View social interaction with Google Analytics

The growing importance of social media to any website is beyond dispute, but until now, it's been difficult to judge the real impact of sites such as Facebook and Twitter in terms of traffic and interaction.

Recent updates to Google Analytics, however, allow just that.

Here's how to do it.

First, log into Google Analytics, then click the Traffic Sources tab.

If necessary, click the Social button to expand the menu and view all the options.

Hit the Pages button.

A new interface area appears detailing the number of visits to your site received via social referral, and their percentage of your total web traffic.

Interesting in itself, but Google Analytics allows you to fine-tune this data into individual interactions by clicking the Activity Stream option.

This will open an area at the base of the page specifying individual visits - or 'conversations' - from the various social media hubs.

Click the Events option to access an even more detailed breakdown of the data including backlinks, and More options such as View Page in order to quickly view the page involved in the social interaction.