Earlier this week, Tyler wrote a great post about Google Analytics’ new demographics data, and how it offers a treasure trove of information about visitors to your site. For social, this information can help you make carefully calculated content decisions if you know what to look for:

#1 – Compare Demographic Information

Social Media Managers can use Google Analytics’ demographic insight compared with, for example, Facebook demographics to ensure they’re connecting with the right audiences in social. For instance, if your site attracts mostly visitors from a younger demographic — especially if those young visitors are your buyers — but your Facebook page primarily engages an older audience, this could be an indication that you need to explore another social channel to better engage the target demographic you’re missing on Facebook. Conversely, if you have a highly engaged audience of 55 to 64 year-olds on Facebook, but you aren’t seeing those visitors in your GA demographic data, this could mean that your Facebook audience needs more guidance getting to your website. You may need stronger or more regular calls to action from your Facebook page, leading to your website.

#2 – Use Google Analytics Demographics to Guide Content Strategy

Assumptions are the pitfalls of marketing. When we marketers get too far down the rabbit hole of using generalizations, or worse, guessing, to help us target our buyers, we can deter and even offend potential customers. Facebook is much like a digital storefront or restaurant. If a 24-year-old woman walks into a store, don’t assume she wants to buy diapers or that she wants the Lullaby Pandora channel played as she shops, because many women her age are new moms. Watch what she shops for and what she buys and tailor her shopping experience to her.

The Interests and Affinity data in your Google Analytics reports can help guide content marketing decisions both on your site and in social media, so that the brand can deliver the most appropriate content at the most ideal times for your audience. When looking into Google Analytics’ Affinity tab recently, I noticed that a brand that targets young moms also had quite a few visitors who are “Movie Lovers.”  We used this insight to guide content decisions this spring, finding topics like “Best Summer Movies for Kids” or asking the audience what their favorite children’s movies are to spur some conversation around this overlapping area of interest.

#3 – Get Specific. Make Segments.

To track the behavior of your different demographic/interest groups, you can create a Segment in Google Analytics. Segments help track trends in how people from different demographics — age, gender, language, affinity category, etc. — arrive at your site and how they behave once they’re there. For example, let’s say I wanted to track the behavior of 25-34-year-old, “savvy” moms who buy baby and children’s products. I can build a Segment for these Young Moms using age, affinity and in-marketing targeting.

Then, when I go to the Acquisition section and click Social, I will be able to apply this Young Moms filter to my reporting and compare how this audience behaves on the site compared to all visitors. (Click the carrot next to All Sessions to find your segments.) I can see which social networks these audience members came from, which networks drove the most engaged visitors, which networks drove traffic that resulted in a conversion, etc.

You can even see the how visitors from your target audience demographic move through your site and compare those funnels depending on which network they came from. See this one below for our Young Moms segment from Facebook:

Google Analytics’ demographics tools are a testament to the inevitable friendship between social and search. Tyler and I take the Captain Planet mantra, “By our powers combined…” We hope with our powers of social and search combined, these tips will help guide your digital marketing efforts in using the new Google Analytics demographics tool. This demographic insight is at your fingertips. The power is yours to unlock!


 

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