Just read this great article on how effective Google Analytics can be for social media marketing. In my experience using Google Analytics, I found it super beneficial to be able to discover what search terms or phrases bring consumers to your website. In the article, the writer suggests how you can use the “organic search” tool to your advantage by creating a landing page based on the search terms used. I think is an excellent idea as it would definitely help drive traffic to the site and increase your SEO. Another underutilized tool in Google Analytics is the behavior data collected on visitors. As the article points out, this can be used to determine whether or not the visitor was new or returning and could be extremely useful in raising customer retention an obviously critical goal for any business. With this data you can see what brought the visitor to your site and where they went after they left. If they left your site and continued to search for the same information that brought them to your site maybe your pages are not clear or specific enough. If they head to a competitor’s site, maybe there is something that your product or service is lacking and you should reevaluate your unique value proposition (UVP) or perhaps you can determine that the visitor does not align with your target market.
I definitely think Google Analytics is one of the best ways to collect data on consumers, especially for a social media campaign as you can assess the ROI and follow along in real time.
Erin Robertson 