Track. Analyze. Act

Image courtesy of Kemp Edmonds

I have to admit, when the idea of web analytics was first brought to my attention 3 years ago, I was immediately overwhelmed by the subject. Somewhere in my educational years, I had come to the conclusion that because my strongest subject was not Math, that I must not be an analytical thinker. So when the words "web analytics" popped up in my first marketing job out of university, I was ready to panic.

 I signed up for marketing and public relations to be creative, use my writing skills, and stay far away from mathematical formulas. I'd never even heard web analytics mentioned in any of my classes before. I felt like I'd been cheated. However, determined to succeed, and having just read a book about not defining yourself into boxes, I took on the attitude, "I can do anything you can do, but better" Ok, so I'm a little competitive...

Thankfully, this attitude helped, and an inevitable life-path freak-out was avoided. Which, is an incredibly good thing, because as it turns out, web analytics, along with the fact that I am, actually an analytical thinker, are two of the most valuable things I have learned in my career so far.  In Internet Marketing, and especially in Social Media Marketing, campaigns cannot always be analyzed in the traditional way to determine ROI. As my professor Kemp Edmonds says "When people ask you what is the ROI on social media, ask them what the ROI is of their cell phone." Point being, we use social media and the majority of the web, to connect and communicate. Web analytics allows us to track if the ways we are "connecting and communicating" are effective.

One of the first web tracking tools I became familiar with was Google Analytics. I used Google Analytics at clubZone.com to track site traffic, the effectiveness of new web campaigns, popularity of content in certain cities, as well as keep an eye on unique visitors, bounce rate, and how much time people spent on the site. I currently use Google Analytics on this blog, in much of the same ways. Professionally and personally, I find Google Analytics to be an incredible tool.

Recently I have expanded my tracking ability to include such sites as bit.ly, TweetBeep, Twitter Counter and Google Alerts. With this toolbox, I can see which of the links I share get clicked on the most, and effectively monitor what is being said about my blog on Twitter and the Google.

Overall, I think that it is the use of tools like the ones mentioned above that make Social Media a valuable marketing tool. Without tracking, or analytics, all the data you have on your company or blog, is qualitative. Analytics allows you to quantitatively track the effect social networks and public opinion have on your business, while at the same time aiding you in building an engaged community and brand around your product.

**Written for MDIA 1045