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Customising views in the GA4 dashboard.

GA4 – many of you will have dutifully set up your GA4 property now in preparation to the switchover – which is officially happening in July 2023.

We commend your efforts and you will now be collecting the base data if you have turned on enhanced measurements – We would recommend going to or setting up a GTM  container and implementing a series of tags triggers and associated custom parameters to ensure your site events are recorded in manner that is useful to you.

However, many are still struggling to get to grips with the reporting – firstly, I would recommend that if your property has just been set-up  – I would suggest leaving it well alone for a period of 7 days – it takes 24 hours or from midnight for the previous days events to show in reports and therefore the debug view is the most important when it comes to ensuring the events are firing correctly when initially setting up – you will also benefit from the real-time view which will record even new events within that window – they just won’t show up in the reporting views until the following day.

So when a period of 7 days has elapsed without too much intervention, debugging and checking you should be able to see which events look shy or perhaps do not correlate properly by selecting the configure tab and looking at the overall events and users table – you may need to issue some tweaks and additional rules or variables if using GTM tags and triggers.

Once the data is starting to look accurate  you are ready to start reporting from GA4 and you are in the nice position of having 11months to utilise and tailor your dashboard before UA disappears – wise move indeed!

So, here are a couple of my most useful top-tips for customising dashboards and report settings in GA4.

First up – Each of your events – if set up in GTM can also send through really useful information along with the recorded event – however, you will have needed to specify this to whoever was setting up your event tag in GTM – for example in forms – you could record not only every time your contact form was submitted but also if you have a drop-down within that form for the type of product/service of interest – you could also record that information along with the event and this would show in the event panel.

Posts views events – in context of the categories, tags and authors of those posts.

– again, this event information would look something like this when the additional fields are set to record these data layers from GTM.

If you are finding that a number of the charts – such as the gender split (the donut chart in the screenshot here) are not displaying data then I would suggest you go to your GA4 property admin panel and select set-up assistant, in the first screen you will notice – a title – Turn on Google Signals –

What is Google Signals?

It is data that google can attribute to those google account holders, who are signed into their account and have also opted to have ads personalisation. This enables cross-device reporting, re-marketing and google ads conversion export.

You may find the following resource helpful –

Google Support – Google Signals

I am currently in two minds as to how useful this information is – however, when taking these charts in the context of those that would like to have personalised ads – the information is useful – just an important distinction to make that these charts are by no means, a full representation of all your site users.

The data is not shared and neither can you share it beyond the google GA4 dashboard.

 Altering Table data in your GA4 Dashboards – adding Metrics to reports

If you are looking to alter the table data in GA4 this can be done quite simply by going to the dashboard – selecting reports and then in this example – selecting engagement and then selecting pages and screens – in the top right you will notice a pencil icon which allows you to customise the report.

If you select metrics you will see a drop-down with a number of options you can add – you can simply drag-and-drop the metric to feature in the position required.

Other useful features

Other things that may prove useful to you when getting to grips with the GA4 dashboard are the search bars – for example in the acquisition and traffic report you may wish to know where the referral traffic is coming from. This information can be obtained by navigating to the Acquisition report and then further selecting the traffic acquisition tab.

If you select medium/source you will get a list of source and medium of the traffic – if you then type referral into the search bar just above the table you will further filter just to see the traffic by referral and the referring site.

You can also do this on the user acquisition tab and there – filter on first user information.

Book in your Free 30min GA4 consultation today!

Learn more about what GA4 is and how to migrate to the GA4 property from the old UA Analytics properties.

An essential planning tool, the content marketing matrix provides a framework to allow you to plan and map out all of your content to meet consumer needs at different stages in the purchase process.

It helps highlight what content is most relevant to a customer based on the stage they are at of their buying journey.

The content marketing matrix helps business owners and marketers plan out optimal engaging content for each of their target audiences.  For example, a content marketing matrix would help a technology software company know to create and distribute content like webinars and demo’s if the target customers have been viewing software specifications and downloading white papers.

How do marketer’s use a content marketing matrix?

Essentially, a content marketing strategy should not only be formulated with elevated ideas, but more importantly, needs to be relevant to each of your target audiences. The content marketing matrix allows you to audit your existing content assets, develop ideas for new content that will generate leads, nurture prospects and then plot your content against each of your target audiences. All of this is completed with lead generation and growth objectives driving the strategy.

