Monitoring social media is crucial for businesses to understand what is working and what isn’t. It helps to identify which social media channels, campaigns, and content are successful and making an impact on the business. Google Analytics is a valuable tool that can be used to measure the impact of social media channels on a WordPress website. It can identify which social media channels and social content are sending traffic to the site and in what quantities. By setting goals, businesses can measure how their social media performance is affecting their site conversions.
Basic social media analytics tools show basic social media metrics such as the number of new follows, the content that has had the most likes and shares, and the number of profile views. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram Business, Pinterest Business, and many other big social media channels provide great breakdowns of an account’s performance. However, if businesses want more in-depth reports focusing on social media analytics in relation to website conversions, they should consider using Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is widely used to monitor on-site metrics but is often overlooked for social media reporting. It allows businesses to track their site’s analytics and identify where traffic is arriving from. Under ‘Acquisition > Overview,’ businesses can see how many people have visited their site from social media channels in comparison with other sources. Clicking directly on ‘Social’ will take them to a detailed breakdown of how much traffic has come from each social media channel. Here they can see the number of people who have arrived at their website, how long they stayed on the site, and the conversion rate for each social media channel.
To get the most out of Google Analytics, businesses need to track individual objectives linked to their WordPress website. This will enable them to see if their website is converting against its goals and how social media specifically is helping it to achieve these conversions. To enable goal tracking on their website, businesses will need to add Google Tag Manager to their WordPress website. This involves adding some code to each page of the website so Google Analytics can track user behavior and conversions on the site.
Once Google Tag Manager is set up, businesses need to create their own personalized site goals within Google Analytics. These will enable them to monitor how their social media channels are contributing to their site’s success. Setting up goal monitoring in Google Analytics is a straightforward process. To get started, businesses need to click on the ‘Admin’ icon in the bottom left-hand corner, choose ‘Goals > Add New,’ and then follow the steps to create their goals.
There are numerous goal types to choose from, but the ones businesses create should be directly linked to their WordPress website’s objectives. For example, if they are selling products, they will need a goal monitoring their site’s online payments. They can also add a monetary value to this goal, which will enable them to monitor exactly how much revenue their social media traffic is creating for their business. Other goals they can track include engagement on their site, enquires into their services, the number of reservations or appointment bookings made, and much more.
Once goals have been set up, businesses will be able to access detailed accounts of how their social media channels are helping their WordPress website convert against its goals. Under ‘Acquisition > Social > Overview,’ they can see the number of conversions their site has achieved against the goals they set up. Importantly, the overview breaks down how many of the conversions have come from social media and specifically which channels. Under ‘Social > Network Referrals,’ businesses will find a breakdown of how much traffic each social media channel is sending to their website. They will also get details on users’ behavior, including data on the number of page views, the average session duration, and more. The report from ‘Social > Conversions’ will help them measure the exact success and value of their social media channels in regards to their website goals. They will be able to identify which social networks drive the most conversions, which conversions they contribute to, and the monetary value they add to their business. The ‘Users Flow’ report displays the paths visitors from social media have taken on their site. Businesses can see where people entered their site, which pages they engaged with, and where they left. This is great for understanding the journey their social media audience takes on their WordPress website and gives insight into what content their visitors are particularly interested in.
There are easy ways to integrate Google Analytics reports into a WordPress installation. The Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress is a free plugin that adds reports for traffic, page views, bounces, and more right to WordPress. MonsterInsights is another great option that uses a freemium model. Downloading the free version of the plugin adds the Google Analytics dashboard and real-time stats to WordPress. Upgrading to premium provides more advanced reporting. JetPack Premium includes integration for Google Analytics and is a premium option.
In conclusion, interpreting data is key to monitoring analytics. Businesses should make changes to their social media strategy accordingly by looking at which social media channels are most effective at converting against their website goals and which types of content are helping with this success. It is also important to know which social platforms are not performing so that necessary improvements can be made. Google Analytics is a valuable tool that can help businesses monitor their social media performance and improve their social media strategy.
