Google Analytics 360

Google Analytics is one of the most powerful tools available and it's free. It's very simple to deploy as long as you have backend access to a website. I use Google Analytics on a daily basis to track website analytics, behavior flow, conversion, and goal tracking, and build custom marketing funnels. Google Data Studio is an excellent way to directly pull data from the tool and make a completely customized dashboard with the top metrics that you analyze on a consistent daily basis. The user management and ability to set permissions adds an extra layer of security and the integration with Google Ads and YouTube properties is seamless and makes real-time reporting very dynamic. What we can measure, we can ultimately improve.

Google Analytics sometimes reports Facebook analytics differently from the backend of Facebook Ads Manager. However, Google is getting a lot better with tracking user performance, not just cookies (especially for cross-device interactions). The courses for the Google Analytics certification and somewhat bulky - I wish there was a better way to track your coursework and more online video tutorial similar to how Facebook Blueprint has organized their free online courses. Google Analytics can seem very daunting to beginners but there are a lot of great resources available from Google for education and tutorials.

If you know what you are looking for--and how to find it again after Google makes approximately 300 changes and updates--Google Analytics can be exceptionally useful. In our business, it is extremely important to not only know that a given media product is working for the client, but also to be able to PROVE the success (or failure) of a product to the client. Our clients--the business owners and their staff--want to be sure that they are spending their money on advertising products that work. It is very easy to claim that, yes, this product is working for you, but it is another matter entirely to be SURE and to be able to prove that success. Google Analytics allows us to track digital interactions with the customer's website. Typically, our clients have no idea if their websites are seeing increases in customer traffic following advertising campaigns (such as television and radio), or if the digital ads placed are doing exactly what they should be doing.

While the concept behind Google Analytics is great, the actual execution leaves much to be desired, at least for me. Maybe I'm completely stupid (a fair assessment) or too Gen X and not Millennial enough to find Google Analytics easy to use. It surely doesn't help that it seems that the user dashboard/interface changes every time I use it. Knowing how to navigate through the various levels and sections of the monstrosity that is Google Analytics to find exactly what metrics are needed in any given situation is an artform--and I feel like I've only just mastered stick figures and maybe a smidge of finger-painting. In short, I'm not an artist.

For massive data driven and digital first businesses - Google 360 is a boon.

The most important part of it's platform isn't it's data but the familiarity new staff have with Google's other products - which makes staffing and training much easier than competitors.

The price is extreme and should only be considered when Google's other tools completely and no longer meet the needs of the business.

For many C-suite staff the granularity and complexity won't be required.