In the world of data and analytics, the war between Facebook, Google and other online channels rages on, leaving you with disconnected data and an uncertain path on how to proceed. Using pixels and tags is one way to connect the data and in the post below, you’ll learn how UTM coding is another way to connect disparate data sources.
What I Like About Facebook Insights That Google Analytics Doesn’t Provide
Have you ever seen a Facebook post that makes you laugh just enough to “like” it, but not enough to distract you from Facebook stalking your new coworker? Everyone has. That’s why organic Facebook metrics are based on overall reach, impressions, and engagement. That is to say, how many people your post reached, how often people saw it, and what they did when they saw it.
Facebook bases most of their metrics on the post and page level because they don’t want users to leave their website. The longer a user stays, the more ads they can serve a user. The more ads they serve a user, the more money they make. But if you’re paying for the ads a user is seeing, Facebook actually gives you another layer of data.
For boosted posts and ad campaigns, Facebook will offer you a Facebook pixel to put on your website, allowing you to now track user interactions beyond Facebook. This means any time someone views a page, adds an item to their cart, completes a purchase, and more after viewing your Facebook ad, you’ll know! More than that though, you’ll be able to have a layer of demographics like age and gender that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
Lastly, the Facebook pixel allows you to have data on view through conversions – the idea that you saw an ad, and although you didn’t click on it, eventually that ad caused you to make a purchase.
What I Like About Email Reporting That Google Analytics Doesn’t Provide
Email reporting provides a wealth of data that you can’t get from Google Analytics, namely open rate. Open rate is arguably one of the most important email metrics because if someone doesn’t open your email, there’s no chance they’ll receive your message. Open rate is so important that some email systems even have the ability to A/B test subject lines. After all, who doesn’t want to expose more people to their message?
If you have a more complex email system, the data you get doesn’t stop there. You can get view through conversion information like you get with Facebook (those who viewed your email and eventually took an action, just not when they opened up your email).
The last really important feature of email reporting is the fact that it stores personal information. While this may seem like an obvious benefit (an email system that stores emails…whaaaa?), it’s a huge contrast from Google Analytics, which forbids any personally identifiable information (PII). With the personally identifiable information email reporting gives you, you can segment your audiences and build user personas. If you’re feeling fancy, you can even use incentives to fill the gaps of information you don’t have (give us your birthday and we’ll give you a cookie).
Why I Still Recommend UTM Coding with Facebook Insights and Email Reporting
Unless you have a database dedicated to combining Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and analytics from your email platform, it’s likely that Google Analytics is your main source of truth for all your web analytics. Without enhancing your Google Analytics data with information from your other marketing channels, you won’t be able to know which online campaigns are the most successful at driving a conversion. You also won’t know how people are interacting with specific messages across different channels.
Essentially, if you’re looking at your different channels in a silo, you’re missing out on the bigger picture. UTM coding helps create that larger picture within your existing platforms. While social media management platforms like Hootsuite can provide you with out of the box analytics on your different social media profiles, it’s UTM coding that brings all that data into your Google Analytics account – your one source of truth for all web activities.
For a more in-depth look on how to create that larger picture, read my article on Where to Use UTM Coding and follow it up with Best Practices for Using UTM Coding Part 1 and Best Practices for Using UTM Coding Part 2 just to make sure you don’t paint the wrong picture.
Summary
Effective marketing requires you to gather as much information as possible about your messages across different channels and learn which ones are and aren’t working. UTM coding can be the glue that sticks Facebook and email to your Google Analytics data and make sure you’re being the best marketer you can be.