Show me the numbers: Grow
your business with metrics Susan Mernit Oakland Local at BXB 2012 September 2012 For more like this, go to oaklandlocal.com/content/ trainings and see slideshare.com/mernit

What we’re discussing • How
can I look at core metrics and use them to grow what I do? • What are the basic tools and <ps to work with? • How do I make decisions based on metrics data? • What are best prac<ces to follow working with metrics in an ongoing way? • What are some good <me management prac<ces around metrics repor<ng 2 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

QuesIons Answered How can
I look at What are the basic How do I make core metrics and use tools and <ps to decisions based on them to grow what I work with? metrics data? do? What are best What are some good prac<ces to follow Ime management working with pracIces around metrics in an metrics reporIng? ongoing way? 3 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

GeKng started with metrics •
Web analy)cs is the measurement, collecIon, analysis and reporIng of internet data for purposes of understanding and opImizing web usage Metrics are CORE for any small site operator 4 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Core measurement tools Google Analytics
Facebook & Facebook Insights Twitter & Tweetreach All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 5

• Google Analy)cs dashboard measures site
data including • Traffic • Audience • Content • Geography knightdigitalmediacenter.org 6

EssenIal GA metrics to evaluate
– Time spent – Pages viewed – Returning vs. new visitors – Referral source – LocaIon – Unique visitors – Page views – PlaWorms But it’s a matrix: Metrics are most meaningful in relaIonship to one another 7 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Watching the GA connecIons to
drive site growth • Google AnalyIcs factors: – Referral traffic: Where are the most engaged users coming from? (referral traffic/Ime spent metrics) – Content behaviors: What is average )me spent per story? How do content stats per story (NOT averages) relate? – Content: What keywords drive traffic for my site? – What are top entrance pages (correlate with search engine traffic) All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 8

Decisions based on Google
AnalyIcs • Type of content (topics, trending issues, cost) • Geographic focus (review of locaIon & mission) • Social media markeIng outreach: Focus on top social media referral sources based on – Top referrers – Best Ime spent metrics from specific referrers – Campaign reviews (newslecers) All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 9

LocaIon: Checking geographic focus
The LocaIon tab (under Audience Demographics) shows where your audience is from—essen)al for sales/funders 10 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Understanding Mobile Under Audience,
Google Analytics will tell you what percentage of your audience Is via mobile—and which platforms11 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

GA: Checking content & interest
vs. referrals IMPACT: Improve understanding of top content and referral sources 12 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Other core metrics tools
Facebook Insights Twitter Likes Followers Comments Retweets Tweet reach Facebook Insights Measures tweetMeasures Facebook impactpage data 13

Facebook Insights-­‐Admins can access
Insights is the equivalent Of Google Analy)cs for Business—not personal-­‐Facebook pages—need 30+ followers Data is exportable—correlate with Google Analy)cs in your analyses 14 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Use the FB demographics data!
Who’s talking shows demographics—key for adverIsers—and for targeIng content 15 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Facebook provides INSTANT feedback
Content & Audience Ads & social marke)ng • What’s popular (views) • Tracking response on social • What’s being referred (viral) markeIng/promoIon posts • Who is your audience • Tracking likes & reposts (followers & demographics) Apply Facebook data to recruit new adverIsers, fine tune your content, define audiences, drive traffic to website All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 16

Tweetreach is a criIcal Twicer
metrics tool 17

• Shows most retweeted •
Shows top retweeters • Shows top tweets and how far each reach 18 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Oakland Local: Tweetreach How many
people are you reaching via TwiNer—and who are they? Tweetreach gives you data 19 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Tweetreach report First screen
All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 20

Tweetreach data dive—who’s ContribuIng
to your stream? All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 21

Workflow and process best
pracIces Source: http://fobango.com knightdigitalmediacenter.org 22

Create a reporIng dashboard to
track stats over Ime-­‐ Excel Spreadsheet trackingkey metrics month bymonth, quarter byquarter.Build or download atemplate to collectdataCheck data weekly23 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Your dashboard should track
Let’s discuss: how does this work • Google Analy)cs as a weekly/daily report? • Unique visitors • First Ime vs. repeat visitors • Time on site • Pages per visit • Bounce rate • Top 10 Content (by page views or by unique visitors) • Number of comments (conversion goal) • Number of member blog posts (conversion goal) • New members (conversion goal) • Top referring sources All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 24

Your dashboard should track
Let’s discuss: how does this work as a weekly/daily report? • Facebook Insights • Followers • Demographics • LocaIon • Likes/virality • Tweetreach • Top Tweets • Top Tweeters • Most retweeted All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 25

Want to learn more?
Videos on the Official Google AnalyIcs YouTube Channel are a quality resource. 26 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org

Putting knowledgeTo work— Things to
Ask & Try 27 All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org Source: http://blog.podio.com

When do you check stats?
• Daily or weekly • Monthly – 30 minutes or less – 90 minutes – Review all stat sources – Look at basic – Build a monthly report weekly stats – Compare 6 month trend • Top content data • Google AnalyIcs • Top referrers • Facebook Insights • Tweetreach • Time spent/ bounce metrics All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 28

PuUng info to work-­‐-­‐Start with
basic analysis Planning • What is your site’s greatest strength according to Google AnalyIcs? • Example: High number of returning visits, high Ime spent on pages metrics • Use stats to portray your strengths-­‐Create a 1 pager • What is a problem you see in your site that Google AnalyIcs shows you? – Example: High bounce rate, poor referrals from social media despite puKng investment there – Use stats to portray-­‐-­‐Create a 1 pager All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 29

Workflow: Monthly reporIng? • What
does a monthly report about your site look like? – Construct a monthly report across all data sources highlighIng metrics you consider meaningful/ important – Make some inferences/asserIons and test them All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 30

Followup • Should we have
a peer learning circle? – If yes, contact susan@oaklandlocal.com – More on metrics (including the basics): hcp://slideshare.com/susanmernit – 1:1 discussions and training possible—contact susan@oaklandlocal.com All rights reserved. Houseoflocal.org 31