Getting SMARTer with SMART tracking
I attended the American Marketing Association’s 3 hour webinar Oct. 29, “Leverage Analytics to Power your Marketing Strategy.” The main gem I took from this webinar was the suggestion to use Google Data Studio for setting up a single source of truth for analytics.
One thing that I find difficult about SMART goals is checking in to see the incremental progress by pulling reports from multiple platforms. Signing in to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google My Business, SEM Rush, and other platforms is time-consuming, even if I have the links copied into a list. Enter Google Data Studio. Pulling in your favorite metrics to a live dashboard not only saves time–it’s a single view for you to measure your goals against. My favorite part is that it allows me to arrange the metrics so that related information can be viewed side by side.
Not all platforms integrate with Google Data Studio, but softwares like Supermetrics extend its functionality by offering 59 different data sources via API. Unfortunately, Supermetrics isn’t free, and many of the softwares you might want to integrate with will also make you switch to a more expensive plan to grant API access. However, it is possible to start with free integrations and then decide if it’s worth it to dish out for the premium integrations.
Curious how you could utilize Google Data Studio? Start by browsing their templates. There are several put out by the Data Studio Team, and they even feature community-created dashboards.
Of course, this is quite time-consuming, so you can start small and make your dashboard more elaborate as time goes on. I’d recommend starting a ready-made Google Analytics or Google Search Console template. Being able to save custom filters for instant viewing is pretty exciting. If you find charts you like from other templates, you can even copy and paste them into the one you’re building.
Getting started with setting up a dashboard like this can seem daunting, which is why I like Google Data Studio’s easy format. Sure, you’ll have to look things up occasionally, but the overall barrier to entry is low. What are you waiting for? If you spend time downloading multiple reports, take the time to set up a single source of truth that you can check in with more often.
Sources:
https://datastudio.google.com/
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