Google Plus for Business coming with analytics capability – Is Google Analytics integration included?
The stats for Google Plus + has been very impressive, kicking off a number of Facebook vs. Google + posts on the web. As of end of July 2011 comScore reports 20 million unique visits to the network and averaging nearly 2 million visits a week according to Experian (source: Mashable). Plus users have so far been mostly impressed with the social network which allows groups – called circles – to contain separate newsfeeds, keeping messages organized.
Google Plus
Google has cautioned business owners to not create a Google Plus profile. Venture Beat reports that Google is accelerating its effort to release a Google Plus profile system specifically for business with analytic features. No details have been released if there’s an integration to Google Analytics but the potential incorporation of analytic capability link would be an important development for Google. Google has revamped its Google Analytics solution to include a social media plug in. Furthermore Google +1 buttons can be tracked in Google Analytics, so a refined integration with Google Plus would make further sense – imagine being able to see what traffic from shared networks is effectively coming to your site.
An analytics integration would provide more segmentation opportunities for participating businesses and lead to better identification of how traffic is being lead to a sign up, a purchase, or another designated conversion. Conversion measurement is sorely lacking in Facebook – a marketer can measure likes, comments and sharing a site, but no funnel analysis capability exists in Facebook Insights to guide a business to select a media based on conversion goals.
Linking Google Plus to Google Analytics would continue Google’s refresh effort for the analytics solution. It will also offer new ideas for small businesses beyond the current assumptions of how analytics can be used. (Update as of Sept 22nd, 2011: Google has opened Plus access for anyone, but no word on the business profiles)
How to optimize marketing for serving customers across multiple websites
The fun part about creating websites for a business is that you are not automatically limited to having one website. However, many businesses do not realize that with some planning, their analytics solution can be a business intelligence tool that permits better marketing decisions and better chances to be profitable.
First a brief explanation — why track, even if the websites are not an e-commerce or a blog? A web analytics tool can indicate what referral sources contributed to the site, allowing businesses to better adjust their marketing.
An analytics solution works by attributing the last website a visitor came from as the referral source. In a sequence where the visitor can come from one website to a second, then to a third website tagged with a web analytics code, the second website is considered as the referral source in the analytics reports.
This scenario, which often occurs when running multiple sites, becomes a distorted view of traffic source contributors – you want to treat some visitor sessions as one visit across domains if those visitors are viewing pages in one sitting. The advantage of a multiple site tagging leads to better understanding of what attracts visitors and can affect website redesign decisions, product and service offerings, and even the business model itself.
To implement a multiple site tag, an analytics code is typically modified in the Javascript code. This step sounds technical, but it is not extremely so. Google Analytics, for example, employs a _pagetracker javascript callout in the code. The bold font below highlights where the pageTracker callout appears: The setDomainName addresses domain recognition in the Google Analytics cookie, permitting the desired recognition across domains, while the setAllowlinker allows for the Google Analytics cookie recognition through the link function between the domains.
In late 2009, Google Analytics introduced an asynchronous version of the code. The asynchronous version was introduced to address page loading speed, but has become now its latest version - you can learn the difference at the Google code site here. If you’ve added Google Analytics to your site since 2009, chances are you are using the asynchronous version. The asynchronous version of the modified code as such below. It similar to one above, except for the _Gaq.push script that is used.
Asynchronous Google Analytics code with multiple domain revision
After the Google Analytics code is modified, the next step is modifying links to the second will then add an on-click _link function to all the links between the tagged websites. For example, a HMTL link code that takes the visitor to the second site….
A link for a second domain
…would look like the one below with a pageTracker link function called by the on-click event:
Second domain link modified for multiple domain visitor tracking
This is the standard version. The asynchronous version looks like this below (Note — gap between link on onclick is due to blog format: No actual space is required):
Second domain link with multiple domain tracking
For submitting forms between domains, GA uses a different function at the link. It would like the following:
This example is typically used when data is submitted across domain, such as entry windows on a contact page.
Other analytics solutions have similar arrangements. For example Piwik offers a similar set up for its analytics solution. Piwik users can learn more about setting separate websites, including subdomains here.
The point is that with good measurement, great service for all your website layout arrangements are possible. For your business, work with your design team to make sure the tagging reflects the way your business operates online.
When web analytics cannot save your business – small or large
Increased interest in measurement has come with the increase usage of websites and social media for business and organizations. Analytics has been seen as a godsend for making better, profitable decisions. But missing in many conversations is knowing when analytics may not be helpful to a business. How would you know?
One of the best quotes on this comes from Competing On Analytics, a business intelligence book written by Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris
“Without a distinct capability (What you do to set your business apart), it becomes impossible to compete and distinguish what data is important.”
These aren’t the only authors who deem distinctive capability as valuable. A great quote comes from Lance Bettencourt, author of Service Innovation.
“Services that provide distinctive value to customers have more than three times the success rate of me too services.”
Developing that distinctive value rest with the business model. A business model is a description of how your business delivers its product or service — how it delivers value. Having data without tying into the business model is of no value to anyone. This is why analytics without a meaningful link to strategy becomes limited – it becomes a never ending reporting of metrics instead of discussion regarding taking action.
Moreover, a firm that thinks its online influence stops at webpage is kidding itself in this age — thanks to social media and the advancements in website language and features, a site provides an extension of a shopping experience in many cases. (See the article on online browsing ) and well as allowing customers to research a business ( See the article on the link between offline and online customers )
So what should a business do when it is somewhat unsure how to leverage analytic capability?
1. Determine how far your organization is willing to modify your model. What is the objective? Does it make sense? Does everyone understand it? If your business is not willing to consider modifications to how value of a product and service is delivered, then your business limits the insights an analytics solution can bring.
2. Determine the commitment to act to analytic findings. Management must decide what alerts and metrics are important from the collected data. What metrics should be monitored and how frequently? What changes in analysis are necessary as the business grows?
3. Make sure people are available to follow through on the decisions. When you see people as a cost center rather than an essential part of doing business, you run the risk of destroying a business because you lose the right people who can understand your business model and implement changes. For a small business or group, someone who has experience with a given industry and experience with some website language can be a boon and provide the best combination of analysis and action.