A couple weeks ago we talked about utilizing the Google +1 button to stand out amongst your competitors, and this week’s post highlights some extra benefits wrapped in with using the Google +1, along with all the other social share buttons (like, tweet, stumble, linkedin, etc.)
Google’s released some new features in Analytics and Webmaster Tools that allow you to better track the social activity on your website.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster tools now has a “+1 Metrics” section that shows the amount of people that +1 your pages, and how +1’s affect your Click Through Rate (CTR). The new tool shows the CTR of people with +1 annotations and CTR without +1 annotations. So you can see if those little +1 buttons are really improving the traffic to your site.
They have also added an activity report (number of +1’s) and an Audience report (demographic and geographic data of your +1’s). The Audience report can be extremely beneficial, as you can see EXACTLY what demographic you are attracting to your site and market towards them effectively and accordingly.
Google Analytics
A HUGE addition to Google Analytics is the brand spanking new Social Plugin Tracking tool. This tool allows you to track +1’s, Facebook likes, Facebook sends, Tweets, and various other social actions users take while on your site.
The Social Plugin Tracking tool also generates 3 different reports:
Social Engagement — Tracks behavior changes for visits from social plugins (time on site, pageviews, bounce rate, etc..)
Social Actions – Tracks the number of social actions users take while on site (share buttons, likes, +1’s, etc..)
Social Pages – Compares the number of pages to the number of social interactions each page is receiving
These tools provide a great deal of insight for all website owners, and with social being so prominent in information sharing, having access to these reports is invaluable. So, make sure to download the new plugin and monitor your site’s social activity! With all the demographic data you ‘ll be receiving, you can be uber-targeted in your future marketing efforts.
