9 Simple Steps to Set Up Social Media Tracking on Google Analytics

If you already use Google Analytics to track and analyze your website traffic, you know what a powerful tool it is. But did you know that you can also use it for social media tracking? You can, and it's easy to get this set up. Simply follow these steps (please note that these instructions do not apply to the new version of Google Analytics):

1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account.


2. Choose "Traffic Sources" from the left navigation bar.


3. From the upper, right hand side, select " Advanced Segments."


4. Click "Create a new advanced segment" (located under the Advanced Segment headline).


5. Select "Traffic Sources" from left hand navigation bar.


6. Drag the icon "Sources" from left navigation bar, and drop into the "dimension or metric" box.


7. For "condition," select "contains," and in the "value box" type in the social media site, i.e. Twitter.


8. Select "add or" to add another site, i.e. facebook.


9. When you're done, select a name and hit "Create Segment."

Google Analytics is now set up for social media tracking and analysis

Anytime you want to see these numbers just . .

1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account and select "View Report."


2. Select "Advanced Segments" located on the upper, right hand side.


3. Under "Custom Segments," check the "Social Media" box.


4. Hit "Apply."

This lets you view the social media traffic as well as the other segments you specify.

The Dashboard graph now shows the total social media traffic per day. The Content Overview and Content Report will give you the traffic for each page on your site.

Another option is to select "Advanced Segments" from the left hand navigation bar. This will take you to "Manage Advanced Segments" page. From there you can manage and view just the customized groups you created, in this case your social media traffic group.

With Google Analytics you have everything you need for your social media analysis.