Step 1: Develop a content matrix for your target personas

• Who are you creating content for? Identify and profile your target audience personas
• Determine what types and range of content (e.g. videos, podcasts, guides) are going to resonate best with your target personas
  • What subject areas are of value and interest to your target audience?
  • What are their pain points and needs?
  • Check out what the monthly search volumes for the subject area you are creating content for and this will give you an indication of interest level
• Define the tone and messaging that will engage with your target audiences

Step 2: Develop content types aligned to the nature of the goods and services you sell

What content types are most important and relevant to your business? There are some content types that go across the board like landing pages, social media posts, reviews and testimonials although the importance and significance of each content type will vary from industry to industry.

For a company selling weight loss products it may be critical that reviews, case studies and testimonials are placed in each quadrant of the matrix. Product descriptions of the weight loss products sold could also be determined as a critical content type to this type of business. Whereas as a company selling creative services may rely more heavily on videos and landing pages as critical components to its matrix.

Step 3: Define Your Content Types For Content Marketing

There is a world of content marketing types out there. Here is a list of typical ones but is not exhaustive.

Content Marketing Examples

• Infographics
• Memes & Gifs
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• Landing Pages
• Infosheets
• Technical Specifications
• Blogs
• Articles
• Reports / White Papers
• Ebooks / Guides
• Checklists
• Templates
• CTA’s
• Newsletters
• Social Media Posts
• Ratings
• Reviews
• Case studies
• Testimonials
• Quotes
• Stats

Step 4: To identify the purpose(s) of each bit of content

Develop a content marketing matrix that identifies the purpose of each bit of content.  The purpose will be determined by who your target audience is.

Establishing your objectives first will help to formulate your content.  For example, is the content serving to provide entertainment, inspiration, education or impetus to take action or purchase?

Content Purposes

• Entertain – engaging content that creates awareness and interest – the first stage in the consumer buying process.
• Inspire – content that succeeds in emotive response, often best used later in the buying process. The goal is to make the potential customer ‘feel’ something from relatable content, that ultimately drives purchase.
• Educate – providing thought leadership content helps to position your business as a trusted and reliable source, raising or reinforcing consumer opinion of your product/service. Educational content should provide customers with new information either about your own products and services, or a relatable topic, and should be well-researched to provide significant value.
• Convince/Purchase – the last stage of the buyer’s journey, should focus on content that already understands your target audience needs and wants. The aim is to satisfy these needs with accessible and influential content.

Step 5: Use the grid to plot the different content types (formats)

This will help your company to figure out what works best and why. You can then edit the grid as part of a test, track and measure process to see what content is working best at what stage and for your specific target audience.

Each format falls in a different place on the grid and some even fall in multiple places on the grid.  For example, videos can both educate and entertain (depending on nature of the content of said video) but may not convince.

Step 6: Expand your pool of content marketing assets

Ensure you have a range of content that can be used to take people through the sales funnel and enough variety of content formats to reach people in different ways.

Measuring the impact of your content marketing mix

Establish which KPI’s you wish to track so that you can measure the effects of your content marketing strategy. Typical KPI’s include: unique page visits, downloads, time spent on page, links, shares, comments, interactions.  For paid campaign activity, metrics would include cost per click, cost per lead, lead generation, conversion rates, influencers, followers, subscribers and channel growth.

It is only through tracking, monitoring and measuring your content marketing efforts that you start to develop a full understanding of the success of your efforts.

Download our content marketing guide

Influencer marketing can be a beautiful thing. Researched and utilised correctly, you have paid for brand advocates who rave about your brand, furthering your reach and consideration, with a whole new audience. But in an overpopulated market, are influencers still trusted and more importantly believed? OnBrand’s Rachel Weinberger talks influencer marketing and whether it’s still a worthwhile part of your marketing strategy.

The Beginning Of Influencer Marketing

The role of an influencer is nothing new. Before celebrities and others in the public eye began endorsing products, queens and kings of the 17^th and 18^th centuries were the valued voices of their time.

Fast forward to the late 2000’s and the rise of social media, many were realising that with a blog or YouTube channel, you no longer needed to be a celebrity to gain a following and be influential. Drawn by authentic content and real, like-minded people who were more relatable than the unattainable celebrities that filled our screens, social media influencers were growing and in high demand.

If you’re looking to enhance your brand with influencer marketing, consider our top tips to ensure it’s the right strategy for you.

People Buy From People

With more resources, many head online to research their purchases and find out if it’s worth their time and money. Influencers create content that feeds the need of try before you buy, reviewing products and taking word-of-mouth marketing online.

Brands have realised the potential of collaborating with people their audience relate with and understand. It’s made brands appear more down-to-earth and likeable if endorsed by the right influencer. Influencers have bridged the gap and have made brands feel more honest and real. As we’ve said previously, people buy from people!

