My session from #EngagePDX 2017 on Google Analytics For Content Marketing

1. @KaneJamison
Google Analytics For
Content Marketers
#EngagePDX

2. @KaneJamison
Imagine for a
moment…
#EngagePDX

3. You’ve taken over
a new GA account.

4. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
Stakeholder
Steve

5. “We have a GA account.
I don’t log in much.
I’m pretty sure we’re not
getting as much value out of it
as we could be.”
Google Analytics For Content Marketers
Stakeholder
Steve

6. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
✓
Tags Installed OK?

7. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
=(Filtered vs. Raw Views?

8. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
=(Goals or E-Commerce Tracking?

9. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
Vitaly-Proofed?
=(
¯_( )_/¯

10. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
So you go through your GA 101 checklist…
…now what?
ü Raw vs. Filtered Views
ü Client & VendorIP Filters
ü eCommerce Tracking
ü Contact / Quote Request Goal Completions
ü Spam Filters – Hostname, Language, etc.
ü Connect Adwords & Search Console
ü Tag Manager Conversion Process

11. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
If you want to be able to answer the hard questions:
…then we’ve got more work to do.
Which content types
add valuetoour
company?
Did those 8 whitepapers
last year actually helpus?
What is ourcontent
program/agency
doingfor us?
Which ofour 30
authors is the most
valuable?
What is the deal
with airlinefood?
Does it make sense to
keep investingin these
product videos?

12. Google Analytics For Content Marketers
There’s 2 groups of tasks we need to tackle:
1) Build Out Our Data
Thereare non-retroactivedatafields
you need to set up *now*.
2) Standardize These Insights:
You’ll rely on Dashboards & Custom Reports
so you don’t havetotrack down data every day.

13. Part One:
Building Out Our Data
@KaneJamison

14. How do we track all of the value
we create as marketers?
Part One: Building Out Our Data

15. We all trackthe
end goal for our
site visitors:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
CONVERSIONS!

16. But if we want to
measure thesuccess of
ourentire marketing
program, we need to
measure moresteps in
the customerjourney.
Part One: Building Out Our Data
CONVERSIONS!
EMAIL
SUBSCRIPTION!
BUYER’S GUIDE
DOWNLOAD!
PRODUCT
COMPARISONS!

17. We do this by identifying the
metrics we can track at various
stages of the customer journey
other than conversion.
Part One: Building Out Our Data

18. Align Your Goals Across The Funnel
To What You Can Track:
AWARENESS
Part One: Building Out Our Data
q Trafficby Channel/Medium
q Trafficby Content Grouping
ENGAGEMENT
CONVERSION
RETENTION
q Trafficby Author, Topic,
Word Count, DatePublished
q Content Downloads
q Watched Videos
q Newsletter Signups
q Email Marketing Traffic
q Retargeted Traffic
q Leads & Contact Forms
q eCommerce Transaction
q Average Order Value
q App Downloads
q SoftwareTrials
q Conversions by Content Type
q Repeat Revenue
q Content ConsumptionBy
Logged In Users
q Product Reviews

19. “I get that not every blog post
is going to generate a sale.
But, can we get them to do
anything with more value
than just pageviews?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

20. Yes we can, Steve!
Part One: Building Out Our Data
via Destination Page:
via Event Tracking:
via Pageviews per Session:
via Destination Page:

21. “Can we value those goals?
Or is there just a monthly
number of completions?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

22. We can – and should – value them:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Who here would
happily pay $1,000
for 1,000engaged
email subscribers
who actually chose
to be on yourlist?

23. Part One: Building Out Our Data
$2.00
$5.00
$0.10
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$10.00
We can – and should – value them:

24. Part One: Building Out Our Data
So that we can identify which types of content and traffic are the most valuable to us.
Why put a value on everything?
https://content.wistia.com/customer-stories/mybinding
MyBinding+ Wistia
“Whena person watches a video on our site:
• Their averageordervalueis almost 30% higher
• E-commerceconversion rateis morethan 10% higher
• Their per session valueis 42% higherthan site
average…
Ourvideo program had almost a 2 milliondollar
impact on ourgross revenue.”

