There used to be a time when the only way you could judge the success of a certain marketing campaign was either through conversions (sales), or through focus groups where agencies would ask the opinion of those who had witnessed the advertisement. This of course, was before the digital age and while those two parameters are handy for discovering if a campaign has worked, nowadays us digital marketers have access to a plethora of different types of data, each with its own unique use.
This new data not only makes things easier, but we’re now able to easily understand where things are going wrong, allowing us to deliver a better ROI to our clients. Essentially streamlining our campaigns, across content, social and design, in the hope of becoming much more effective.
‘Big Data’ helps us understand which campaigns that we’re running are actually working before we then make tweaks in order to run an even more successful campaign. Being able to gather data, assess metrics and complete thorough analytics allows those within the realm of digital to utilise their skills, putting their talent to campaigns that actually work.
The most desirable skills within digital marketing
Analysis by Future Buzz looked at the skills which are required most within digital, you can take a look at the before mentioned link or find out the results below:
- 1. Analytics
- 2. Mobile marketing
- 3. Email marketing
- 4. Content marketing
- 5. Social media
As you can see, analytics is a skill which is needed across marketing, and in most cases, you’ll find that people aren’t able to do their job without solid analytical skills. This underlines how important it is to be able to read metrics, it also allows us to focus our efforts, share results and allows us to shift from wasting time on pointless tasks, to focusing on things which work – improving the business as a whole.
If you don’t use data in your line of the work, especially within marketing, then you’re quite probably in the wrong profession. Data allows us to learn and grow, and despite negative perceptions, it can be lots of fun, being like a true digital detective, unmasking issues and looking under the bonnet of campaigns.
Like digital espionage, the ways that we measure success doesn’t necessarily mean that those analytics guy and gals get all the credit. I mean, the world of spies and gadgets is less James Bond, more Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy anyway. It’s just not as glamorous as it could be, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, as was uncovered with the FutureBuzz article.
Data analytics within digital marketing
When something goes wrong, it’s important to know exactly where it went wrong. This is where data comes to the fore, and by leveraging this data we can understand how we can go about adapting to changing consumer behaviours. It’s important to be adaptive, especially with the changing nature of our industry and with new developments in technology that this brings. There are many different aspects of analytics which need to be undertaken in order to make improvements to your markets. This blog will look at them, while the following list looks at the four stages of data analytics:
- Determine analytic metrics of your digital campaign
- Data collection
- Obtain reports and interpret data
- Ongoing analysis
It’s crucial to establish how you’re going to assess your campaigns and while the steps above can help you interpret your data before making decisions, the following will help you gather that data:
Tools for gathering data within digital marketing
Without going straight into tools for each area of digital marketing, we’ve split up the areas, including social media, content and general data collection. This is so it’s all easier to digest and so that you can skip to the part which is relevant to you.
Tools for gathering data within social media
It goes without saying that social media now plays a huge role within marketing. Brands now look to engage with an audience through Twitter, Facebook and Google+ etc, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Here are some dedicated tools for gathering data through social media channels, helping agencies connect on a higher level with their customers as well as mapping out future campaigns and developing tactics.
Social Crawlytics
This free website helps you identify the influencers’ and your competitors’ most shared content. There are 22.2 thousand active users, and if you would also like to get involved, click here.
Trendsmap
Trendsmap maps out and visualises topics which are trending globally, nationally or even just in your city. The real-time mapping feature looks great whilst also being extremely informative.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a social media management tool created to help businesses create and grow their social media presence, you can try it for free here.
Facebook Insights
You probably have a Facebook page for your brand, and if this is the case, Insights provides you with information about your page’s performance. It’s available after at least 30 people like your page so it’s a handy tool for a lot of SMEs who are active on this social media platform.
My Top Tweet
My Top Tweet offers instant analysis of any twitter handle, all you need to do is input an address, @theukseo for example, and you can see the most retweeted tweets. You can get more insights by running the account through Crowdriff.
