In May for our monthly Google Marketing Platform Sydney meetup, we talked about How to Do Anything You Want in Google Data Studio.
In this post we’ll cover how to do anything you want in Google Data Studio with Seb Hebert, Head of Digital at The CEO Magazine. You’ll learn how to get creative in Google Data Studio and stop using it like everyone else.
You’ll learn how to import and mix data, add graphics and how to turn your reports into works of art, with styling more akin to infographics than boring report templates.
You will learn how to:
- Import and mix data
- Add graphics and turn your reports into infographics
- Automate reporting to save time
Find out which plugins and tools to use to make Google Data Studio even better. You’ll be given a list of resources to use plus actionable tips that you can put to work right away.
How to Do Anything You Want in Google Data Studio – Google Marketing Platform Sydney
View the slides here and read on to learn more:
Our Meetup Objectives
- Share Google product expertise
- Share digital marketing expertise
- Increase the adoption of best practices
- Build a community of Google marketers
Join us at the next Google Marketing Platform Sydney meetup.
Google Marketing Platform News
Search Console Reports Back on Track
Google Search Console’s de-indexing bug is resolved and search console reports are back on track:
- Starting on the 02-April
- The de-index bug resulted in pages being de-indexed by Google
- This caused a knock on effect with reporting
- 3 weeks delay (instead of the standard 2-day delay)
This affects reports:
- Coverage reports
- Any of the Enhancement Reports
Why it matters:
- Not just a loss of data
- Loss of traffic
- Loss of conversion
- Loss of sales
- Upset bosses and customers
Reports are back to normal as of the end of April.
How to Do Anything You Want in Google Data Studio
After a failed go in the artistic world, I started my career as a Data Analyst.
I realised really fast that Decision Makers didn’t see the data (MY DATA) for what it was.
First job: Analyst on Customer Journey.
Crushing data on a daily basis, identifying patterns and building reports.
Data is boring for some people. Some others struggle to picture what a number is. Most people only see what they want to see and use numbers to fulfil their own agenda.
The Importance of Visualisation
That’s when I understood the importance of visualisation. Data visualisation helps:
- Communicate the story to people (not just the number)
- Comprehend the information quickly
- Easily identify relations and patterns and pinpoint trends
Combining visual and design will not only inform Decision Makers on a specific number, but it will also help them make a decision.
Google Data Studio
But Data Visualisation takes time.
Reports are time-consuming and the more responsibility I had in my job, the less time I had to build reports.
The more I advanced in my career, the more I needed a way to automate my reports without compromising on the visualisation aspect…
That’s when I started using Google Data Studio.
Google Data Studio Comparison
Why Data Studio and not one of the other data visualisation tools?
It’s free, simple to use, simple to share and with the possibility to connect to a lot of data sources, you can report on almost everything.
There are however limitations: Basic visualisation, loading time, data blending.
Google Data Studio: Recap
- First, choose your template
- Choose a data source
- Customise and voila!
Google Analytics reporting is great but your website is probably not the only thing you need to report on.
What about your CRM, your Email platform, your Social Media?
Google Data Studio Connectors
Say Hello to Google Data Studio Connectors.
Connecting Different Data Sources in Google Data Studio
A connector is a link between your Data Source and Google Data Studio.
There are 2 types of Connectors:
- Google Built-in Connectors
- Google Partner Connectors
While both are built to help you receive information from your data sources, you may encounter problems if your installation is not standard or if you are looking for really granular information.
Unfortunately, all data is not mapped and it can be pretty frustrating sometimes.
What if you don’t use any of these data sources?
That’s really good but what if I don’t use any of these data sources?
I don’t… We use Salesforce, Pardot, we really rely on Facebook, I have excel documents for the business targets and goals.
How do I enter this data?
Google Sheets in Google Data Studio
Meet your new best friend: Google Sheets.
Data Studio can base its visualisation on Google Sheets data. You just need to find a way to make your data available on Google Sheets.
But how do I do that?
SuperMetrics
Other Tools
I’m also using Xappex G-Connector.
Reports on Salesforce, Pardot report, auto update of data …
Creating Visual Reports in Google Data Studio
Cool, so now we have all this data in Google Data Studio, what do I do?
Here is the monthly report I give to my CEO. I spend literally 30-seconds checking if everything is working.
I used to spend 2 hours. That’s 100 hours a year. More than 2 weeks. And that’s just 1 report.
I won’t lie… there is a good chance that your report looks like this …
Basic, not appealing, really not sexy, … the kind of report that your decision makers will look at once and forget about.
That’s all really good, but I am still stuck with those really basic graphs.
So I talk a little bit about it at the beginning but yeah… there is about 10 different graphs you can use and whatever colour you choose for your axis and whatever image you put as a background… well… it is still the same graph.
Google Data Studio Community
Say Hello to Google Data Studio Community.
Data Studio Community Visualizations allow you to build and use your own custom visualizations in Google Data Studio. Community visualisations offer:
- The flexibility to use any visualisation library and custom JavaScript and CSS for your visualisation.
- The capability to define which style elements your visualisation requires in the Google Data Studio property panel.
- An event-driven model that posts data and style information to your visualisation as users interact with the report.
Thank You
Join us for our next Google Marketing Platform meetup.
