Why Google Data Studio

Introducing Data Studio

Google is a data-driven company. They tend to create services that help people optimize their advertising spend and get more bang for the AdWords buck. So Google launched its Analytics, and short of the enterprise versions, it has been free!

Google has a history of putting out free tools that help people do better marketing. But people kept going to other tools when needing to visualize and analyze their data. It became clear that there was room for a great tool that could unify and clearly present all of the data from Google Analytics, AdWords, DoubleClick, Search Console, Google Sheets and many other data platforms. Google Data Studio was born.

Why, how and who should use Google Data Studio – insight on reaping the value of visual marketing reports by Branko Kral, Director of Analytics at MashMetrics.

Why Data Studio and Visualization Is Important

At MashMetrics, we think of data like the stars. They help illuminate the sky and amaze the mind, but it is the constellations that tell us stories and help us navigate.

Visualization is essential if you wish to tell a story with the data you discover. Example: let’s say you have various pieces of content on your site. You can understand the impact your content is having much better if you display it as a chart. It’s easier to understand visual charts than spreadsheets and numbers.

The way we help customers with their data is to define, setup, analyze and share our data discoveries in a way that allows you to act. With data-driven action, your marketing continuously becomes better. With our third and fourth steps in an Analytics project being “analyze” and “report,” Google Data Studio helps us to help you report and share your actionable story.

Things You Can Do with Data Studio

There is terrific interaction between you and Data Studio. For instance, using the Data Studio Gallery, you can access dashboards that are already pre-made for you. Some are quite creative about household income distribution – which uses Google Sheets as their source, a fitness dashboard – which pulls data from Google Fit, and even a Star Wars dashboard – which pulls data from the Star Wars API.

Of course, there are others for e-commerce sites, AdWords campaign data and also for Facebook. You can make copies of them and populate them with your data. In a similar fashion, there are advanced MashMetrics templates that we’re happy to share – talk to us.

We also create custom dashboards for you. In an example of a dashboard that we created for a client, the requirement was to look at multiple data sources in one view. Often, a dashboard will display data either just from Google Analytics or Adwords, or just on your Facebook insights, etc. However, for this client, we put it all on one Data Studio page.

To do this, first, you need the right data sources to make the connections. Then you can use comparisons as an analytical approach, set targets as a benchmark method, explore trends as a way to find context, and much, much more.

Making New Connections

When you make a Google Studio dashboard, you need a data source. It’s easy to do. From datastudio.google.com, click on the round blue button on the bottom right and then CREATE NEW DATA SOURCE on the bottom right under the sample data sources.

Here you will find something called “Google Connectors.”  These were initially a list of Google-owned data storehouses like Google analytics, Google Sheets, Search Console, Youtube Analytics, etc. But then, Google opened up their Studio to the general development community allowing companies to make other connectors for you to use!

Now you have all of these different choices for connectors. You can even take an Excel spreadsheet, upload it into a Google Sheet and call up that data to display it in a visual format. Google Sheets work great with automation tools, which opens up a plethora of options for streamlined reporting.

What’s in It for Me?

You may be thinking “how will these dashboards help me share my message with my decision makers, clients or bosses”? Good question! When you go into Google Analytics (GA), there tends to be too much available and shown to you. At the same time, the data you do want to see may be hard to find. So the only real way to use Google analytics is to go there with a specific question or questions in mind and start looking for answers.

You can begin thrashing around in GA, get lost, then leave without getting anywhere. Google Data Studio makes the approach much more straightforward, whether you’re an individual marketer, a marketing company or you are just feeling geeky today. You can set up your visualizations so that you see exactly the data you need – no more, no less.

Report and Rock

It brings major benefits when you present relevant data much quicker, do so in a format that is easier to share with decision makers and team members, even a format that is fun to interact with. The biggest benefit is that you get everyone to agree and act much quicker. Then, you look like a rock star. People, by our nature, love clear and confident guidance.

Say you’re in charge of bringing traffic to the website and need to speak with stakeholders who can approve a new idea you have, e.g. moving Facebook ad budget between two campaigns. V.P.’s often don’t have time to look through detailed data, and you want to present your case in both a quick and friendly fashion. When they see the data story you see, it can go two ways. They either sign off on your plan, or they have an informed and constructive discussion with you.

In our experience, owning data does not take you far unless it’s shared in a visual and engaging way, one that tells a clear story. Google Data Studio allows you to do so, which in turn makes it easier to get your team to act. Such data-driven action yields marketing that continuously becomes better and better.

For more guidance on data visualization, talk to us today.