Facebook Vs. Google+: The Data Game

This past Thursday, Big Fuel welcomed some folks from the Google to our office to teach us all about Google+ and answer our questions…and boy did we have a lot of questions!

As the Technorati and laypeople begin to adopt the new social network meant to rival Facebook, issues and concerns are popping up, like what services will be added or integrated, how are everyday users and media professionals using it, and most importantly what it can do for businesses.

Many marketing and advertising professionals are already planning some cool things with Google’s social platform so that businesses can hit the ground running when Google pulls the trigger on brand pages. But at the end of the day, success needs to be measured – enter your friendly neighborhood analyst, me, here to help you optimize your new strategies!

So without further ado, let’s talk analytics.

A few things I “Like” about Facebook Insights.

It’s data overload of the best variety, since Facebook has so many metrics to use: likes (post and page), comments, impressions, page views, tab views, and so much more. And the Excel spreadsheet exports make it easier to make my graphs so beautiful, no pivot tables required (Yes, I’m an Excel junkie)! Also, the graphical insights interface in Facebook is very easy to understand across all data measurements, and can even be segmented daily. However, with all good things, come some to improve on.

A few things that Zuck about Facebook Insights.

You ever have that friend that owes you money and gets it back to you way later, Facebook Insights is that friend of mine. Many times I find daily data missing one day, and back the next, or not even there anymore. Although nothing has changed with the a cumulative amounts of data, it’s quite bothersome to reporting daily data when it might change overnight. Also, with Facebook having their own proprietary insights interface, it makes it difficult for other analytics programs to analyze their pages. This comes into play with such things like in-page reporting from Google Analytics, which allows you to see everywhere people engage on your page. This can be a huge boost for creative layout, but unfortunately can’t work, due to Facebook’s proprietary interface.

What can Google do to get the +1 from me?

The folks at Google are keeping their lips tight in the analytics department, so all any of us can do is speculate. At least I can say what I’d like to see from Google moving forward.  Beyond the +1’s, links clicked, circles added to, etc, I want to see data that’s always there when I need it.  Furthermore, as Google has a mantra of openness to developers, I expect other platforms to be able to pull data rather easily from it. Most importantly, what I hope Google does is give some metrics (like the +1) that can be used across all their services aggregated on this social network. That would make things easier for both cross channel measurement and optimization.  All in all, I think the best thing Google can do now is continue with what works best, experiment, revamp, and stay focused on the numbers.

(Image via TelecomMonthly)

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