In our last blog, we discussed why Google Analytics is a great way to track and analyze your website’s traffic data, but did you know that the internet’s most popular analytics provider can now track social interactions on third-party networks like Facebook and Twitter? With a little coding magic you can now see the who, what, when and how for all kinds of social interactions (i.e., shares, likes, unlikes, tweets, +1s, stumbles, etc.), as they pertain to your website’s content!

Many current social reports lack accuracy, consistency and depth. Google provides business managers and social media directors with all three in their platform. In general, Google Analytics is ideal for the franchise industry at both the corporate and individual location level. Marketing directors can easily add and track visitor data for their corporate site, as well as other websites within their network (i.e., other departments, business units, franchises, etc.).

The social features shown above work in the exact same fashion. If each individual website is being tracked in Analytics then are also capable of receiving social analytics reports that are customized to their needs. Individual sites can then compare and contrast social metrics to better understand their visitors and develop a strong(er) social strategy for the brand.

There are three main categories of social reports:

1. Social Engagement Report - The Social Engagement Report separates your website’s users into two categories: visitors who are Socially Engaged or Not Socially Engaged. Socially Engaged users perform some type of social action while visiting your site (i.e., tweeting your content, clicking the Google +1 button, liking something on your site, etc.). Not Socially Engaged visitors do not interact with any of the social media buttons on the site.

There is an unlimited amount of data to be had from these segments. You can compare time on site, pages per visit, bounce rate, browser types and traffic sources (to name a few) between Socially Engaged and Not Socially Engaged visitors.

2. Social Actions Report - The Social Actions Report tracks all social actions performed on a website. Social Actions include everything from tweets and +1 button clicks, to Facebook shares and Facebook likes. Total social actions are tracked and segmented by unique social actions, actions per social visit, and action type. The information provided in this report can help marketers see what social features are interacted with most frequently. This information can prove very valuable in devising an effective social media strategy.

3. Social Pages Report - The Social Pages Report displays the pages within a given website that are driving the highest number of social actions. Information in this report can also be very helpful to marketers when developing a social strategy. Furthermore, such insight will shed light on the most shareable and engaging content on the website, feeding nicely into the content strategy within your social strategy.

So, should I use it?

Yes! This feature is definitely worth a try. If you are already using Google Analytics, then setup is easy. One thing to note when attempting to use these social tracking features is that active social share buttons are required for tracking and reporting to function properly. If your site does not currently have social share buttons in place then run (don’t walk) to your nearest developer and have them installed ASAP! Research shows that sites with social share buttons get up to 7x more online exposure than those without.

If have you questions about this new Google Analytics feature or any other social media, digital marketing, web design or web development needs, please contact us! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook Page while you’re at it.