The post Imperative of Innovation from Matt Lehrman appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Here are the key points and questions, raised by a diverse array of arts and cultural organisations.
“Because they are us”
“Without them, there is no us”
“We need their applause”
“That they are appreciating the experience”
We consider the art is the most important thing but just as much, it should be about the engagement. Without a focus on people, on the combined artistic and audience agenda, we are the proverbial one hand clapping.
“Finding money”
“Finding ways to make it personal when you are dealing with a mass of people”
“Lack of diversity. That we talk to the same people all the time”
These are all valid concerns. But why are we not worried about innovation. Your organisation needs to take responsibility for innovation.
Is the perception “quality” and “value”? Your audience doesn’t just worry about it – they demand it. Quality and value are ubiquitous.
It is the narrative you need to make your organisation’s work meaningful and purposeful. Programmes like the Olympics or the X Factor don’t just show you the event. They show you the back-story, the personal journey. And, three minutes later you are emotionally invested.
When it comes to emotional investment, we all do great work in the moment itself. But you had to be there. What does it take for us to get the audience there in the first place? A postcard or an email with a URL isn’t enough. This won’t build emotional investment.
The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz talks about how if you give people too many choices they buy less and are less happy with what they buy. So, don’t send your customers everything. Help them with their discovery to make the link.
Audience development cannot just be delegated to the marketing department. Innovation requires all to work together. Read Matt’s blog to learn more his four audience types.
Too often enough we think of our audience having to come to us. For successful participation we must make ourselves relevant in their lives, where they are. Are we ensuring this social and emotional connection, expressing the narrative and keeping them entertained?
How will your organisation adapt or adjust to change? What is an option as a response?
From asking this question, options and opportunities that we hadn’t considered before will follow. We can’t think only about the work. Instead we must embrace new ideas of how we will engage differently in the arts. People don’t know what they want until YOU understand them so incredibly well that you can show it to them.
Want to hear the whole thing? This talk is also available as a podcast.
Join the Culture Republic family and benefit from a wealth of upcoming events, workshops and networking opportunities. Drop an email to our partnerships manager Ela. We’d love to discuss how we can help your organisation develop and grow, from practical skills building, funding applications to audience research data.
The post Imperative of Innovation from Matt Lehrman appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Archived: Asking the Right Questions – Intelligence Gathering for Cultural Organisations appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>
Culture Republic is bringing you a practical research workshop designed for arts and culture organisations, led by Clair Gilchrist, Research Director at Culture Republic.
This one-day workshop will equip you with the essential know-how to take control of your research needs and help your organisation earn more; understand what works and what doesn’t; and move forward with the confidence that comes from building a full, clear picture of your customer environment.
How much research does your organisation need? Do you have the right tools and skills to make the most of the research you have? Choosing methodologies; analysing information; monitoring and tracking performance over time and against targets are all part of the process – but could you be spending your time and money more wisely to deliver more for less? Could you be using research to predict audience behaviours and identify problems in advance? These are just some of the key questions which we will address in this workshop.
You’ll learn how to use research to improve organisational focus, prioritisation and decision making. Austerity has affected every arts and cultural organisation in different ways: we’ll explore ways of stopping old practices and introducing new ones that can make your organisation more efficient, better informed and better prepared for whatever change is on your horizon.
Previous experience of research projects is not necessary.
Who should attend?
• Large or small arts & cultural organisations
• Marketing and leadership teams
• Anyone who has questions about their audience or market and wants to know how to approach getting the answers
You will learn:
• The process of conducting research
• The principles to follow for your research project to have maximum impact
• What to do at each stage of the process
• The secondary sources available to you
• The options available to you for primary research
Feedback from previous sessions:
“This was a really great session, I came away feeling challenged but inspired. Appreciated it being delivered on home turf too, nice not to travel for excellence.”
“Even though we have a course of research in place there was still plenty to take out the session and I was able to get lots of ideas for developing what we are doing.”
Lunch will be provided.
Agenda
10.45 Registration & coffee
11.00 Introductions
11.15 Why research matters & critical success factors
Research planning
12.35 Lunch
13.05 Secondary research
Choosing methodologies
14.25 Break
14.40 Analysing Data
Applying Data
15.20 Discussion and wrap up
16.00 FINISH
Speaker
Clair Gilchrist is Research Director at Culture Republic, managing a wide-ranging portfolio of market intelligence projects, data analysis and research services.She is also the project manager for Culture Republic’s Creative Lives project which focuses on learning and participation in the cultural sector.
