Pretty, Pretty Dashboards 🌈

Today our data hack is all about using data to your advantage in digital marketing. If you have never used Google Data Studio, you are MISSING out. It’s a free data visualization tool that pulls data sources directly, so you can make better data-driven decisions. Can I get an amen, sista!

I use it all the time for clients in my consulting business. If you know Tableau, it has a lot of the same functionality and is relatively simple to transition over to. I currently use it more often because it shares just like any other Google Doc or Sheet and those not as tech savvy have no problem viewing (i.e. no reply emails as to how to open). Also it has a free direct connection with other Google products like Analytics, Ads, or Sheets. Setting up a data source is as easy as one, two, three, [4, 5].

Step by Step:

1. Go to the Google Data Studio (GDS) home page.

2. Press Create > Data source

3. Select Google Analytics (GA) in the top left corner of options.

4. Choose which GA account, property and view you wish to connect, then click CONNECT in the top right corner.

5. Make sure to give the data source a less generic name (top left corner) and ta da!

You have successfully created your data source and are ready to input into any report!

Make It Pretty

We'll be going over more about creating dashbaords in Google Data Studio shortly, but in the meantime we've attached a sample Google Ads and Analytics dashboard. I'm all about making them pretty to look at. One way to do so is add an illustrated pattern background as an image and increase the size to take up the whole page.

VIEW SAMPLE DASHBOARD

Hope eveyone is staying sane through these crazy times! We'll be sending out our favorite WFH tips soon, so stay tuned.