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May 13 2016

Demystifying Social Reports In Google Analytics [VIDEO]

person showing laptop computer on tableGoogle Analytics includes quite a few social reports, but they can be difficult to find and interpret. There are quite a few gotchas that you might not be aware of when using social reports in Google Analytics. I share those in the video, as well as why not all reports are created equal. I share which ones I like and use most and why.

Highlights

Here are some highlights from the video:

  • Why I like the social report inside the Channels report (by far) the best
  • How it’s similar to the Network Referrals report (under Acquisition > Social) and yet very different
  • How the Landing Pages report under Social is different from changing the primary dimension when you drill down to Social in the Channels report
  • Why the heck the social reports are missing conversion data
  • … Except for the Conversions report, which oddly enough uses Multi-Channel Funnels data (without disclosure … the only report north of the Multi-Channel Funnels reports in the left sidebar that uses MCF data … scandalous)
  • The only report where you can get last-click conversion data from social interactions
  • How to get the most value from the Multi-Channel Funnels social data

Video

Image Credit: No Revisions on Unsplash

 

Written by Annie Cushing · Categorized: Analytics · Tagged: Google Analytics Social Reports

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ville K says

    May 16, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Really good video, I haven’t tried that before. I have so much to learn with Analytics.

    Reply
    • Annie Cushing says

      May 16, 2016 at 11:28 pm

      Fantastic! Happy to help!

      Reply
  2. Dan Coleman says

    May 24, 2016 at 10:18 am

    Hi Annie,

    Really useful video. I’ve been discussing some of these very issues with some of my more curious clients. Like you I’ve taken the opportunity to reinforce the value of the All Traffic > Channels report over some of the more misleading reports under the Social section. .

    This vid has inspired me to go a little deeper into this topic next time around.

    Cheers

    Dan

    Reply
    • Annie Cushing says

      June 5, 2016 at 11:55 pm

      Awesome!

      Reply
  3. Kasino Hai says

    September 20, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    Great video! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Annie Cushing says

      September 20, 2016 at 2:27 pm

      My pleasure! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Ziad says

    June 15, 2017 at 1:14 am

    This is a great video thank you! II did notice a discrepancy in recent reporting via using channels. If you use your method, you don’t get the full report with Facebook. FaceBook added a new source medium that’s been messing with my 3 monthly reports for the past 3 months because the source medium isn’t getting counted as a social referral for some reason. Please check the source/medium facebook_page / (your facebook page name goes here). Please confirm… the only way to get the actual now is to use the Source/Medium and search Facebook?

    Check your source/medium facebook traffic and compare it with your channels, the source/medium number is greater (at least for my google analytics due to that facebook_page source/medium discrepancy).

    Thanks really appreciate this! Would love your input on this!!!

    Reply
    • Annie Cushing says

      June 16, 2017 at 4:00 pm

      Facebook doesn’t send traffic from a medium of ‘facebook_page’. This is the result of bad campaign tagging by either someone in your organization or someone from another site that doesn’t understand that you don’t tag links that point to other sites.

      Reply
  5. Parhaat rahapelit says

    January 22, 2018 at 6:31 am

    Very helpful video, never get so much into analytics so I didn’t notice the discrepancy.

    Reply
    • Annie Cushing says

      January 29, 2018 at 5:00 pm

      Fantastic!

      Reply
  6. Rahapelit-netissa.com says

    April 10, 2018 at 8:31 am

    Fantastic video but does still work properly in the new search console?

    Reply
  7. Uudet netticasinot 2018 says

    May 21, 2018 at 10:01 am

    It’s incredible what a nice set up you have on your GA account, impressive. Nice source to learn! Thanks.

    Reply
  8. radiokanavat says

    June 18, 2018 at 7:54 am

    Got very much new info from your video, thank you!

    Reply
  9. BOSScasino says

    September 27, 2019 at 9:55 am

    Really good video, I haven’t tried that before. I have so much to learn with Analytics! Thnx!

    Reply
  10. Suominettikasinot24 says

    November 12, 2019 at 10:46 am

    Hello Annie, really great video, my knowledge in google analytics got better.

    Reply
  11. C.G. says

    February 14, 2020 at 9:04 am

    Great video even though it’s old. Thanks!

    Reply
  12. Jame Stephan says

    October 28, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    I really appreciate your clarification and insight. How do you link google tag to the analytics? I heard it’s very important to use the google tag manager to create events

    Reply
  13. Uudetkasinot says

    May 31, 2021 at 10:57 am

    Some things never die, good videos last forever!

    Reply

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