How PR Professionals Can Plan for GA4
Posted on Mar. 30, 2023 / Subscribe 0
As companies start making the transition from Google’s Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) many questions will arise. For PR professionals one of the best things you can do is to educate yourself, your colleagues/leaders and your clients.
You certainly don’t need to know the platform inside and out but having the ability to explain how your reporting metrics will be changing is important. The analytics you will see and be providing to your leadership or clients will look different.
One of the biggest updates between Universal Analytics and GA4 is bounce rate will no longer be tracked. Instead, GA4 will track engagement rate, which differs slightly from bounce rate. Engagement rate is defined as a percentage of sessions that last longer than 10 seconds and has a conversion and at least two pageviews. This is opposed to bounce rate, which is defined as a percentage of users who visit a site and navigate away from the site after only viewing one page.
You will also notice GA4 will no longer track “sessions.” Instead, it will focus on specific “events,” including:
- Pageviews
- Scrolls
- Outbound clicks
- In-site searches
- Video engagement metrics
- File downloads
While making the transition it’s also important to think ahead to understand how the updated analytics can improve your reporting. How can you use the new platform to better tell a story with your metrics and reporting? Showing that your efforts are having a direct impact on business goals is imperative but it can be difficult. GA4 has a variety of reporting capabilities that will show you how people are directly engaging with your content. Having the ability to see these metrics will help you decide how to plan for future content.
As PR professionals continue to evolve into more integrated communications roles, reporting will remain an important aspect of our work. Educating yourself and others and thinking ahead will benefit you during this transition.
For more on the transition from Universal Analytics to GA4, visit the Franco blog.
As a senior paid media specialist, Ryan Solecki supports Franco and its clients in creating targeted and integrated digital marketing strategies and programs. His expertise in digital analysis and reporting help put metrics into context and show the true value of digital communications.
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