If you know others who should attend, please feel free to forward an invitation or tell them about this event.
FAQs
What can I bring to the event?
Please bring your own electrical devices for taking notes.
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
If you have any questions prior to the event please contact us on [email protected]
What is the refund policy?
We have a 48hr cancellation policy. If you are unable to attend the event please let us know 48hrs in advance of the event. After this time you will not be eligible for a refund.
The post Archived: Asking the Right Questions – Intelligence Gathering for Cultural Organisations appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Getting more from Google Analytics appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Google Analytics is a great way to help you grow your audience and generate new bookings, review your content strategy and provide insight into your campaigns. We all want to truly find our audience, Google Analytics can help. You should be using it daily, but are you? Make that change today, here are some handy tips:
Ever feel a bit left out of the conversation? Get to know the lingo – it’ll help you understand what GA can do and help you make informed decisions on what the key measures mean. I’ll start with two of the basic measures that often confuse people. Bounce vs. Exit rates.
Google Analytics is a great tool to measure the behaviour of people looking at your website. This is especially useful for your Newsletters. On Google Analytics: Click Behaviour – Site Content – All Pages. On All Pages you can search for keywords on your URL for a specified time period. You can drill down to what content is most popular on your site, what pages put people off, what is the average time spent on the page, how many unique visitors you’ve had. It’s golden information. Everyone has an idea about what content they think works for their audience, THIS IS YOUR EVIDENCE. It helps to shape content strategy going forward.
Top Tip – Give your URL pages unique names. E.g. If you are promoting ‘Google Analytics Advice’ have your URL as www.culturerepublic.co.uk/trends/googleanalyticsadvice (I’ll be checking open rates for this news piece and hope you don’t bounce or exit here, so don’t hurt my feelings :( ) not www.culturerepublic.co.uk/1234242 – this will help you to run a search for it on GA.
Goals will tell Google when something you wanted to happen actually happens. So your websites are likely to be used to generate leads, and/or ticket sales. If you have a website where you sell tickets, you’ll want to create a final thank you or confirmation booking page for visitors to land upon once they have completed a purchase. By setting up a goal to track the thank you page – you can tell as and when someone buys your tickets. Useful for finding out your key sale times and plan to promote events accordingly.
If you would like to find out more about Google Analytics, let’s talk at the Learning Week in November. I’d be happy to take a look at your site and give you some advice. Remember we are here for additional consultancy too. Contact us to discuss.
The post Getting more from Google Analytics appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Audience Engagement Trends video appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Culture Republic was invited to head up a session at The Space Day on Understanding Audience Engagement. Watch Board Member Colan Mehaffey‘s talk in the video above.
The talk looked at three key trends in online audience engagement that are relevant across all sectors of business:
Using data can help you understand your audiences better and build stronger connections. If you want to learn more about this topic or work with us to measure your online impact get in touch. We’re here to help.
The Space Day took place in Edinburgh on 23 August 2016. Billed as a day for creative professionals to explore opportunities of technological and digital developments across arts platforms, it was an opportunity to explore innovations in production, distribution, audience engagement and creative practice.
The event was a co-production between The Space and the BBC Academy. It was supported in part by Creative Scotland and was part of the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival.
Check out the conversation and the highlights from the event on #TheSpaceDay.
The post Audience Engagement Trends video appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Archived: August First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Google Analytics is an incredibly useful tool in analysing digital marketing, website performance and user behaviours. It can be the single most important element of any online activity, helping you decide whether you should tweet more than you email, promote phone numbers more than email address, or even reword content to focus on males more than females … but before you can get that level of data, you need to ensure it’s set up properly!
This First Wednesday session aims to look at both ends of the tracking spectrum, from helping ensure you’ve various settings and tracking in place for better quality traffic, to discussing conversions and the impact they can have on your analysis.
A lot to squeeze into a short session, but Brian Tait from Aillum will be joining us to walk us through the initial setup of analytics, and to discuss the importance of conversions, allowing you to leave with the confidence to go and explore analytics more on your own.
Topics covered will include:
• Google Analytics code – Getting it on your site
• Initial setup of Webmaster Tools and Tag Manager
• Basic Reporting and Access Setup
• Conversion Tracking – The Why and the What
Free Google Analytics Health Check
As part of this First Wednesday, Culture Republic is giving attendees who have provided us with Read & Analyze access to their organisation’s Google Analytics account a free ‘health report’ for their main website, checking for core Google Analytics fundamentals, such as:
• Do you have the latest Google Analytics code installed, and is it in the correct place?
