Working With Different Analytics Features of WordPress Social Share Buttons – Internal Analytics, Share Conversions Tracking, Google Analytics, UTM Integration [Sharing -> Analytics]

Overview #

The analytics functions of Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress can help even a newbie to analyze and improve the work of social share buttons. You don’t need an expert anymore – everything you can use daily is now part of Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress.

You can activate any of the analytics functions from the Social Sharing -> Analytics menu.

Share Button Analytics #

All collected analytics data is privacy safe. The plugin will not store any personal information, browser information, IP address or anything else. The device is recorded only as a generic mobile or desktop and no other information (including the brand is kept). It is a fully privacy safe and GDPR compliant.

The analytics is made to collect click over share buttons. When a user clicks on the share button anywhere on your site the logger saves position, template, device type, and post. The collected data is fully anonymous and does not include any personal or device information from the visitor. The data that appears in analytics is not the data that represent the real shares. The click over share buttons is logged each time a user click over share buttons, no matter is a real share made or not. The nature of social networks work does not allow us to provide proof of share is made and we use a timeout of a few seconds to register a possible share.

What type of information is collected #

The analytics is made to collect click over share buttons. When user click on share button anywhere on your site the logger saves position, template, device type and post. The collected data is fully anonymous and does not include any personal or device information from the visitor. The data that appears in analytics is not the data that represent the real shares. The click over share buttons is logged each time a user click over share buttons, no matter is a real share made or not. The nature of social networks work does not allow to provide a prove of share is made and we use a timeout of few seconds to register a possible share.

Why the data inside analytics is different from the share values I see on site? #

As the data that you see in analytics is generated with click over share buttons there will be different from the real shares. Here are just a few reasons for this:

• User click a share button on site and close it after a white without making a share
• User click and share a post but that share is private (private shares since latest changes does not appear anymore in the share counter)
• User remove share from social network once it is made
• You have shares that are not made from Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress buttons
• You have past shares before activating the logging function

There are few other reasons but those above are the most common situations causing the difference between share analytics and real shares. If you wish to see a real shares

When analytics is enabled on-site you will see a new top level menu Analytics inside plugin settings where the collected data will appear.

Share Buttons Conversion Tracking #

All collected analytics data is privacy safe. The plugin will not store any personal information, browser information, IP address or anything else. The device is recorded only as a generic mobile or desktop and no other information (including the brand is kept). It is a fully privacy safe and GDPR compliant.

The conversion tracking is a handy tool where you can measure the real conversions of a share button display and social share network on your site. This will help you make an informative decision that shares buttons you need to keep on your site and do which display methods really work.

The collection of data is the same as the one that we use in Share Button Analytics. The difference here is that we do not only log the click on a button but also plugin will track the displayed on site locations too.

When conversion tracking is enabled on-site you will see a new top-level menu in plugin settings Conversion Tracking where the analytics data will appear.

Warning! The conversion tracking will use a JavaScript callback after page load to log the displayed on-site positions and social networks (to provide compatibility when a cache plugin or server-side caching is used). These calls on high-traffic sites may require additional resources during conversion tracking. We do not recommend keeping conversion tracking enabled at all times. It is best used when you need to measure the impact of specific changes in display settings. The optimal tracking period for meaningful insights is at least 7 days. While data will start appearing in the dashboard immediately, a full week of tracking will provide significantly more reliable and informative analytics.

Please note that long-term usage of conversion tracking may lead to a substantial increase in database table size due to the continuous accumulation of records. It is recommended to monitor your database and clean up data periodically if needed.

For convenience, a Reset Data button is available at the very bottom of the General Conversions report, allowing you to quickly clear all collected tracking data and start fresh when necessary.

Share Metrics Lite #

Share metrics lite is designed to store and show information about the real shares of content. The data that you will see is stored with the share counters update on-site and represent a real-life state.

Warning! To see data inside your metrics dashboard you need to use a display with share counters on site. Without having share counters enabled on-site, you won’t see any information. The data will update with each share counter update based on the time you set in Share Counter settings.

• Keep history for – choose how long plugin to store history data inside cache. All data that is collected will be saved inside post meta fields and choosing a greater period will generate a bigger record.
• Metrics report access – access role will limit which type of users can see the metrics data inside the WordPress admin panel. If you are not sure what to choose, leave the Administrator selected.

When metrics lite is enabled you will have a new menu in WordPress settings Social Metrics by ESSB. If you do not see it after enabling the feature, reload the screen and try again. If it still does not appear then your use does not have enough permissions based on the settings to see it.

Google Analytics Tracking #

The Google Analytics tracking will send events on the share button click. Those events you can further analyze inside your Google Analytics dashboard.

Events Tracking for Share Button Clicks #

The option will not load Google Analytics on your site. You need to have it already enabled with the Google Universal Tracking options.

• Google Analytics tracking method – choose the event data that the plugin will send. You can use simple where you will have information only for the social network or extended where you will also know the location of share buttons with its code (top, bottom, sidebar).
• Use Google Tag Manager Data Layer Event Tracking – this option will use the data layer events instead of the analytics when Google Tag Manager is used

UTM Tracking #

Add UTM tracking options to outgoing share URLs. This helps to track the incoming social traffic from the share buttons.

• Campaign UTM source – The value of the UTM source parameter is added to the social share links. Available variables: {network} for the social network or {title} for the post title. Default if blank: {network}
• Campaign UTM medium – The value of the UTM medium parameter is added to the social share links. Available variables: {network} for the social network or {title} for the post title. Default if blank: social
• Campaign UTM name – The value of the UTM name parameter is added to the social share links. Available variables: {network} for the social network or {title} for the post title. Default if blank: EasySocialShareButtons