Michelle Leslie, Interactive Marketing Specialist – Chapman University, is one of the 12 presenters of the 2017 Higher Ed Analytics Conference (the 5th edition!).
In this 3-question interview, Michelle tells us about an interesting analytics challenge and a favorite Google Analytics before discussing what will make a big difference for higher ed analytics in 2017.
1) What’s the most challenging yet interesting part in your work with analytics?
The most challenging parts of social media analytics include capturing metrics before they disappear on some platforms and translating said analytics for people unfamiliar with the terminology. However, analytics provide detailed feedback from and about your target audience. Social media analytics can help me determine who is engaging with our content and why, which helps us generate relevant content.
2) What is your favorite GA feature, why and how do you use it at your school?
The web team at Chapman University uses Google Analytics reporting to track pageviews, session duration, bounce rate, returning visitors, etc. for our main website as well as the blog, events, and social hubs. One of my favorite reports is the Network Referrals. This allows me to see which social network drives the most traffic to our websites, which helps me allocate time to each network accordingly.
3) What do you think will make a big difference for higher ed analytics and measurement in 2017?
I think “dark social” and disappearing content will have the biggest effect on social media managers when measuring efforts. “Dark social” occurs when someone shares content in a way that cannot be measured by analytics programs and we are unable to accurately attribute traffic sources. Analytics of disappearing content like Snapchat and Instagram Stories can be captured manually but only within the 24 hour window, which could result in missing analytics over time.
A conference on digital analytics for higher education?
The HEA conference has become a must-attend event for digital marketing and communication professionals in higher education looking for new ideas and best practices.
Read below what a few of your higher ed colleagues who attended the past editions of the Higher Ed Analytics Conference say about the event.
Tags: Higher Ed News