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Show me the numbers: Grow your business with metrics Susan Mernit Oakland Local/House of Local.org September 2012 ONA#2012
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Show  me  the  numbers:  Grow  your  business  with  metrics  

Susan  Mernit    Oakland  Local/House  of  Local.org  

September  2012  ONA#2012  

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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  

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QuesIons  Answered  

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  Ime  management  pracIces  around  metrics  reporIng?  

3 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Metrics:  A  must-­‐have  •  Metrics  are  core  for  site  operators,  media  entrepreneurs  &  everyone  who  makes  decisions  about  9me/money  and  return  on  effort  

4 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

Metrics  data:  reality  check  on  the  impact  of  what  you  and  your  team  are  doing  over  9me—and  right  now  

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Some  core  measurement  tools  

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Google Analytics

Facebook & Facebook Insights

Twitter & Tweetreach

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knightdigitalmediacenter.org  6

• Star9ng  point-­‐-­‐Google  Analy9cs  dashboard  measures  site  data  including  • Traffic  • Audience  • Content  • Geography  

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Essen9al  GA  metrics  to  evaluate  

–  Time  spent  

–  Pages  viewed  –  Returning  vs.  new  visitors  –  Referral  source  –  LocaIon  –  Unique  visitors  –  Page  views  –  PlaRorms/access  

7 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

But  it’s  a  matrix:  Metrics  are  most  meaningful    in  rela9onship  to  one  another  

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Being  strategic  about  data  helps  to  drive  site  growth  

•  Google  AnalyIcs  –puVng  two  numbers  together  – Referral  traffic:  Where  are  the  most  engaged  users  coming  from?  (referral  traffic/Ime  spent  metrics)  

– Content  behaviors:  What  is  average  9me  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)  

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Decisions  you  can  make  based  on  Google  AnalyIcs  data  

•  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  (newslebers)  

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LocaIon:  Checking  for  geographic  focus  

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The  LocaIon  tab  (under  Audience  Demographics)  shows  where  your  audience  is  from—essen9al  for  sales/funders  

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Oakland  Local  City  data  

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Date  shows  both  city  focus  &  regional  reach  

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Understanding  Mobile  

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Under  Audience,  Google  Analy9cs  will  tell  you  what  percentage  of    your  audience  Is  via  mobile—and  which  plaKorms—cri9cal  for  development  plans  

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Considering  tablets,  apps,  responsive  themes  

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Understanding  current  user  base  mobile  access  is  part  of  research  for  potenIal  development—and  a  great  jusIficaIon  for  everyone  moving  into  responsive  themes  

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GA:  Checking  content  &  interest  vs.  referrals  &  landing  pages  

14 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

IMPACT:  Improve  understanding  of  top  content  and  referral    sources  

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Example:  Top  story  with  drive  by  traffic  

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Let’s imagine: You run a story on a local issues—say foreclosure—that is one of yr top trafficked stories for the week. Story gets 12,000 page views (good traffic for a smaller site) Average time spent reading this story is 1.11 minutes Average time spent reading most of your stories is 2.45 minutes

What gives? Check out that data That week, Google.com sent 35,000 visitors according to yr referral data Average time on site for Google refers: .52 seconds This story was one of your top 3 landing pages Assumption: lower time spent reading due to Google refers

Benefit:  Data  can  not  only  set  baseline  norms  for  performance  but  can  explain  impact  of  broad  and  deep  reach  for  specific  stories,  different  audiences  

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Other  core  metrics  tools  

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Measures Facebook page data

Measures tweet impact

Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights Likes Comments

Twitter Followers Retweets Tweet reach

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Facebook  provides  INSTANT  feedback  

Content  &  Audience  

•  What’s  popular  (views)  

•  What’s  being  referred  (viral)  •  Who  is  your  audience  

(followers  &  demographics)  

Ads  &  social  marke9ng  

•  Tracking  response  on  social  markeIng/promoIon  posts  

•  Tracking  likes  &  reposts  

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Apply  Facebook  data  to  recruit  new  adverIsers,    fine  tune  your  content,  define  audiences,  drive  traffic  to  website  

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Facebook  Insights-­‐Admins  can  access  

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Insights  is  the  equivalent  Of  Google  Analy9cs  for  Business—not  personal-­‐Facebook  pages—need  30+  followers  Data  is  exportable—correlate  with  Google  Analy9cs  in  your  analyses  

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Use  the  FB  demographics  data!  