• Are you filtering out your own traffic?
• Have you activated Site Search, Demographics and Webmaster Tools?
• Are you tracking form fills, clicks on phone numbers and any other conversion points?
If you have not provided Culture Republic with Read and Analyze access to your organisation’s Google Analytics account and wish to do so and receive a free ‘health report’, please get in touch with us on [email protected] and we will send you the relevant instructions.
Who should attend?
An essential session for digital and marketing managers and officers, and anyone who needs to be doing more with Analytics.
AGENDA
12.15 – Arrival, brown bag lunch
12.30 – Welcome & introduction
12.35 – Partners introduction round the room
12.40 – Brian Tait, Aillum
14.00 – End
BRIAN TAIT, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR, AILLUM
Brian is a self-described ‘web data geek’ – helping people understand what to track online, how to track it, how to monitor it, how to interpret what they’ve tracked, how to test theories established through tracking and, perhaps importantly, helping them towards a level where they can do it themselves!
A mixture of involvement in web development, organic search, paid search, social media, email marketing, PR, banner ads, affiliates and more led him to the conclusion that what people actually need is data, and an understanding of how to use that data.
Brian’s interest is in real data that you can use to make objective decisions about the development of your business online; to determine where to focus your time and to better understand where to focus your budget.
ABOUT FIRST WEDNESDAYS
Some of the most stimulating sessions take place when there’s the opportunity to step away from the pressure of a busy job, get together with colleagues and share learning.
That’s why we host ‘First Wednesdays’ – a series of topical, bite-sized information sessions taking place on the first Wednesday of each month.
They are an open invitation each month for our Partners and industry colleagues to regularly drop in our offices to keep up to date with ideas and examples of useful practice we’ve gathered from across the country.
It might be as simple as hearing how other people have successfully tackled the same challenges you face building profitable customer relationships and wider public engagement or learning about the raft of new tools or approaches emerging daily.
Our goal is to inspire fresh thinking, expand current networks and focus on the Most Important Thing … to build new audiences and greater engagement.
If you can’t join us in person, why not sign up for a periscope registration. You will be able to tune in remotely so you can still hear from our speakers from wherever you are!
Join the conversation #1stWed
FAQs
What can I bring to the event?
Please bring your own device for getting online.
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
If you have any questions prior to the event please contact us on [email protected]
The post Archived: August First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Archived: June First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Do you want to know more about how you can connect data from your CRM, ticketing and email systems to improve your organisation’s marketing and communications?
In this First Wednesday session, Cameron Leask will join us from digital specialists Escrivo to focus on how arts organisations can work with multiple sources of audience and customer data, and discuss ways you can integrate them to build a more coherent, overall approach to your marketing and communications.
Starting with a simple model for thinking about your digital audience touch points, Cameron will cover how data can be moved and related between systems. This will be an interactive session so please bring a knowledge of your existing systems for collecting and managing data, and be prepared to ask lots of questions!
At this session we will look at:
Why you should attend?
This First Wednesday is ideal for anyone using these systems – Marketing & Communications Managers, Digital Marketers, Fundraisers, Operations and Box Office Managers – who want to understand their audience and customer data better, how they integrate and as a result improve their organisations’ marketing and communications.
AGENDA
12.15 – Arrival, brown bag lunch
12.30 – Welcome & introduction
12.35 – Partners introduction round the room
12.45 – Cameron Leask, Escrivo
13.45 – Q&A
14.00 – End
Meet our speaker – Cameron Leask from Escrivo
With over 20 years of professional experience as a Digital Business advisor, Cameron’s skillset spans the worlds of business and technology. He has worked on an extensive range of ecommerce platforms, digital projects and business systems, from web-based applications for a global audience to simple microsites, webpages and PayPal buttons. He has worked with clients in multiple sectors, and with organisations of every size from owner-managed businesses to global enterprises, including BBC, BskyB, GE Capital, Ted Baker, Transport for London and many others.
In 2002 Cameron founded digital agency Escrivo Internet Consulting, where he leads a niche team of ecommerce developers. Equally at home talking about low-level technology or high-level strategy, Cameron brings his experience and a pragmatic approach to every engagement, helping clients embrace and implement ecommerce solutions for business growth and development.
ABOUT FIRST WEDNESDAYS
Some of the most stimulating sessions take place when there’s the opportunity to step away from the pressure of a busy job, get together with colleagues and share learning.
That’s why we are hosting ‘First Wednesdays’ – a series of topical, bite-sized information sessions taking place on the first Wednesday of each month.