25. “I’m fine with us tracking
that stuff even though it’s
not hard revenue, but can
we separate it from the
actual leads and sales?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

26. Yes we can, Steve!
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Create two Filtered
views:
• Your Primary View
includes all marketing
goals
• Your Sales-Only view
only includes
conversions.

27. “OK, so we’re tracking
a bunch of valueson
the site now.
How do we actually
use that data?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

28. Good question, Steve!
Part One: Building Out Our Data
The obviousfirst choice is page value:

29. Part One: Building Out Our Data
But Page Value isn’t the clearest metric in GA
A) Is Page Value divided among all pages that a user views
before buying something?
B) If we multiply Page Value by the numberof pageviews, and
add that up for every page on the site, will that equal the
total sales?

30. How does Page Value work?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
A B A C $100
A E F $100Visitor 2
Visitor 1
What is the Page Value of Page C?
$25? $33? $100?

31. How does Page Value work?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
A B A C $100
A E FVisitor 2
Visitor 1
The Value of Page C is $100.
Total value of usersthat visitedthat page,divided by unique pageviews.
$100

32. How does Page Value work?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
A B A C $100
A E FVisitor 2
Visitor 1
So whatis the value of Page A?
$200? $100? $75?
$100

33. How does Page Value work?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
A B A C $100
A E FVisitor 2
Visitor 1
The value of Page A is $100.
$200 value completed,divided by 2 unique pageviews.
$100

34. So how do we actually use Page Value?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
“People who visited the Case Studiespage of the site were twiceas
valuable as visitorsto the Services page.”
“Last week’sblog post generatestwiceasmuch value per sessionas
the other postswe publishedlast month.”

35. “That seems fine, but not
really that valuable or even
actionable.
Can we compare all of the
blog pages together, or all
of our product pages
together?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

36. Yes! Through The Magic of Content Groupings
Part One: Building Out Our Data

37. Instead of analyzing pages one by one…

38. We can analyze them by site section, making a number of
otherwise “noisy” metrics suddenly valuable.

39. Content Groupings Are
Easier With Good Site
Structure
Part One: Building Out Our Data

40. Content Groupings
can also be pushed
from On-Page Code
or Tag Manager
Part One: Building Out Our Data

41. More Great
Resources On
How To Use
Content Groupings:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
• Business Use Cases:
http://cutroni.com/blog/2014/01/24/use-
google-analytics-content-groups/
• Content Groupings By Funnel Stage:
http://ipullrank.com/how-to-measure-the-
user-journey-with-content-groupings-
wordpress-gtm/
• Content Groupings vs. Custom Dimensions:
http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2016/01
/21/content-groupings-vs-custom-
dimensions/

42. “OK now that’s helpfulfor
analyzing our investment in
blog content last year.
Are there any other ways to
slice up the site that we’re
missing out on?”
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

43. As Always Steve, The Answer is Yes!
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Custom
Dimensions

44. Custom Dimensions Open Up Tons of Opportunities
Part One: Building Out Our Data
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/12/01/marketing-the-tnw-way-17-50-custom-dimensions-in-google-analytics/
1. Time – Session Level
2. Tags – Hit Level
3. Post Type – Hit Level
4. Author – Hit Level
5. PostDate – Hit Level
6. Adblocked – Session Level
7. A/B Testing– Session Level
8. Comments – Hit Level
9. Category – Hit Level
10. Personalization – Session Level
11. GTM Container Version ID – Session Level
12. Signed up for newsletter – User Level
13. First visit – User Level
13. Last visit – User Level
14. URL string – HitLevel
15. Query string – Hit Level
16. Full referral path (Hit) – Hit Level
17. Shares – Facebook – Hit Level
18. Shares – Twitter – Hit Level
19. Shares – LinkedIn – Hit Level
20. Shares – Reddit – HitLevel
21. Count Images – Hit Level
22. Count Videos – Hit Level
23. Published Date – Week – Hit Level
24. Word Count Buckets – Hit Level
‘50+ CustomDimensions in Google Analytics”
Follow the Author: @MartijnSch