19 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

Who’s  talking  shows  demographics—key  for  adverIsers—and  for  targeIng  content  

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Making  inferences:  How  does  Facebook  data  compare?  

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Looking  at  Facebook  locaIon  data  for  Oakland  Local  compared  to  Google  analyIcs  data  shows  strong  consistency  for  audience  locaIons;  • Does  that  suggest  the  demographic  data—  • age,  gender—might  be  accurate  as  well?  • How  does  FB  demographic  data  correlate  with  • self-­‐selected  user  survey  data?  

How  does  audience/locaIon  data  correlate  with    site  editorial/business  goals?  

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Twitter: Some metrics tools, but not that many

Twiber  can  show  you  menIons,  retweets,  interacIons—but  data  Is  limited.  Third-­‐party  tools  offer  more  analysis,  ReporIng:  • Tweetreach  • Tweetmeme  • Twibergrader—a  few  of  MANY  

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Tweetreach  is  a  criIcal  Twiber    metrics  tool  

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•  Shows  most  retweeted  

•  Shows  top  retweeters  

•  Shows  top  tweets  and  how  far  each  reach  

23 All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Tweetreach  report  First  screen  

How  many  people  are  you  reaching  via  TwiVer—and  who  are  they?  Tweetreach  gives  you  data  

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Tweetreach  data  dive—who’s  contribu9ng  to  your  stream?  

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knightdigitalmediacenter.org  26

Workflow  and  process  best  pracIces  

Source: http://fobango.com

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Create  a  reporIng  dashboard  to  track  stats  over  Ime-­‐  Excel  

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Spreadsheet tracking key metrics month by month, quarter by quarter.

Build or download a template to collect data

Check data weekly All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Your  dashboard  should  track    

•  Google  Analy9cs  •  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  

Let’s  discuss:  how  does  this  work    as  a  weekly/daily  report?  

28  All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Your  dashboard  should  track    

•  Facebook  Insights  •  Followers  •  Demographics  •  LocaIon  

•  Likes/virality  •  Tweetreach  

•  Top  Tweets  •  Top  Tweeters  •  Most  retweeted  

Let’s  discuss:  how  does  this  work    as  a  weekly/daily  report?  

29  All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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When  do  you  check  stats?  

•  Daily  or  weekly  – 30  minutes  or  less  

– Look  at  basic  weekly  stats  • Top  content  • Top  referrers  • Time  spent/bounce  metrics  

•  Monthly  –  90  minutes  

–  Review  all  stat  sources  –  Build  a  monthly  report  –  Compare  6  month  trend  data  

•  Google  AnalyIcs  •  Facebook  Insights  •  Tweetreach  

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Want  to  learn  more  about  GA?  

Videos  on  the  Official  Google  AnalyIcs  YouTube  Channel    

are  a  quality  resource.  

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Putting knowledge To work—

Source: http://blog.podio.com All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

Things  to    Ask  &  Try  

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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  

33  All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Pu\ng  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  puVng  investment  there  

–  Use  stats  to  portray-­‐-­‐Create  a  1  pager  34  All  rights  reserved.  Houseoflocal.org  

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Followup  

•  Should  we  have  a  peer  learning  circle?  –  If  yes,  contact  [email protected]  

– More  on  metrics  (including  the  basics):  hbp://slideshare.com/susanmernit  

– 1:1  discussions—contact    [email protected]  

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Contact  info  

•  Susan  Mernit    [email protected],  [email protected]  

 @susanmernit,  @oaklandlocal  hbp://oaklandlocal.com  hbp://houseoflocal.org  

hbp://susanmernit.com  

hbp://susanmernit.tumblr.com  

Susanmernit,  instagram,  pinterest  

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