They are an open invitation each month for our Partners and industry colleagues to regularly drop in our offices to keep up to date with ideas and examples of useful practice we’ve gathered from across the country.
It might be as simple as hearing how other people have successfully tackled the same challenges you face building profitable customer relationships and wider public engagement or learning about the raft of new tools or approaches emerging daily.
Our goal is to inspire fresh thinking, expand current networks and focus on the Most Important Thing … to build new audiences and greater engagement.
If you can’t join us in person, why not sign up for a periscope registration. You will be able to tune in remotely so you can still hear from our speakers from wherever you are!
Join the conversation #1stWed
FAQs
What can I bring to the event?
Please bring your own electrical devices to take notes.
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
If you have any questions prior to the event please contact us on [email protected]
What is the refund policy?
We have a 48hr cancellation policy. If you are unable to attend the event please let us know 48hrs in advance of the event. After this time you will not be eligible for a refund.
The post Archived: June First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Archived: May First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that layers digital content such as 3D animation, video or sound on to an existing reality to make it more meaningful and potentially interactive. Developed into apps and used on mobile devices, AR has a wide range of applications and is used by industries such as retail and manufacturing to enhance product information or customer experience. In the cultural sector, there are great examples of how AR is being used in physical spaces such as cities, museums and woodlands to bring the past to life (Street Museum and Street Museum Londinium at the Museum of London and Casa Batllo in Barcelona), to collaborate creatively with young people (Impact Arts & National Museum of Scotland), and to augment live theatre at Monikie Country Park (Dragon Quest).
AR is being used to improve business, experience and marketing for organisations worldwide, large and small, and it needn’t be expensive. In this First Wednesday, Trevor Jones and David Oxley of CreativTek will discuss how some organisations are benefiting from AR and how you can easily begin to use it too. They will also demonstrate their cost-effective AR solution ‘Creativmuse’ for individuals and organisations looking to better connect with their audiences and ultimately increase engagement and/or sales.
What will we be covering
• What is AR and what can it do?
• Why is AR such a hot topic now in the marketing world?
• Who is effectively using AR?
• How can your organisation employ AR to increase its audience and improve customer experience?
• Case Study
• Getting started with Creativmuse
• Q&A
Why should you attend:
Whatever sector you work in, AR has the power to improve your customer relationships and to drive engagement and revenue. AR provides opportunities to understand your audience better through trackable results and analytics. So if you’re interested in finding out more about augmented reality, want to see a practical demonstration of an AR app, find out how AR could work for your organisation, increase participation and revenue, enrich visitor and audience experience and add a layer of storytelling that connects, then this First Wednesday is for you. Ideal for marketers, educators, curators and programmers.
Agenda
12.15 – Arrival, brown bag lunch
12.30 – Welcome & introduction
12.35 – Partners introduction round the room
12.40 – Trevor Jones and David Oxley, CreativTek
13.45 – Q&A
14.00 – End
Meet our speaker:
TREVOR JONES – Creativetek Marketing and Business Development
Trevor graduated from Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art with an MA Fine Art in 2008. He has paintings in national and international art collections and has a keen understanding of the contemporary art market. Trevor was Director of Art in Healthcare, a Scottish national charity, for 7 years until stepping down in 2015 to focus on his art career. He enjoys exploring how new technology can be used to more actively engage the viewer and it was this passion for art and tech that helped bring together his partnership with David Oxley and the forming of CreativTek .
DAVID OXLEY – Creativtek System Development
David formed his first company Numeriq in 2004 offering consultancy, training, and mentoring in website development, database systems, and e-commerce. He has years of experience in bringing disparate technologies together in order to create something new. An MSC in Multimedia Technology from Napier University led him to working on some of the world’s first online music initiatives and he’s been building e-commerce systems ever since as well as teaching related courses to lecturers and business professionals.
Overall, David has more than 12 years’ experience of pioneering solutions for online content management/delivery and leads the app development and server-side code technology of Creativmuse.
ABOUT FIRST WEDNESDAYS
Some of the most stimulating sessions take place when there’s the opportunity to step away from the pressure of a busy job, get together with colleagues and share learning.
That’s why we are hosting ‘First Wednesdays’ – a series of topical, bite-sized information sessions taking place on the first Wednesday of each month.
They are an open invitation each month for our Partners and industry colleagues to regularly drop in to our offices to keep up to date with ideas and examples of useful practice we’ve gathered from across the country.