Twitter Counter
Twitter Counter allows you to check lots of twitter stats for free, including followers, people you’re following and their tweets. If you go premium you can gather stats for analysis on interactions, mentions, retweets and favourites.
Simply Measured
Simply Measured provides in-depth media analytics and in-depth management across many different social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
SocialBro
SocialBro lets you manage and analyse your Twitter communities, meaning you can track competitors, followers and find out thing like what time is the best time to tweet. The self proclaimed ‘number one marketing platform for Twitter’, SocialBro isn’t short of supporters and if you want to analyse, engage and monetize your Twitter audience, you might want to check it out!
Topsy.com
Topsy is social networking analytics tool which is a certified Twitter partner. Topsy maintains a huge index of tweets which dates back to the inception of the social network back in 2006. Topsy makes products which allow you to search, analyse and then draw insights into online conversations and trends on Twitter as well as Google+.
Tools for helping your content creation
Google Trends
If you’re like me and you write, occasionally you can struggle for that all important blog topic, so why not check out Google Trends? It will help you understand what the world is searching for via Google. It’s a handy resource and is very easy to navigate, take a look here.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts allows you to monitor the internet for interesting new content, be it news stories about one of your clients or rivals within a sector. You can set up your alerts here and have them emailed to your inbox as often as you want. Alerts has recently undergone a revamp and works similarly to Trends except that you’re able to completely tailor your alerts.
Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo shows you the most searched for topics within content marketing and SEO campaigns. If you’re struggling to think of a topic to write about, you can search it via the handy search bar and it will bring up any related pages. Essentially it’s a goldmine of data of which content is most shared across social media; get involved here.
Other data gathering tools
Now, if you’re starting out with a blank slate or you’re looking to produce some informative infographics, or just drop some statistics into a report, you might find the following websites of real interest.
Data.gov.uk
The UK Government has recently re-opened its data collections with Data.gov.uk, making them public so that other people can reuse the information that they’re holding. You’re now able to use non-personal, non-sensitive data and can find it via a quick search using the built in search bar. The project is only fairly new so the amount of information you’ll be able to access is sure to grow.
Google Public Data
As you’d expect from Google, they have created a site which is clear, concise and very easy to navigate. The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to digest, and visualise and if you’re looking to create infographics, you’ll benefit from the amount of reports that are housed within the collection. The most popular reports on the website at the time of writing are:
- World development indicators
- Unemployment in Europe
- Government debt in Europe
- World economic outlook
- Minimum wage in Europe
As you can see, you can gather plenty of data about numerous topics, but be sure to delve deeper into the site as there is information which might be of use to you and your project.
Reddit Datasets
Reddit is a procrastinator’s best friend but apart from providing a distraction from boredom, Reddit is home to something called Datasets. Users on the social network will regularly post links to reports and the latest news within the world of data. This link may prove useful to you in any number of different campaigns across many different sectors.
Survey Monkey
If you want to collect primary data instead of taking it from sites like the ones listed above and below this one, take a look at Survey Monkey. On this site you can create your own customisable surveys before sending them to whoever you wish.
There are currently 15,000 users of Survey Monkey which underlines just how useful it is.
Bottlenose
A part of me thinks that Bottlenose should have gone in the social media section of this blog post, but here it is, in with the misc’ tools. Bottlenose outlines trending topics, people and their emotions and allows yout to reveal what matters to your business in real time.
By gathering ‘trend intelligence’, brands can track what people are saying about them through its algorithms, before allowing you to analyse the data and then building on it.
The latest update to the software was the ‘emotion detection’ function which displays the emotions of online users and how they’re reacting to certain events.
Essential data tools in social media and digital marketing
There you have it, 17 essential tools for collecting data within digital marketing. Have we missed any out that you use religiously or are you reaping the rewards of using, say, Social Crawlitics or Survey Monkey? Let us know on Twitter and don’t be afraid to drop us a line as we’re all good eggs here at Neil Walker Digital!