Over the past few weeks Google has been rolling out an update which allows you to merge Google Analytics with your Google+ account. This is something that will be welcomed by everyone. The new features and old ones can be really beneficial for gauging the progress of campaigns if used in the correct manner.
If you have used Google+ as your blog, you would have realized that other users either share your original post or share the reposts. Such a system lets you know whenever someone is sharing and also allows you to engage with others. If you are hosting a blog independently then you will realize the problem of the absent ‘+’ mention. This has led to the increased use of monitoring services similar to Radian 6 and other web analytics tools which emphasize on social media.
Using the new features
In the updated Google Analytics, you can go to your profile and then select ‘social’ under the ‘traffic sources’ tab. You will get a sources tab which will have Google+ as a component. By selecting the ‘activity stream’ you can see all the comments, posts, and shares. So, if someone does not ‘+’ mention you in the post, you can still engage with them.
Google analytics will also tell you which pages are the most active socially. You can go to these pages and then see the type of audience that you are reaching out to and what is the general opinion about your post. Some of your posts which will be discussed a lot will also have the most +1s. Your posts will be shared more when users want to take the post on their personal page or want to carry the engagement offline.
Do not forget the old features
The new features will definitely come in handy, but there are certain old features that you should not forget about. One of these features is called the ‘tracking code’. This code should be posted with every link that you share and should be changed for different social media platforms. By doing this you can maintain a single campaign. If you have not been doing this already then you should go to the Google Analytics URL Builder page. All you need to do is paste the link which you wish to promote in the ‘Website URL’ box present on the URL Builder page. Give the campaign a name, add the social media platform you are using in the campaign medium button and then hit the ‘Generate URL’ button. You will have your link which can be shared wherever you wish.
Google URL Builder
You can also create ‘advanced segments’ which give you a lot more details regarding social media referral. You can use this feature for analyzing which site is giving you the most traffic. To create an advanced segment, you need to go to the advanced segments tab while you are in the section for standard reporting. Then click on the ‘+ New Custom Segment’.
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