It might be as simple as hearing how other people have successfully tackled the same challenges you face building profitable customer relationships and wider public engagement or learning about the raft of new tools or approaches emerging daily.
Our goal is to inspire fresh thinking, expand current networks and focus on the Most Important Thing … to build new audiences and greater engagement.
If you can’t join us in person, why not sign up for a periscope registration. You will be able to tune in remotely so you can still hear from our speakers from wherever you are!
Join the conversation #1stWed
FAQs
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
If you have any questions prior to the event please contact us on [email protected]
The post Archived: May First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post The recipe for success in 140 characters appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>So, we all know it’s important to have a presence on the platform but how do you make the most of your tweets and ensure your content is heard above everyone else’s? For the first in our series of Know How events we invited Stephanie Lindsay, Head of Marketing at Dog, to show us how.
Here, we’ve summarised some of Stephanie’s guidance on creating engaging tweets and planning ahead for an effective Twitter strategy. We’ve also included some examples from Scotland’s cultural sector to illustrate Stephanie’s advice:
Increasing engagement
Getting your message across in 140 characters can be tough but Stephanie recommended keeping it even shorter. According to Twitter, tweets of less than 100 characters perform better than longer ones. Images, videos and links will also help you to stand out in people’s feeds and boost your engagement. In fact you’re 35 percent more likely to be retweeted if you include a photo. Using popular hashtags is another great way to spread your message further. But don’t use too many or you’ll create too much clutter and risk annoying followers – keep it to no more than three per tweet.
This tweet from Glasgow Tramway, which generated close to 300 retweets and 253 likes, is a great example of how to do a lot in under 100 characters. The message is clear and succinct. They’ve also included an eye-catching image and have used two well established hashtags, bringing in an even wider audience:
#TurnerPrize 2015.. The winner is assemble… Congratulations from #Glasgow pic.twitter.com/COLQxIUIsZ
— Glasgow Tramway (@GlasgowTramway) December 7, 2015
Unlike some other social media platforms, such as Facebook, the more you post the better. Because Twitter is so fast-paced, you can share more on it. Stephanie advocated tweeting at least 3 – 8 times a day. She also said that we shouldn’t be afraid to duplicate tweets as 90 percent of all engagement happens in the 60 minutes of a tweet’s life. If your tweet doesn’t get any engagement in the first hour it probably won’t get any at all. In this instance Stephanie suggested rewording it slightly and resending it at a later time.
Content Planning
To ensure that you have an interesting and active Twitter feed you need to think in advance and schedule in a content plan ahead of time. The first thing is to identify your audience. Stephanie stressed the need to think about the people you’re currently communicating with, as well as those you aspire to talk to. Use analytics to find out what your followers are interested in, where they come from and how they engage with Twitter. Then use this information to inform your planning.
You should also set some objectives. What are the products, events or activities you want to raise awareness of? When planning your content themes it’s also crucial to consider what your target audiences are interested in and what they want to know from you. Stephanie recommended thinking about seasonal themes and how you can tap into them too. Check out our recent blog on marketing calendars for some useful resources to help with this.
Last year Edinburgh Book Festival planned ahead to make the most of the festive period with a “12 books of Christmas” give-away on Twitter. The competition incentive helped to generate 364 retweets:
DAY3 of our 12 Books of Christmas comp! Flw + RT before 5pm to win Robert Douglas-Fairhurst's The Story of Alice pic.twitter.com/OUArnqHV5s
— Edinburgh Book Fest (@edbookfest) December 3, 2015
Whilst it’s good to plan ahead as much as possible you can’t prepare for everything. Stephanie emphasised that Twitter needs to be reactive and spontaneous too. You’ll have to develop content in reaction to feedback and questions from your followers too. Interacting with your online audiences is a great way of saying thanks for their support and encouraging their loyalty.
In this example Scottish Book Trust reacted quickly to the news of David Bowie’s death:
David Bowie's top 100 books. Another gift left behind on earth by a truly great artist: https://t.co/gDh9tqYN9a. pic.twitter.com/FmAjSBpycf
— Scottish Book Trust (@scottishbktrust) January 11, 2016
This tweet resulted in an impressive 836 retweets and 1,495 likes. Importantly, Scottish Book Trust managed to become part of the wider conversation on Twitter in a way that was relevant to their brand and followers.
Our Know How series continues on Tuesday 22 March with a practical, hand-on session exploring podcast production. Led by expert trainers from Inner Ear this session will show you how to use podcasts as an effective tool to captivate your audience.
