website visitors, the number of page views and search engine queries. But, Google Analytics’ services extend far beyond website statistics. In fact, anyone with an online presence can take advantage of it.
Going beyond what it offers for website users, Google Analytics can enhance your social media marketing efforts too.
Following we have included some detail about social media marketing and basic insights into Google Analytics that you may not already know.
Why it is important to track social media marketing insights
In a nutshell, today’s business landscape relies heavily on online marketing and well-managed social media is vital for business and brands. In fact, according to Hootsuite’s 2018 Social Barometer Report, organisations manage on average between 4 and 10 social media profiles. And, eleven new people start using social media every second.
The information that is offered through Google Analytics can help keep track of these people who are checking in and checking out of your social media page. But often, business owners with limited resources are cautious of the time it takes to grasp data insights and we see tracking considered as a nice-to-have rather than a necessity.
The truth is, the biggest amount of time wasted on social media is undertaking projects that are not tracked.
How to use Google Analytics for social media
Without having to change any settings you can view the social media traffic flow to your website through referrals in your acquisition page in Google Analytics. This highlights the various social media platforms and the number of visitors from each of those. The information is a combination of any paid campaigns and organic links. So, if you are looking for individual insights you will need to delve a little further.
To break it down per campaign, you need to set up campaign tags within Google Analytics. From here you can customise links from each of your campaigns and monitor those independently. For more information on how to set up custom campaigns, refer to Google’s support page here: how to set up custom campaigns.
Here are a few golden rules to remember with respect to tags when setting up social media marketing campaigns.
- If you want your campaign information to appear in the right location, make sure to use correct tags
- To compare paid campaigns against organic social media analytics, ensure your medium is social-friendly when creating your tags
- Tagging paid campaigns makes it easier to track their results against those of organic reach and offers better insight into ROI
Remember, when creating posts for social media you can also include links back to your site that Google Analytics can track, sort and analyse for you. From here, you can combine these links with UTM tracking and goals to get more information on how your social media efforts are impacting sales.
To get started on this, use Google’s URL Builder and set up the Source parameter to select your social media posts. Then employ the Medium parameter to define which social media platform your post was published on. Lastly, use the Campaign parameter to define a unique identifier for each of your social media posts that you would like to track.
To view more in-depth information about how to make the most of Google Analytics, and to get started, check out the information provided on the Google Support page here.
Without the insights into how your paid campaigns are fairing, and how website traffic is being converted, you really have no way of determining which campaigns are performing the best.
Google Analytics provide the ability to track return on investment. With a few tweaks here and there, you can set up effective social media campaigns that offer real bang for your buck (and time). If you are not already making the most of this free online resource, you really need to be asking yourself why?
Need a hand tracking your social media marketing with Google Analytics or want to delve further into making the most of social media for your business? Check in with the team at Clarity Marketing.
We offer a broad range of services from the development of strategic marketing plans through to the design and implementation of specific marketing and communication tools. We are part of a select group of agencies that have Google Partner status in both Google Adwords and Google Analytics.
Contact us via online enquiry or call 1300 060 204 to find out more.