Google Analytics Just Got WAY Better - API, Segments & Reports
Google Analytics just rolled out some pretty amazing features that anyone who is into web analytics can get excited about.
The new features:
- Custom Reports
- Advanced Segmentation (Soooo good)
- Motion Charts (sort of blew my mind)
- New Dashboard and User Interface
- An API! (this, this is just amazing. Dios mio)
- Integration with AdSense
Let's just go down the line and give a brief recap on a few of these tools (with a few videos for those of you who are already spacing out), and why they matter to you -- even if you're not a data nerd.
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Build Email Relationships, Not Spam Lists
Recently, a client posed this question:
“Some of the people with whom I work think we should collect email addresses from colleagues, friends, and associates who are affiliated with our industry. They want to add these contacts to our email newsletter mailing list. We work hard to make our newsletter content relevant to anyone in our industry, so they feel the contacts wouldn’t mind receiving the mailing. What are your thoughts on this strategy of growing our list?”
In my response I tried to go light on shaming her for even thinking that adding people to an email marketing list without their permission is appropriate. Instead, I wanted to emphasize that something of real value is at stake when they take this approach to list building. I also pointed out that there are better ways to ‘take advantage’ of colleagues who MAY enjoy their newsletter. I summarized my response to her below; let me know if you have a different take.
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Making the Commitment at Middle School Marketing
It seemed natural, given that marketing and social media are all about relationships, that our Middle School Marketing discussion for October spent a fair amount of time exploring commitment – and it should be no surprise that the darling of social media marketing, the corporate blog, was the center of conversation. Ryan Moede threw out the commitment question. Paraphrasing: “How do we set expectations around the level of commitment inherent to social marketing?”
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Social Expectations - Consumers are Looking for Better Interaction
The last two weeks have led to some interesting insights into consumer’s expectations of how they want to interact with brands.
From Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere, which reported that 4 in 5 bloggers write about their experiences – good or bad – with a company or product, to Cone’s report that an overwhelming majority of Americans (85%) active on blogs and other social media services expect to interact with companies through social media.
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Introducing Me and “Under the Hood”
So… I’ve been busy my first month at Viget. As the new marketing services director, I’ve spent a lot of time learning from colleagues, meeting new people, redefining our marketing services, and working with a wide range of clients. Like everyone else, I wish there were more hours in the day. There’s always someone else I could call, an email I could have sent, a blog post to write, or cool tool to check out.
One of the many things I’ve learned this past month is if you’ve got something to say, blog. So in talking with the team, we decided to continue sharing what we’re learning in a more regular format. It’s about giving other online marketers a peek at what’s working (and what’s not), and our take on "why." We’re calling it “Under The Hood” because, just like any well-maintained car, there’s a certain amount of maintenance required for true marketing success. And good marketers will tell you there’s always an opportunity for some fine tuning and performance enhancements.