Today is all about numbers! There are so many numbers and analytics out there. So, I will be breaking down the ones you NEED to know on Google Analytics, Pinterest, and Instagram! The reason why you need to know where and how your visitors find you is simple – it can help you make your wedding business even better. You will be able to make informed decisions about different aspects of your business and decide which are the ones that need more attention and which are those that aren’t bringing the results. The more you know about your analytics, the better your marketing will be! 

Google Analytics Numbers

Google Analytics is a free tool created by Google that tracks your website traffic.  Once it is installed on your website, the Google Analytics tracking code sends information to Analytics every time a visitor loads a page on your website. This is hands down the most important metric you need to know! While social media is important, your website is the real client journey.

There are so many things you can find in Google Analytics – and I know it can be overwhelming. So these are the top items I want you to focus on!

Pages Visited

This will show you what pages are being looked at, as well as what blog posts are being visited. This will show you which pages are the most popular, and which blogs are the most popular!

You can get to it by going to Behavior →  Site Content →  All Pages.

Top Channels

This lets you see which channels are getting you the most website traffic.

Organic search: AKA SEO. This is when someone finds your website using a keyword.

Social: This is traffic from your social media channels like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Paid: This is traffic from paid ads you have.

Direct: Traffic from someone directly typing your website in the browser.

You can find this info by going to Acquisition → All Traffic →  Channels.

Social Traffic

This lets you see what social media channels your users are coming to your website from. This will let you know what you can focus on and what you can improve. This is how we let our clients know what the best social strategy is for them. Oftentimes, they assume it’s Instagram, but sometimes it’s not!

Find this info at Acquisition → All Traffic →  Channels → Social.

Geographic Location

This lets you see where your website users are based, so you can see if you are targeting the right cities and states! This also lets you see if you are getting a lot of clients from another city. 

This may mean that your keywords need to be adjusted. This data is also important when you want to target specific locations (city, state, country, etc.) and get more visitors from there.

This information is at Audience → Location → Geo.

Pinterest Numbers

First things first – you need to have a business account to access analytics! If you have Pinterest, you need it to be a business account. Your Pinterest is to target your ideal audience NOT to share recipes and random pins.

Impressions and total audience are vanity metrics. They look nice, but I want you to look past those and look at these three top numbers!

Quick note: Pinterest updated its algorithm and analytics earlier this year. So, if you had a month with a huge drop, from January to May, this happened to everyone! I went from 1500 outbound clicks to 50 overnight. I had clients go from 1.2 million views to 250,000 overnight. This happened to almost everyone, so don’t panic! These will go back up.

Outbound Clicks 

These used to be called link clicks, but the name changed in January. Outbound clicks represent the number of clicks to your destination URL. AKA who liked your pin enough to click and read more! This is hands down one of the most important numbers.

Pin Clicks

These used to be called “Closeups.” Pin clicks represent when people click on your Pin to learn more. So, they didn’t leave Pinterest to view more, but they clicked to learn more. This lets you see what people are engaging with and find ways to get them to click to visit your website. Do you need to update the title? The description? These analytics helps you figure that out.

Top 3 Pins

Make sure to check out your top 3 pins and see which have the most outbound links! This will tell you what is trending for you, and what graphic pins are working. This is how you can easily test out different pin designs and blog images, and check monthly what are the most popular with your audience.

The Trends Page 

This is one of the most underused features! Pinterest tells you exactly what your audience is looking for, and what is trending! For example, “Wedding Planning” spiked in January, took a dip in February, and then spiked the weekend after Valentine’s Day. This month, it is spiking up again!

Instagram Numbers

Just like Pinterest, you need a business account. Instagram analytics are the best way to understand who your audience is, when they’re most active, and what type of content they engage with the most. 

Active Time

I get asked all the time: “When should I post on IG?” and the answer is: Whenever your audience is on there! You can see what days and times your audience is on Instagram. By posting when your audience is most active, you’ll give your posts the best chance for success. Your followers are more likely to comment, like, or share your posts. The more engagement you get, the more you make the algorithm happy, which means your posts will have more reach.

Saves

This is just that – a user saves it to view later! Saves often show what content resonates deeply with your audience, provides inspiration, or has lasting value.

Website Clicks

This shows who clicked on your website, so they were really interested in your services! Make sure to have this be a part of your website – not a third-party platform like Linktree. 

Interaction

Reach measures quantity, interactions measure quality. Your posts might reach 10 million users, but if they aren’t engaging with your content, what’s the point? This will show you likes, comments, saves, and shares. It also shows you story interactions and top posts.

Facebook Insights

There are just a few basic things to pay attention to on Facebook.

Page Views

This is the number of times people, either logged in or out, viewed a Page’s profile.

Post Engagements

You want to know the number of times people engaged with your posts through likes, comments, shares, and more. 

Page Likes

The important number tells you how many new people have liked your Page, broken down by paid and non-paid. This number is an estimate.

It’s so important to pay attention to your different analytics, so you have all the information you need to market to your potential clients. You’ll want to set some time aside regularly to go through each of these numbers, so you can begin to understand your audience better. One of the perks of having Ava and the Bee manage your Pinterest account is that we go through the numbers for you and make sure you understand what’s happening with your account. We’d love for you to reach out and learn more about how we can help you up your marketing game!