Google Analytics Tips for Social Media

Social sharing is a huge, yet often forgotten component in the typical SEO link-building campaign. Companies courting online customers need to be present on social media and constantly posting share-worthy content that will be linked back to their site. So, you’ve taken the first step and have set up your company social media pages – how can you tell if your efforts are working?

Social media data can be priceless information about your potential clients. You will need to use the right metrics to determine which information is important, and how to capitalize on the data at your fingertips. Here are some metrics online companies should use to track their audience on social media:

• Reach (Analytics nerd translation: How many people are looking at my profile and content?)

Pay attention to the rate at which your audience is growing first. Don’t worry about how many followers your followers have – first, ensure that you are gaining a wider audience over a set amount of time. If you are doing social media right, your views, shares and followers should be increasing over time. Also, look at those times your audience grew more rapidly in a set time: what were you posting about that resonated with your audience so much? Should you maybe post more about that?

• Average Engagement (Analytics nerd translation: Are your followers actually looking at your stuff?)

Here are some engagement metrics you can measure on Facebook (thanks to Hootsuite blog). Who is clicking on your links, commenting on them and sharing them? What is the engagement rate? Figure this out by measuring how many times your content was viewed, then figure out how many people liked, clicked or commented. Divide the latter number by the former. Don’t forget to track the amount of engagement per post – keep track of how many people clicked, shared or commented per post.

• Visitor Frequency Rate (Analytics nerd translation: Are my followers helping me out?)

Check out the number of new visitors to your social media site – this will help you to determine if you are steadily building an audience and if your efforts are worthwhile. Then, measure the number of repeat visits to your site to ensure you are putting out quality, helpful content that people are coming back to read and share.

• Social Conversions (Analytics nerd translation: How much is this social profile worth?)

Use your social media data and your Google Analytics data to ensure that your social media profiles are directing visitors to your site. Then figure out how many people referred from each social media site are actually converting. Is there one site that is particularly valuable for making conversions? Should you focus on that one?

• Bounce Rate and Click Through Rate (Analytics nerd translation: Is my profile boring or ugly?)

Remembering analytics staples like bounce rate and click through rate will help you keep your social media profiles in order. If people are arriving at your site, then quickly clicking away is your profile off-putting visually? If visitors are looking at only one post are your posts engaging enough?

By paying proper attention to analytics on your social media profiles, you can use the information to get to know your audience more and to improve your social presence. These are just some of the many helpful analytics metrics you can use to boost your online presence, and they are a great start, so begin tracking today.