Social Media Metrics For Dummies

Tracking and Converting

Sometimes folks get stymied by the data that pours in as their online efforts start to show results. You can easily get bogged down in the piles of information coming in — especially at first, before you’ve fine-tuned your dashboards.

One way to get a handle on things is to remember that you don’t want to simply be tracking your metrics; you also want to be converting. Tracking and converting go hand in hand — one complements the other. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not as simple as throwing a switch, but you will have an easier time knowing what to track if your goal of conversion is always in the back of your mind.

Using In-Page Analytics

One of my favorite Google Analytics tools for changing your thinking to a track and convert model instead of a simple track-it-all model is In-Page Analytics. You find In-Page Analytics under the Content section of the Standard Reporting tab.

Clicking In-Page Analytics brings up your website and a snapshot of where people are clicking on each page. If you’re tracking to convert, In-Page Analytics gives a nice, quick look into how well your site is designed. Better UI (user interface) leads to more click-throughs. More click-throughs (successful calls-to-action) lead to more conversions.

The first key to using metrics to convert is to identify which metrics are actionable. By putting your metrics to the test from Chapter 6, ...