Next Analytics: Power Tools for Web and Social Media Analysts

Analytics play a crucial part in the advertising and marketing ecosystem. As the industry landscape continues to evolve, so must the tools we have available to probably analyze and implement change. One of the fastest growing and popular channels is social media. So often we find ourselves in new surroundings within this particular landscape – be it the creative units, the buying model, the KPIs and measurements available – as everyone things rapidly.

Any brand that plays in the digital space expects big data. I am not entirely sure wear this notion was born but I don’t necessarily agree with it. There is a huge difference between big data and actionable data. I like to look for solutions that help me dissect the data, discover insights and inform strategy.

Google Analytics is a platform that is a stepping stone to possibilities. As a solution powered by Google, the resources, partners and options to dig further into data is unparalleled. “Whether you need the help of animplementation or analysis expert, or you are looking for a turnkey solutionfor your business, Google Analytics technology and certified partners are readywith a solution." An added benefit to the Google Analytics Partners available is that there are a large number of app based solutions. As we are currently an on-the-go society it is important to have access to information at our finger tips. Google’s technology partners provide “ready-to-use applications that extend Google Analytics in new andexciting ways. This includes solutions that help analysts, marketers, IT teams,and executives get the most out of Google Analytics.”

One of their app-based social solution partners is next analytics. Next analytics is a solution that merges web and social analytics into easy-to-read reports and dashboards. It’s a hybrid Excel + Cloud solution that is easily accessible and always available.

What I find most appealing about this solution is that it provides a hub for web traffic and social media to come together to tell a more complete story that can be attributed back to goals. The next mission states that “NEXThelps organizations work smarter to develop and refine strategies and tacticsbased on insight and evidence.” Their mission and visions are closely aligned with solutions rooted in evidence based improvements and strategy which should be extremely appealing to any marketer. Data is an incredibility valuable resource for driving future success from past learnings. Finding and implementing solutions like next analytics layers in data from various sources to provide a more holistic approach to decision making.

Next analytics highlights two pillars to their success: 

A winning approach that becomes a time-saving competitive advantage. Their solution allows users to design in Excel and publish to Cloud for refresh and distribution.

·         Build custom reports using Excel

·         Upload spreadsheets to the Cloud

·         Refresh from any device, anywhere

·         Automated Distribution with no labor or IT involvement

Simplify Update and Distribution. Nothing to install, works on computer, tablet and mobile phones.

Not only is the application easy to use but it allows connectivity to reach driving social platforms. The next analytics application connects to the following social channels (Features, n.d.):

Google Analytics

·         Goals

·         Engagement

·         eCommerce

·         Content

Facebook

·         Single Post

·         Posts

·         Page

·         Group

·         App

·         Ads

·         Domain

Adwords

·         Account Performance

·         Campaign Performance

·         Ad Group Performance

·         Keywords Performance

·         Search Performance

·         Ad Performance

YouTube

·         Country Analytics

·         Daily Analytics

·         Demographics Analytics

·         Shares Analytics

·         Videos Analytics

Instagram

·         Account

·         Hashtag

·         Location

Twitter

·         Followers

·         Following

·         Mentions

Another solution that could be implemented is Filament which is focused on blog insights. “Google Analytics tells you what happened on your blog. Filament tells you why & what to do about it. By listening to your blog's traffic patterns, sharing & visitor behavior, Filament generates automatic tips to improve the performance of your content with less time and effort."

In addition to Filament’s integration with Google Analytics and reporting benefits they offer a ton of key metrics to complete the Google Analytics + Social picture.

On their site they highlight the following key metrics:

Social Sharing Performance. See total share counts and how engaged traffic is from each social referrer.

Top Social Supporters. See who is sharing your content, and easily follow them or reach out to thank them or introduce yourself.

Content Category Comparison. We’ll show you which topics or categories are the most engaged, shared and viewed on your blog.

Sharing Ratio. We’ll show you which networks bring you the most visits per share so you can promote better.

Page Retention. How effective a page or post is at keeping visitors on your site and moving them on to other content.

Engagement Score. One simple metric shows how effective pieces of content are at getting shared, seen and interacted with.

Pageviews + Bounce. Both of these key metrics are in every screen, as well as other base analytics.

Visitor Scroll Depth. See how much of your content your visitors are reading and what topics are consistently most read.

The added benefits of these additional applications in conjunction with Google Analytics are abundant. But, as always, it is in us to find the insights – what is performing, what is not? Where can we optimize across channels? What content should we be writing and where should we be promoting it? We test and learn different tactics for that exact reason, to learn.

The implementation of Google Analytics opens the doors to the solutions across the entire digital landscape. It is this connectivity that opens possibility.