Google just realized a study conducted with Forrester Appraising Investments in Enterprise Web Analytics.
The big (yawn) conclusion, is that most enterprises are using or considering using "free" analytics -- i.e. Google Analytics. But from our perspective, given that we have been saying this ourselves for years --- the most important insight is this one:
Our point is this. There's a new tool released every week. Some are free, some cost money and some are a combination of the two.. All of them do the same thing -- reduce the blogosphere/twitter/social media to a giant bucket of words, pull out the relevant ones, count them. and produce some attractive charts and graphs. NONE of them measure reputation, relationships, brand health, brand strength or anything else. In order to figure out what works and what doesn't; where your money is better spent, where you're getting the best ROI, you need a sapient human, familiar with your goals and objectives that can look at those numbers and charts and draw some conclusions and make recommendations.
The big (yawn) conclusion, is that most enterprises are using or considering using "free" analytics -- i.e. Google Analytics. But from our perspective, given that we have been saying this ourselves for years --- the most important insight is this one:
Companies are recognizing that analysts drive insights, not the analytics tool itself. According to the study, "sixty percent of decision-makers agree that investments in web analytics people are more valuable than investments in web analytics technology." This is in-line with Avinash Kaushik's 10/90 rule for web analytics success: invest 10% of your analytics budget on the actual technology and 90% of your budget in the people who deliver actionable insight, whether in-house analysts, agencies, or vendor partners. It's the people that matter.
Our point is this. There's a new tool released every week. Some are free, some cost money and some are a combination of the two.. All of them do the same thing -- reduce the blogosphere/twitter/social media to a giant bucket of words, pull out the relevant ones, count them. and produce some attractive charts and graphs. NONE of them measure reputation, relationships, brand health, brand strength or anything else. In order to figure out what works and what doesn't; where your money is better spent, where you're getting the best ROI, you need a sapient human, familiar with your goals and objectives that can look at those numbers and charts and draw some conclusions and make recommendations.
I love the key message that your post makes that most people forget about these days. And that is to value people themselves. With the extensive facilities that technology can offer us, it is people that we deal with at the end of the day. To make sense of technology we need people to turn numbers into concepts that humans can relate to. I am glad that for my PR program we value this idea and it is something I can reflect on in my blog as well (http://ayeshasattarblog.wordpress.com/) as part of my course work.
Posted by: Ayesha | March 11, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Hi,
Google is bringing new and innovative changes in it, which is very helpful for everyone. With the help of this innovation, creating a custom report will not be a big deal. You have shared good information on Google Analytics.
I totally agree with you that Google Analytic is only a tool, it will only work if a person has the expertise to use it.
A SWOT analysis
Posted by: SWOT Analysis | January 28, 2010 at 05:26 AM
Hi,
This is really great work. Thank you for sharing such a useful piece of information here in the blog.
Professional Business Plan
Posted by: Professional Business Plan | November 02, 2009 at 07:12 AM
I agree. You can have as many online tools as possible, but without the expertise to take the information and turn it into a real time solution, it is a waste. I would personally rather have a great one on one with a qualified analyst then to sit in front of the PC and look at pages and pages of metrics from Google Analytics. Great Article
Posted by: Brian | October 25, 2009 at 09:52 PM
You're right on with this. It's been one of my issues. I'll buy the tools b/c I know I need much better tracking, but because I'm not inclined to use them personally they go wasted.
So I know finding an employee or VA who's is prone to tracking and good at it and then giving them the tools is the answer.
You voiced a good frustration of mine. Thanks
Posted by: Brad | October 08, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Fully agree,
On our end we try to focus on influencers and "attention" brands get from influencers and community.
We also focus on bringing productivity in building relations / attention rather than automation.
Automated "anything" is, to us, counter productive when it comes to building relationships.
People don't socialize with algorithms ;-)
One of the challenge in breaking from the "keywords logic" is that people are used to Google and "Search Engines". Itis a paradigm shift to move from "every mention on my brand" towards "share of mind & attention" in a specific community.
Here is a link to reports that are built with our solution: http://www.slideshare.net/domlah/amazon-industry-influencers-report
Best
Posted by: dominiq | October 07, 2009 at 06:52 AM