• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • AI Explored Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🌟 AI Society
  • 🗓️ Marketing Conference
  • đź‘‹ About Us
    • Marketing Events
  • Search
  • Embrace AI & MarketingGet Ongoing Training & SupportBEGIN YOUR JOURNEY NOW

    How to Use the New Google Analytics Social Reporting Tool

    by Lisa Peyton / June 12, 2012

    social media toolsThe new social media reporting tools from Google Analytics provides marketers free social media monitoring and measurement capabilities.

    The new reporting features provide the most value when coupled with Google+.

    This way, community managers gain insight around off-page activity as Google Analytics and Google+ are happily integrated.

    Tracking off-site social activity is just one of the cool new features that community managers will be swooning over.

    Check out the other actionable reports outlined below and discover how businesses can best leverage them to determine the value of social media.

    This article will cover how to use the new social reporting features inside Google Analytics to help evaluate and measure your social media campaigns.

    #1: Social Visitors Flow

    The newly added Social Visitors Flow is a visual presentation of how visitors from social properties are navigating your website. Assuming the goal of your social media campaign is to get more traffic to your website, this report quickly gives you insight into which social platforms are sending the most traffic to your site and what your social visitors are doing once they get there.

    social flow
    Google Analytics Social Visitors Flow report displays top social referrers and tracks users' journey through your website.

    The chart outlines the top social referrers, the top landing pages and also the page drop-off rate. By comparing the drop-off rate of social traffic to other traffic sources, you can determine which traffic referrers are sending the most qualified visitors to your website.

    social visitor flow linkedin
    By hovering over each specific social channel, you can determine the percentage of traffic that dropped off the site and the percentage that actually stuck around and navigated to additional pages.

    After spending a few minutes comparing this metric across the website's traffic channels, it's clear that visitors from LinkedIn and Facebook are spending more time on the website than visitors from a very expensive paid advertising campaign on Google AdWords.

    “Having a comparison of the user drop-off rates across all channels is helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of what is working and what is not,” says Melissa Barker, author of Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach. “Knowing the number of visits each channel sent alone is not enough to gauge the true success of your messaging.”

    traffic source chart
    The new Google Analytics social reporting features allow you to compare drop off rates

    The Social Visitors Flow report also outlines a user's second, third, fourth and fifth interaction. By studying these interactions, you can quickly determine what visitors are looking for on your site and if they're headed down your conversion funnel.

    social flow interactions
    The Social Visitors Flow report goes beyond the user's first interaction with your website—it also displays subsequent interactions. This allows you to gain insight into the most common user pathways, your most popular content and where visitors are dropping off or losing interest.

    #2: Off-Site Activity—Social Data Hub

    Google has partnered with several social networks to provide Google Analytics users with off-site activity data including +1s and comments. The full list of Social Data Hub partners can be found in the Google Developers forum, notable partners being Blogger, Disqus, Meetup, Google+, Digg, Delicious, Reddit and many more.

    By navigating to your website's Social Sources in Google Analytics and then drilling down to the specific platforms supported by the Social Data Hub, you can gain insight into which specific pieces of content are driving the most social engagement.

    Previously, this type of off-site data had been technically difficult and expensive to capture, requiring bulky third-party tools.

    AI Business Society

    Ready to Unlock AI Marketing Breakthroughs?

    If you’re like most of us, you are trying to figure out how to use AI in your marketing. Here's the solution: The AI Business Society—a new AI marketing community from your friends at Social Media Examiner.

    The AI Business Society is the place to discover how to apply AI in your work. When you join, you'll boost your productivity, unlock your creativity, and make connections with other marketers on a similar journey.

    I'M READY TO BECOME AN AI-POWERED MARKETER
    data hub activity
    Off-site activities such as comments, +1s and reshares are displayed alongside the content that drove the off-site action. You can quickly determine which pieces of content are resonating with your online community.

    Google+ activity is fully integrated with Google Analytics and the off-site data for the platform is impressive. Businesses can discover the total number of +1s, comments, posts and shares on Google+, along with a breakdown of these metrics by individual post.

    data hub
    Google's Social Reporting now captures off-site activity such as +1s, votes, comments and reshares.

    #3: Activity Stream

    The Google Analytics Social Reports Activity Stream is REALLY cool! Granted, it would be way cooler if Facebook and Twitter were included in it, because then it would truly be an integrated reporting and monitoring platform for the most popular social channels.

    Discover Proven Marketing Strategies and Tips

    Want to go even deeper with your marketing? Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast! Publishing weekly since 2012, the Social Media Marketing Podcast helps you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle, with expert interviews from marketing pros.

    But don’t let the name fool you. This show is about a lot more than just social media marketing. With over 600 episodes and millions of downloads each year, this show has been a trusted source for marketers for well over a decade.

    CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PODCAST NOW

    This feature allows you to monitor some of the less obvious channels such as Digg, Read It Later, Echo, Delicious, etc. With the click of a button, you can see who has interacted with your content.

    This feature is segmented by Conversations and Events. Conversations include content reshares, comments and new posts by anyone on the specific social network. Events include +1s, bookmarks, votes, saves, etc.

    The Activity Stream allows you to view individual post/page analytics, the content on Google Ripples, the actual content and the social activity. With one click, you can jump to the interaction and respond, follow the user and monitor conversations about your content.

    According to the Google Analytics team, the Activity Stream is REAL-TIME to the minute, so you'll see the most recent interactions and have the ability to respond immediately. This has been a long-standing issue with other monitoring platforms—they don't have the capability to give this type of insight in real time, when it's most relevant.

    activity conversations
    Google Analytics Activity Stream features off-site conversations about your brand.

    #4: Social Value At-a-Glance

    Google's Social Overview report features a simple chart outlining what they call Social Value. In order to get the most out of this report, you'll need to set up “conversions” or GOALS within your Google Analytics account.

    With only a few clicks, you can quickly start tracking how social traffic helps drive website conversions or events. This can include obvious conversions such as an online purchase or lead form completion, but it can also include micro-conversions such as video views or blog visits. Google allows you to define goals based upon a few factors:

    • URL destination—For example, a user landing on a shopping cart or contact form thank-you page
    • Visit duration—Based upon a specific amount of time spent on the website
    • Pages visited—Based upon the number of pages visited on the site
    • Event—Based upon user actions such as video views, white paper downloads or click-throughs

    If you have defined a monetary value for your website conversion, you can enter that data when setting up the goal in Google Analytics. You are now armed with an actual dollar amount or Social Value for your social media channels.

    sme social value
    The Social Value of your campaigns can now be seen at a glance by setting up goals and conversions in Google Analytics.

    #5: Assisted vs. Last Interaction Analysis and the Multi-Channel Funnel Report

    For years now, analysts have been discussing the limits of “last-click attribution” and the need for a more robust model to accurately measure online user behavior. If you are measuring your social media campaign effectiveness based upon the last-click model, you're likely underestimating the true impact of your campaigns.

    Google Analytics has now made it easier than ever to detect which social channels have assisted with conversions by adding this option as a tab under the Social Conversions report. Google defines an assisted conversion as:

    The number (and monetary value) of sales and conversions the social network assisted. An assist occurs when someone visits your site, leaves without converting, but returns later to convert during a subsequent visit. The higher these numbers, the more important the assist role of the social network.

    As long as a user completes the conversion within 30 days, Google Analytics can track that conversion path from the first click to the final click and everywhere in between. They have presented this data visually in the Multi-Channel Funnel report. Simply navigate to Conversions and then click on Multi-Channel Funnels.

    With one click, you can determine which channels are assisting with the most conversions and determine the top conversion paths.

    multi channel funnel report
    Google's Multi-Channel Funnel report quickly identifies conversion pathways and attributes your social networks with assisted conversions.

    Google Analytics offers up to eight basic channel groupings, including one for all social channels as the default. But with only a few clicks, it's possible to customize these groupings to get even more detailed reporting.

    default channel groupings
    Google Analytics offers these eight basic channel groupings by default.

    For example, I can create separate groupings for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, thereby quickly determining which social campaign was assisting with the most conversions and driving the highest ROI.

    channel grouping facebook
    The Multi-Channel Funnel report allows channel customization and segmentation, allowing businesses to further segment social traffic by each contributing network.

    These are just a sample of the actionable insights that can be gained from Google Analytics' new Social Reports.

    The social reporting features combined with the power of Google Analytics and Google+ provide what social media marketers have been dreaming about—a seamless way to track the value of social media from the off-site social network activity to that final click on your website's Buy Now button.

    What do you think? How are you using Google Analytics to help determine the value of your social media campaigns? Be sure to comment with your best reporting and measurement tips.

    AI EXPLORED

    Curious About How to Use AI?

    Our newest show, AI Explored, might be just what you're looking for. It's for marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use AI in their business.

    It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.

    Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.

    I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AI

    Tags: Google Analytics

    About the authorLisa Peyton

    Lisa is a leader in the field of digital marketing. Based in Portland, Oregon, she serves as editor at ThoroughlyModernMarketing.com. Her services include content strategy & social media consulting.
    Other posts by Lisa Peyton »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (43 pages, 60+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    AI

    Next Frontier Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 16th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 385,000 marketers!

    Simply click the button below to get the free report:

    Footer

    Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
    Copyright © 2025 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our social media marketing industry report
    • Our generative AI marketing industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS