We all know that social media is an important driver of traffic in the online world. But how important is social media for your business? Which social networks should you focus your efforts on? And how can you improve those efforts?
To properly answer those questions, you need data. And you can get that data from Google Analytics.
Social Media and Google Analytics
Though Google Analytics is a (primarily) free service, it provides the tools you need to measure the effectiveness of social media. You can find the information in the “Social” tab under “Traffic Sources” or by creating an advanced segment with the social media sources you want.
The social media information you can gather with Google Analytics includes:
- The number of visits from each social network, both as a whole and for each individual page.
- The visit duration and number of pages per visit for each shared piece of content.
- The traffic flow from each social network, showing which pages they navigate through as they explore your site (and where they leave the site).
- The geographic location of your social media visitors.
- How many social media visitors are using mobile devices.
- The number of conversions that originate from each social network source.
- Interactions with your content (such as comments or shares) on the social network itself, for Google+ and a selection of other partner networks.
- The estimated dollar value of the traffic from each social network.
Using the Data
The information about social media provided by Google Analytics can be used to make decisions about and optimize your social networking efforts. Below are just a few examples of how the data can be helpful.
- Allocating resources. Since you can see the effectiveness and value of each social media platform, you can decide which networks to primarily focus on. For example, perhaps you are getting a lot of referrals from your business' account on Pinterest despite not spending much time there. Instead, you are expending a lot of effort on YouTube without getting many results. You could decide to reallocate your effort to Pinterest or look at ways to change your approach on YouTube.
- Testing different approaches. You can utilize A/B testing by creating different pages and using a different type of social media campaign for each. You can then see which networks and tactics drove the most traffic for each page.
- Designing promotions. If you find you have a lot of Facebook fans in one particular city, you may set up a Facebook-based promotion specific to your location there. Or if you have a lot of mobile users, perhaps you offer a discount for showing they have shared a post on their phone.
- Refining your content. Google Analytics can show you where your social media visitors are bouncing off or leaving your site, whether it be the landing page or some other link in the conversion chain. You can then work to improve those pages. Or, if most of your social media visitors use mobile devices, you can work to optimize your landing pages or the referring social media pages for mobile.
By utilizing the power of Google Analytics’ social media tools, you can better realize the power of social media to build your business.
* Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