OnBrand top tip: Research who you want to work with to ensure they are the correct fit for your brand and who you want to target. Having a large following won’t ensure you’re reaching the right people or achieving your marketing goals.

(Don’t) Fake It Until You Make It

What was once deemed a novelty, is now an over saturated market and a much sought-after career path. A 2019 survey found that 17% of 11–16-year old’s want to become a social media influencer when they grow up.

It’s no surprise that with so many influencers emerging, what was once perceived as real content, can come across as quite the opposite.

Buying followers and going on holiday during the COVID-19 pandemic are just a few of the media storms that have hit influencers. This has had a huge impact on these once seemingly authentic content creators and the brands they promote. New laws mean all paid advertising must be marked with ‘AD’ – consumers are savvier than ever to paid advertising.

OnBrand top tip: Ensure anyone representing or promoting your brand aligns with your core values. Remember, influencers are the face of your brand. It needs to feel authentic, or consumers will feel mislead.

Create Clear Goals & Expectations

Like any strategy, it will only work if you are clear on what you want and how you want it to work. Influencer marketing can be costly, especially if you’re looking to work with an influencer with a large following. Consider your needs and what your main objectives are. Work out an agreement that suits both parties and is in line with each parties’ expectations.

OnBrand top tip: Consider nano or micro-influencers to target more niche audiences and for more authentic content.

If you enjoyed this blog, head over to our blog for our Top Tips For Content Marketing Success. Or, if you’d like to discuss how OnBrand can help you use customer reviews to boost your marketing, give us a call on 03333 220022.

The pandemic has changed marketing forever, but it’s more about slight shifts rather than wholesale change. Here’s OnBrand’s Tom Roberts with the top 3 bits of post-pandemic marketing advice to ignore right now.

EVERYTHING Is Digital Forever – Ignore

Really? Everything? This simply is not true and a top contender for post-pandemic marketing advice to ignore. It’s also the most vacuous piece of marketing advice out there. It’s very true that during lockdown the dominant places of interaction between brands and consumers was online, but real-life is coming back.

I spent a great proportion of last year working from home and interacting with colleagues on Zoom, but since joining OnBrand I’ve been in the office every day interacting with my colleagues and our customers.

Actually what has happened is, because digital interaction was one of the only ways we could interact, using digital services to interact has been normalised. People feel more comfortable in the digital landscape, and they don’t mind brands interrupting their social media journeys with comms.

This means that it’s wise to get your digital comms and shopfront sorted out, but don’t neglect real-life interactions – as the world opens up further, I’d hazard a guess that digital interactions may revert to pre-pandemic numbers through 2022.

Find New Customers, Don’t Worry About The Old Ones – Definitely Ignore

Again, what on Earth does this mean? Neglect the people who trust, love and buy from you already in favour of courting strangers? You could do that, but the pandemic has given you the best opportunity to communicate with and nurture your customers in a way you’ve never had – you literally had a captive audience (which isn’t meant to be a joke).

To come out of the pandemic with a bold new business strategy is right, but you need a customer journey pipeline for your current customers. Your CRM system could be feeding current and past customers with new offers, or free bits of interesting content that make them feel valued.

Don’t believe anyone who tells you the post-pandemic focus of your business should solely be on new business. For us, we’re taking the opportunity to engage with our clients to help them work out how best to communicate with customers old and new.

Besides, we all know the best type of business is repeat business – so, foster repeat business at the same time as prospecting for new business.

Ramp Up Your Digital Ad Spend Over Everything Else – Ignore, Ignore, Ignore

Sure thing. Smashing advice, I don’t think. The brands that lose trust first are the ones who ramp up their digital ad spend and neglect having conversations with their customers in the digital sphere. Digital ads work, but they work best as part of an integrated marketing campaign – they’re the bit that extends your reach to new audiences.

Treat digital ads as the silver bullet and you’ll quickly fall foul. Instead, invest in search engine optimisation of your site, build up your site’s evergreen content stash, refine your web copy, plan your social campaigns, start conversations – the pay off on any one of the above activities is absolutely on par with a successful paid ad campaign.

So, put more money behind your ad spend, if they’re working and not costing you too much to bring in new leads. But if you’re ramping up spend because that’s what people are saying you SHOULD do without providing alternatives or advising an integrated approach, it will be money wasted.

And in the post-pandemic world, customers will be making every penny count. Make sure you do too.

If you enjoyed this blog, have a read of this one about why Innocent Drinks are amazing on social media or head back to our homepage.