45. Custom Dimensions Open Up Tons of Opportunities
Part One: Building Out Our Data
https://moz.com/blog/content-analysis-google-analytics (Shows how to track Word Count as Content Group, not Custom Dimension)
“Advanced ContentAnalysis in Google Analytics”
Follow the Author: @JeffSauer

46. Custom Dimensions Open Up Tons of Opportunities
Part One: Building Out Our Data
“Advanced ContentAnalysis in Google Analytics”
Follow the Author: @JeffSauer
https://moz.com/blog/content-analysis-google-analytics (Shows how to track Word Count as Content Group, not Custom Dimension)

47. Easier Custom Dimensions:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
DuracellTomi’s Google Tag Manager For Wordpress
https://wordpress.org/plugins/duracelltomi-google-tag-manager/

48. Custom Dimensions vs Custom Metrics:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
A dimension is a characteristic
of an object that can be given
different values.
Dimensionsdescribe data.
Definitions via Paul Koks at http://online-metrics.com/metrics-and-dimensions/
A metric is an element of a
dimension which can be
measured as a sum or ratio.
Metrics measure data.

49. Custom Dimensions vs Custom Metrics:
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Screenshot from: http://www.analytics-ninja.com/blog/2015/12/google-analytics-custom-metrics-calculated-metrics.html

50. “I get it, you can track a
bunch of stuff.
Now how do we actually
use all of this?
Part One: Building Out Our Data
Stakeholder
Steve

51. @KaneJamison
Part Two:
Dashboards & Reports

52. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Dashboards:
Top PerformersAt A Glance
Reports:
Get Into The Details

53. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Dashboard – Subscribers by Source:
We want to understand where our email acquisition is working:

54. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Dashboard – Top Landing Pages by Medium:
Which pages perform best by Medium – organic, email, social, referral,etc.
Can be prioritized by traffic or goal completions depending on which column is first.

55. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Report – Performance by Word Count:
Which content lengths drive the most traffic and have strongest page value?

56. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Report – Major Content Asset Performance:
Track performance on major content projects within a Content Group,
for example just your whitepapers, or case studies.

57. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Shortcut – Top Conversion Paths by Landing Page URL:
Not perfect but shows goal conversions and cumulative value based upon
landing page, and split by medium if you’re interested:

58. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Shortcut – Attribution by Landing Page URL:
Not perfect but shows goal conversions and cumulative value based upon
landing page, and split by medium if you’re interested:

59. Part Two: Dashboards & Reports
Remember, Google Analytics Can’t Think For You.
If your boss asks, “what is our ROI on the whitepaperswe’re publishing,”
the exact numbermay not exist in GA.
Aggregate with outside data to get a cumulative value.

60. @KaneJamison
DO THIS NOW:
• Set up more Goals!
• Set up Content Groupings!
• Set up Custom Dimensions!
Let’s Recap!
DO THIS AFTER:
• Set up yourMonthlyDashboards
• Set up yournon-GAtracking

61. About The Presenter:
Kane Jamison is the founder of Content Harmony, a
content marketing agency based in Seattle, WA.
Content Harmony helps our clients plan, produce, promote,
and measure great content for their target audience.
More importantly, we help our clients drive marketing
results across the entire customer lifecycle, from awareness
to conversion to retention.
Find more free content marketingresources at
ContentHarmony.com
61
Google Analytics For Content Marketers
Contact Kane:
Kane@ContentHarmony.com
@KaneJamison
Image Credits: Space photos available via Unsplash.com