The myth goes something like this:  the Internet is forever!  Google is king, and can ferret out every word I’ve ever said and every action I’ve ever taken!  Hence, there is no point in engaging in social media, because it puts me at too much risk for permanent reputation damage and exposure.

Not so.  True, consciousness of the fact that social media is sticky and searchable is absolutely key if you’re going to be blogging, responding, and conversing with others.  But blame the user, not the medium, for imprudent use of social tools.  Having a Facebook account or a Twitter handle isn’t carte blanche to insult, flame, and badmouth everyone in the world.  What it is (and this is way more scary) is a challenge to be authentic and transparent, to balance what you make public with what you choose to keep private, to choose your words carefully and well.

The world of social media can seem like a jungle full of screeching baboons and lurking hyenas (wait, do hyenas live in the jungle?  Oh well, let’s continue with that simile anyway.)  But being in the jungle doesn’t mean you can’t be savvy…or have fun!  To stress over every word because you know that users travel in packs and express their opinions loudly and often is to lose the entire point.  Just as it’s not here to save the day, social media isn’t here to expose your every flaw. And you’ll be amazed again and again by the generosity and grace offered by your fellow travelers…if you’re willing to fess up to your mistakes, own your words, and take responsibility for your actions.

Myth busted:  savvy self-expression is the name of the game…and mistakes happen. Free-wheeling, fast-moving social tools are what you make of them…and they’re just begging to help you test, play, make mistakes, evolve, and be real. – Erin

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• PR is the new marketing:  A nice vlog on the intersections of two former cousins…now conjoined twins?  [via SmartBrief on Social Media]
• AdWeek has released its Magazine Hot List for ’09.  What’s hot:  Fast Company and Wired.  What’s not:  anything that can’t (or won’t) adapt to changing times.
• Are we “exquisitely, irretrievably f*!ked“?  You be the judge.
• Say it ain’t so:  Google has a “paralyzing lack of design focus”?!

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So…you’ve set up Google Analytics and started learning more about the terms and concepts that make GA go.  Now it’s time to make actual use of the site with my five favorite Google Analytics tools.

• So-Cool Site Overlay:  This tool offers you an incredible amount of information on actual user behavior.  Located under the Content section, the Site Overlay tool shows you where clicks land on a page.  What a great way to find out that nobody cares about your “free widget discount” button or that your users are surprisingly curious about your portfolio.  Use the site overlay tool often and with a sense of strategy:  In order to take full advantage, you should be willing to change in response to the information it yields.
• Real Keyword Insight:  This is an SEO-oriented marketer’s best friend.  Located under the Traffic section, the Keywords tool shows you the searches people use to get to your site.  You may discover some strange surprises here…but you also may get extremely valuable information that allows you to tailor content to popular searches.  By optimizing to popular keywords, you ensure higher rankings across a variety of searches that reflect real user behavior, not wishful thinking.
• Fabulous Filters:  Sick of Ukranian spambots hitting your blog?  Want to see real results that don’t reflect your checking for comments 23523523235325 times a day?  Filters are your friend.  To install a filter, you’ll need to know the IP address of anyone you want to exclude from Google Analytics stats.  Create a filter by going to Analytics Settings>Filter Manager>Add New Filter, then follow the steps.  Here’s a Google guide to creating a filter if you need more help.
• Mindboggling Link Ninja Action: Ever wonder just how many people download your PDFs or podcasts?  Wonder no more with file tracking via Google Analytics.  By adding a tiny slice of code to your tags for links, you’ll be able to see download results among the slew of information Google Analytics serves up by default.
• Robotic Automated Traffic Emails:  Harness the power of Google Analytics and take advantage of their option to send scheduled e-mail reports.  Just go to the report you want to receive, click Email beneath its title, and edit the schedule settings.  Google will email to you when you want it in the format you like (currently, PDF, CSV, Excel, and XML are all represented).  This is a great way to make sure that traffic stays at the top of your radar.

Photo via kalandrakas

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Now comes the hard part:  actually analyzing your results.  Of course, the longer your code has been around and in business (it is working, right?), the more results you’ll have to analyze.

Though the Google Analytics dashboard is full of exciting stuff, it can feel mighty overwhelming if you don’t know what the heck it is you’re looking at.  Here’s a whirlwind tour and glossary of the site and important terms:

Dashboard – this is the heart of the site and where you’ll find the most important information of all:  visits, pageviews, bounce rates, average time on site, and percentage of new visits.  Note:  the information portrayed on the dashboard is governed by the time perameters you set at the top of the page.  The longer the time you specify, the more visitors, etc. you should see.

• Visits and pageviews:  These are the nuts and bolts of GA.  A visit is essentially a session:  a period in which a user is visiting your website.  Google defines visit as ending when the site is navigated away from or the browser remains inactive for 30 minutes or more.  A pageview is one instance of a browser loading a page on your website.  Important note:  a visit is not a visitor.
• Bounce rate is the rate at which visitors left your site without clicking on any other pages.
• Average time on site:  No-brainer.  The average time  a visitor spends on your site.
• Percentage new visits:  The percentage of visits that were new (i.e. had never visited your site before).

Visitors – this is the section that allows you to analyze visitor behavior:  who they are, which browsers they use, where they are.  Google offers services such as benchmarking (comparing your statistics against others in your industry), trending information to help you find out more about your visitors, loyalty information, and information you can define yourself.

Traffic Sources – this section is the alpha and the omega when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and understanding more about how people find your site.  It includes subsections on direct traffic (traffic that comes to your site without being referred through another website), referring sites (sites that include links to your site that funnel in traffic), search engines, keywords, Google AdWords, and campaigns you can define yourself.

Content – this section focuses on the content of your site and can show your top content, top landing and exit pages, and even a nifty site overlay that shows who clicks where on your site.

Goals – in this section, you can set and track conversion goals for your site.

Your assignment:  familiarize yourself with the Google Analytics dashboard and interface. Click everything you can to get an idea of what it does.  Never fear…in our next sessions, we’ll talk about creating goals, analyzing traffic and user behavior, and more!

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