One of the best outcomes of my annual 3-Day Walk for the Cure is the great guest posts I receive from my writing chums.

Sharon Hurley Hall is my long lost twin (in so many ways), but in one way, we are quite different.

• When I write Techie Tips, they are so basic they make IT professionals weep
• Sharon, on the other hand, is a Techie aficionado
• And she knows her stuff

I was thrilled when Sharon offered a guest post on analytics for improving communication. I was not surprised Sharon’s post taught me a thing or two.

And it isn’t that techie. I love that.

Get your favorite brew, put up your feet, and enjoy Sharon’s excellent post.

4 Analytics Metrics That Improve Communication

By Sharon Hurley Hall

Are you using analytics software to help your business communication strategy?  Most people think of analytics as a way to measure web traffic, but if that’s all you do with it, you’re missing a trick – or several.

Here are some examples of how the information available in Google Analytics and other analytics packages could help you.

1. Identify the Audience

One thing you’ll see in your analytics reports is the country of origin of most of your web visitors. Dig a little deeper and you can get information on how many people come from particular cities or towns. This is useful to help you:

• figure out whether you are really communicating with the people you think you are talking to or whether they come from somewhere else.
• create targeted content for the key localities (which can also be useful in offline communication.

Instead of guessing who you’re speaking to, you will know for sure, and that’s a big help in creating targeted business communication.

2. Track Referrals

Your communication strategy is multi-pronged and if you’re keeping up with the times, it probably includes some form of content marketing. Whether you’re guest blogging, writing white papers or giving away resources on your own site, looking into referral traffic will help you see if other sites are sending traffic your way.

It’s a good way to:

• find out if your guest blog posts are making people click through to your site.
• figure out whether your landing page copy is converting.
• refine your marketing content for both online and offline communication.

3. Get Techie

You can’t escape technology – and it’s become more important than ever. An analytics report will tell you in exhaustive detail about the technology your visitors are using.

Depending on the software, you track everything from desktop monitor screen size to browser type to mobile device.

Here are a couple of examples of how having this information can help you:

• Mobile ready –You discover that 30% of your visitors are browsing your site with a smartphone, but, shock horror, you don’t have a site enabled for mobile and when you check your downloadable white paper on your own phone you realize that it’s virtually unreadable on a small screen. The analytics data gives you a clear signal about how you need to change your content delivery options to meet the needs of your customers.
• Image size – Or, going old school for a minute, you are wondering about the best size for the images you plan to use in a pillar blog post that will stamp your authority on your niche. A look into the analytics data shows that most visitors are using large monitors, which means you can use full size images if you wish. (There are page load issues with large images, but that’s another issue you can troubleshoot with analytics.)

As you can see, understanding the technology helps you understand your visitor, which is an important first step in communicating appropriately.

4. Get Social

How is the content you are distributing resonating with your social audience?

Google Analytics has a newish social report that shows what content is shared via key social sites.

• Key audience –whether the content you most want to promote is being shared by your key audience.
• Influencers –whether any influencers are sharing your content (you won’t find this in Google Analytics, but once you know the content is shared, you can use Twitter, Facebook or Google+ search to see who’s shared it and what the response was)
• Social media friendly – if you need to tweak your communication so it’s more social media friendly.

Overall, analytics data can be a powerful way to find out how people interact with what you publish online and what resonates with them most.

So don’t let your eyes glaze over the next time the IT manager goes through the analytics stats.

Use it as a chance to find out more about how your content strategy is working and get your business communication right.

BigStock Photo Credit

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Author bio:

Self-confessed word nerd and polymath Sharon Hurley Hall has the perfect job – as a professional writer and blogger. Sharon has also worked as a journalist, a college professor (teaching journalism, of course), an editor and a ghostwriter in a career spanning 25 years.

She’s often spotted hanging around on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook. Sharon enjoys helping other writers achieve success through her writer mentoring blog, Get Paid to Write Online.

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I am participating in my 10th 60-mile, 3-Day Walk for the Cure in San Diego. While my feet are slapping the pavement, my writer pals deliver great guest posts. Please give them lots of Comment love.

I return back to the blog the week of November 26 – just in time for Thanksgiving.