Using Google Analytics Tactics to Track Social Media Marketing Campaigns

 
To thrive in this digital-dependent world, brands must have a strong social media presence. As much as 90 percent of brands are using at least two social media channels, and some industries, such as those in apparel, are represented on five channels, according to AdWeek.

But posting a cool meme on Facebook and a few pictures on Instagram isn’t enough. Brands need to know how consumers respond to each post. Did a certain tweet send a lot of traffic to your website? Do evening Facebook posts have a higher conversion rate than those posted in the morning? These are the kinds of statistics that brands need to know to track the success of their social media campaigns.

To stay on top of analytics, an estimated 30 to 50 million websites rely on Google Analytics to provide key insights into consumer behavior.

To get started with Google Analytics, here’s what you should know:

1. Set goals.

Before getting started, sit down and create a list of goals for social media campaigns to meet. With goals in hand, you’ll know which metrics are most important.

2. Set up and install tracking codes.

 Google Analytics can provide a wealth of metrics, but the tool is more informative when combined with tracking codes. Brands can use Google Tags Manager to add snippets of code to their websites to help Google Analytics track specific metrics, like where website visitors are arriving from.

3. Define goals in Google Analytics.

As you set up a Google Analytics account, one of the first things you’ll want to do is enter the campaign goals you created earlier. Once goals are set, Google Analytics will show you how well you’re achieving them. For instance, if a goal is to achieve a certain conversion rate or gather a certain number of email contacts, you’ll see how your campaigns are progressing.

4. Run reports.

 Once you have Google Analytics, you can run various reports to gather intelligence about your social media campaigns. For instance, you can see social media engagement to better understand how social fans interact with your posts. You can customize the reports to gather data that are most important to your brand’s campaign.

Tracking the success of social media marketing campaigns can be challenging. If you’re having trouble getting started, don’t understand which metrics to follow, or don’t have the time to set up and track campaigns, reach out to a qualified digital marketing agency for help.