How To Prepare for Google Analytics 4

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This episode is presented by Instil, a nonprofit platform built to leverage the power of modern technology to help nonprofits do their best work. Instil holistically manages supporters including donors, members, and volunteers to deepen nonprofit connections with their community, increase revenue, and maximize impact. Learn more here. Is your CRM working for you? Join me at my FREE webinar with Instil on September 28th where you’ll learn how to audit your existing CRM technology and understand what features are important to have.

I can’t stress the importance of having access to data AND understanding your data to drive important business decisions. So that’s why I’m bringing on SEO and marketing expert Pri Kruijen who has spent over 15 years working across a ton of different marketing disciplines.

Pri and I go deep today on what exactly data-driven marketing is, the 3 essential questions you have to ask yourself when reviewing your data, and what you must know about the new Google Analytics tool, GA4.

Ready to nerd out with me? Let’s do it!

Pri’s SEO journey and the nuts and bolts of data-driven marketing 

Pri Kruijen’s journey, as you might imagine, wasn’t linear. She remembers working for a startup in 2009 where she was blogging on Blogspot and swapping banner ads with other websites to build traffic and momentum. The world of SEO was wildly different then (and a lot spammier!) then it is today.

Then, she fell into the corporate world and crushed it, winning several awards, all the while juggling her done-for-you SEO consulting business on the site. Eventually, she hit burnout.

The reality is, that running a business can be hard, but here’s the good news: once you start using data in your business, you’ll probably realize you can cut out at least 70-80% of what you’re doing (!!) because it’s not making a return on your investment.

Let’s imagine you’re launching a holiday giving campaign without ANY data-driven marketing. Talk about chaos, right? But if you’re paying close attention to the data, you can use it to make changes in real-time that get you powerful results.

For example, if you notice that your organic Instagram content isn’t performing well, at that moment, you can pivot quickly and focus all of your energy on paid ads. 

Stop paying attention to vanity metrics (they won’t impact your bottom line!)

Vanity metrics are stats that we measure that we think actually matter, like how many followers we have on Instagram, or how many subscribers are signed up for our email list.

But here’s the truth – these stats don’t impact our business in the way we think they do.

Let’s take Instagram followers for example. It’s easy to get caught up in the number of followers we have (or even the number of followers we don’t have), but these numbers don’t actually mean anything.

Our followers could be a mixture of bots, competitors, people spying on you, or even someone who followed you by mistake.

Instead, look at your engagement metrics. How many likes, saves, shares, and comments did you get on a post? And from there, let that inform your content calendar going into the next month.

Pri shares some questions we can ask ourselves to know that we’re paying attention to the right metrics:

1. What is the business decision that I can make from this metric? 
2. What is this data actually telling me? 
3. Is the data telling me the truth?

And for even more on vanity metrics, check out Pri’s blog post, Are Vanity Metrics Ruining Your Business?

From Google Universal Analytics to the new and improved GA4

How often do you look at your organization’s analytics? Do you find them to be confusing or intimidating?

If so, you’re not alone. You’re going to love the new changes coming to Google Analytics in 2023.

For one, Google Analytics will no longer be an out-of-the-box platform filled with hundreds of stats that aren’t useful. Instead, we’re going to be able to powerfully customize our dashboard so we can see our own daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual measurement goals in sight. 

Plus? There are some amazing new additions when it comes to privacy. We’ve all seen iOS and Chrome offer more privacy options (think incognito browsers or allowing your data to not be tracked) that can lead to huge holes in our data story.

But with the new GA update, Google’s AI technology will fill in the missing percentage! Pri shares as an example, if you can only track 70% of your data, the machine will be able to learn the trends and give you that remaining 30%. There’s also features built-in that will share how many people you can expect to buy from you in 28 days. 

SO fascinating. Pri warns it may come with a steep learning curve as you learn the new platform, but it’ll be worth it. 

NOTE: Since the recording of this episode, Pri has decided to close the doors on her business and go in-house at an agency. If you’re interested in getting set up with GA, let me know as I can point you to some resources!

Pri’s Ask

Pri would love for us to spread the word about this podcast episode so she can make an even deeper impact and continue sharing her message about measurement marketing. Share what you’ve learned and how it can help other people. 

Notable Quotes from Pri

“Running a business is such a big self-development journey, and there are so many barriers and mindset issues that you have to work through. And I didn’t realize how much data-driven marketing can help you stop from gaslighting yourself.”

“If you understand the energetics, we’ve got the masculine, which is the doing – it’s very strategic. And then you’ve got the feminine, which is very in flow. You need that masculine shell to flow in your business. ‘What am I doing?’ ‘Why am I doing it?’ ‘Where’s the strategy behind it?’ And then the intuition really falls into ‘when am I doing it?’ Because if I’m constantly just in my feminine, I know that I will end up worrying about things or second guessing myself.”

Resources & Links

Is your CRM working for you? Join me at my FREE webinar with Instil on September 28th where you’ll learn how to audit your existing CRM technology and understand what features are important to have.

Learn more about Pri on her website. You can also check out her blog post, Are Vanity Metrics Ruining Your Business? 

Pri recommends GTmetrix and PageSpeed Insights to understand how well our websites are optimized for desktop and mobile. 

Check out Jenna Kutcher’s podcast episode, No One Ever Told You This About Your Period and follow Pri’s favorite Instagram account, @monicayateshealth, for more on this subject.Want to make Missions to Movements even better? Take a screenshot of this episode and share it on Instagram. Be sure to tag @positivequation so I can connect with you.