And don’t forget we’re here to help. If you’re looking to measure the reach and impact of your social media activity, or want to identify who your online audiences are get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
The post The recipe for success in 140 characters appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post Is your website working hard enough? February’s First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>First Wednesdays are monthly training and networking sessions for Culture Republic’s Partner network. This month we explored how to improve website efficiency. Brian highlighted the importance of tracking your own data. This is the best way to measure your website’s performance. Your own data will provide meaningful insight into potential issues and highlight opportunities for change and growth, as well as help establish a benchmark from which improvements should occur.
In this event summary we’ve focused on three challenges that organisations regularly come up against, how you can address these issues and some cost-effective tools to help:
One of the most common reasons for organisations wanting to redesign their website is that their current version doesn’t rank high enough in Google.
There’s often a significant difference between what you think people are searching for, and what they’re actually searching for. You need to understand the difference before you can judge if your site is working.
Webmaster Tools (for either Google or Bing) are useful for identifying what users are really searching for. Free and easy to set-up, these tools help you monitor and maintain your site’s presence on search engines. They provide Click, Impression and Ranking information on keywords.
At Culture Republic we have seen a growth in mobile traffic over the past three years and it is on the rise. Our recent research into digital use in the arts sector, however, found that 47% of websites were not optimised for mobile browsing.
When it comes to mobile optimisation Brian suggested that the best place to start is simply to better understand how your website currently performs on mobile devices. Google Analytics will give you a good overview of this. Use the data available to you to provide objective input and to help prioritise any changes.
Brian recommended a range of tools that you can then use to make your site faster and more responsive. For example, you can check if your website is fast enough for mobile using GTmetrix or Google Developers. Both these free tools summarise how your site is performing and give guidance on how to make improvements. Simple changes, such as resizing an image or altering landing pages, can make a big difference.
It can be frustrating if users don’t engage with the site as you want them to. How do you make users read the right content, click the correct links or purchase tickets? Brian advocated considering exactly what you want users to do, and then eliminating any obstacles. This will be easier than developing a perfect solution.
There are lots of affordable tools to help you better understand your users’ behaviour. Crazy Egg, for example, generates a heat map based on the click behaviour of website visitors. This gives you a much better understanding of how people engage with your website and will help you to identify what works and what doesn’t.
Don’t forget that if you’re looking to revamp your website we can help. Get in touch for more information.
Follow us on Twitter @Culture_Public and join in the conversation with the hashtag #1stWed. You can also reach out to Brian @taitbw
The post Is your website working hard enough? February’s First Wednesday appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>The post How to REALLY use Google Analytics appeared first on Culture Republic.
]]>Keep your data clean:
It’s important to filter out your own IP address and any Spam Traffic. This ensures that your analytics are an accurate reflection of your website’s reach and impact. If you don’t you’ll be measuring irrelevant visits to your site and important stats, such as Bounce Rates and Conversions, will become skewed.
Make it easier for yourself:
Google Analytics has lots of features that make it easier for you to find, and make sense of, data that’s relevant to you. Dashboards, for example, provide a single page overview of your key reports so you can quickly visualise the data. They’re straight-forward to create and customisable so you can set them up for what matters most to you.
Annotations are another simple way of ensuring your data is easily understandable. This function allows you to mark notes on your analytics showing when important events took place, such as an email campaign or a website outage. This means that when you look back over time you’ll be able to attribute any spikes or dips in your traffic to those specific events.
Dig into your data:
Within Google Analytics you can also drill-down further to get more detailed analysis. Secondary Dimensions, for instance, are a simple to use filter that instantly puts more context on your data. You can also segment your data to isolate and compare different users, or set up custom reports from scratch to get a greater breakdown of data. There’s a wealth of detailed audience information available once you know how to find it.
Do more with your data:
There’s not much point collecting and analysing all these figures if you don’t then use them to inform your marketing strategy. There are lots of functions within Google Analytics that can help you with this. You can set-up and track specific events, goals or transactions, allowing you to measure website engagement in relation to your business objectives. You can even assign monetary value to your goals giving you a more tangible way of measuring changes and improvements on your site. By tracking interactions in this way you will identify the high value content on your website, meaning you can make informed decisions about how you spend your time.
Brian emphasised that whilst the amount of information available on Google Analytics might seem overwhelming at first, it’s worth pursuing as the possibilities are endless!
If you would like support with your website tracking, or are looking to develop your website and don’t know where to start, get in touch.
The post How to REALLY use Google Analytics appeared first on Culture Republic.
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