Using analytics to guide your personal branding strategy
Data is used to make all kinds of decisions, and this holds true for your personal branding strategy. You need to ensure that you are collecting data to help guide the decisions you make when it comes to your personal brand. A starting point for this is to understand what analytics are and how to measure them.
First you may be wondering…“what are analytics?” We are going to focus on two different types: website analytics and social media analytics. According to Siteimprove (2019), “Web analytics monitor the way that users interact with your website through their behaviours and activities” (pg.1). While website analytics measure the way users interact with your website, social media analytics monitor the way users engage with your social channels.
See below a list of tips to help you measure the success of your personal brand:
Tip 1: Where to find them
Website:
Most website platforms have built in measurement dashboards on the back-end of their platform. To access the analytic tools specific to your website, simply Google “how to access analytics on [name of your website platform]”. That said, as you get more comfortable with analytics, we highly suggest that you setup and install Google Analytics tracking on your website platform as it will provide you with more accurate results and more actionable insights.
See here for a guide on how to setup and install Google analytics on your website platform.
Social:
Much like your website, most social platforms have built in measurement dashboards that give you access to your results from that specific channel. But, what happens if you are active on several social channels? Lucky for you, there are many free social analytic tools that span across platforms and offer deep insights. Check out this article by Netbase that not only walks you through social analytics, but gives you insights into 8 free platforms that give you more.
Tip 2: Metrics to get you started
You now know what analytics are and how to access them. But, how are you supposed to know which metrics are important? Remember the objectives you formed earlier? Well, this really depends on the objective of your personal brand.
To help get you started, below are some common metrics that are important to understand and measure:
- Neil Patel on basic web/Google analytics
- Sprout Social on basic social metrics
Additionally, as you become more of a webmaster, we highly recommend checking out the analytics courses offered through Google’s Skillshop to help you further develop your skills.
References:
Siteimprove. (2019, July 4). Web analytics and how to improve your website. Retrieved from https://siteimprove.com/en-ca/analytics/web-analytics/
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