Analytics For Better Decision Making

There are many methods a good digital marketing company can use to enhance your online marketing presence and you must be able to measure the effectiveness of those methods.

The clients only concern is, and rightfully so, is the amount of traffic to their site and the investment to get it there, where it is coming from and the return on their investment- how much of that traffic is being converted to actual sales.

The responsibility from getting the traffic to converting that traffic is a responsibility that is shared by both the marketing company and the client. If one or the other is not fulfilling their role in the partnership the effectiveness is diminished.

This is why a marketing company must partner with their client and communicate regularly to be able to pinpoint exactly where improvement is required.

Knowledge is power and having the knowledge of where your site’s traffic is coming from, how effective your social connections are, and overall where your traffic is originating from and what people do when they get to your site is paramount.

How those people are engaged once they get there is equally as important as getting them there.

Knowing the cooperation that is required to succeed in a relationship between a digital marketer and the client, good analytics is what is going to give both the knowledge they need to improve where improvement is required.

Forrester Research published a report indicating that the need for better analytics is needed by companies to better understand the value of search and how much of a company’s web traffic originates from search.

According to the report; “Although marketers are aware that search contributes to a company's growth, data analysis needs to improve.”

The same report indicated that many companies separate their search marketing efforts from their regular marketing activities and according to Forrester; “brands will spend more than $33 billion on search marketing by 2016, up from $24 billion this year.” 

Clearly one of the most revealing reports is the report released by Experian Marketing Services mid January 2013 summarizing web trends of 2012.  The report revealed that search engines are a key factor in web traffic sources.  Search won the web traffic race with a staggering 49% of traffic to web sites compared to 3.8% from Facebook and 1% from YouTube.

One would predict that as more and more people use smart phones that search will continue to be the dominant factor for any marketer.  It stands to reason that they would want to be able to measure traffic to your site.

 Good digital marketing companies with Content creation and marketing platforms designed to attract search have spent the time developing analytics that measure performance, show results and also focus on results of effort from search.

Other forms of good analytic reporting can show the value of social news posts compared to the same interest from search. Business owners can quickly focus on messages that are working and enhance that space compared to days gone by when everything was guess work.

As you gain knowledge from meaningful reporting and real time analysis you can make smarter decisions based on results.

                                       Social Analytics Graph courtesy Of One Big Broadcast

For example many businesses gain insights they would never conceive by studying reports from individual social networks. This includes combining results from different platforms and adding analysis tools. The end result allows for smart, informed and important decision making that could affect marketing spend or strategies.

It is essential to continually dig deeper into the many areas of content creation and marketing platforms - These reporting tools can reveal that in many ways all things are connected.  By harnessing the power to create deeper and meaningful reporting, companies can make smart real time decisions based on 'what people are saying'.

The Importance of Blog Analytics

The power of blogging can’t be denied. Because of this I wanted to touch on the importance of the ability to measure their effectiveness.

What was once a simple hobby for the digital enthusiast has become a worldwide sensation. Millions of individuals post to the web each day, detailing their ideas and intentions. It’s an enduring part of the social media experience... and it’s also one that, when properly utilized, can redefine every brand.
 
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is understood as essential. Companies forever rely on socially rich content to generate traffic and sales. Applying this technique to blogging, however, was once considered impossible. 
 
But today this is possible with new innovative techniques that have been developed.
 
SEO-infused blogs can be delivered to every client. Each post is defined by relevant content and keywords to secure high search engine standings. Information is effortlessly integrated into social communities (such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) to bolster traffic. An innovative analytic system measures the real-time results of each page, determining what readers want and how to best satisfy their needs. The possibilities are endless.
 
Blogs should be created to do more than simply state opinions. They should be done in different ways to be fully optimized. Blog Data Touch Points (Courtesy Of One Big Broadcast)

One Big Broadcast is one company who has pioneered the concept of harnessing teams with multiple blog engines- Each engine producing its own analytics and weaving its way into corporate analytics.

Blog Analytics

Since blogs are all powerful for content marketing everyone is using blogs to get their marketing message out so it is important to be able to measure blog performance.

On the analytics side you want to drill down deep into each blog post of each individual blog. Back in the old days of marketing there was a saying 'Listen to what your customers are saying'. By having the proper analytics tools you can listen to each blog post by applying deep analytics monitoring. This tells companies which blog had the most interest from a social and search level. In this way you can uncover things that would not be possible otherwise.  When you see a spike you your readership on a particular blog topic - the people have spoken to what they are interested in. 

There have been multimillion ad campaigns started on the strength of the results of good analytic programs. 

It starts with high level of ALL blog topics. Each blog should be an engine capable of attracting its own set of search terms, its own following of people. Each blog sends out 100s of news feeds (see Change Lives Here) and the blog touch points with each post.

 

In the chart below blog analytics users can adjust the date range in this example to gain valuable insight.

                                                                    Courtesy of One Big Broadcast

Attached below is a blog post that spiked at a popular restaurant:

 

                                                                 Courtesy of One Big Broadcast

Along with this all API activity you can use Google Analytics tools to create custom reports to monitor and report on exact conversion metrics for individual pages or campaigns. For example OBB’s new newspaper ad generator tool. A special report can be created to report to track conversions and other important data via advanced features in Google Analytics.

It is safe to say that a marketing company and their clients must view their relationship as a partnership with the responsibility for performance shared by both parties. And with the right tools there are many ways of measuring the effectiveness of your digital Marketing.

Understanding your responsibility as the client and partnering with a company that can provide proper tools and analytics, review them on a consistent basis and keep you up to date on the latest changes and developments is the key to successful Digital Marketing.

William Cosgrove

 

Reports

1. Marketers Need To Better Align Search, Online Goals -http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/192006/marketers-need...

2. Search Remains Key Driver To Web Sites - http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/191338/search-engi...