Digital Marketing

The Birth of Live Reporting

September 07, 2018Joel Mehler

Welcome to the future of live reporting, Google Data Studio. With this live reporting dashboard, agencies and clients alike have more information at their fingertips.

What Changes Google Has Made

Google has shifted many of their platforms for a few reasons and one of those reasons is rebranding. An example of their rebranding of one of their products is Google Ads which is formerly known as Google AdWords. Under the new Google Marketing Platform will be Display & Video 360, Analytics 360, Data Studio, Tag Manager 360, and more. Their aim was to simplify their products and integrations.

Google Data Studio which can be found under Google Marketing Platform, has been an emerging product trend within the advertising community. Many advertisers use outside reporting such as Raventools, Google Sheets, and other services, and may continue to do so until Data Studio releases more updates making in more user friendly. Some of the things marketers want is more connectors.

What A Connector Is & Issues They Pose

Connectors are the connections between Data Studio and your desired data source. Connectors connect your data to the live dashboard. You can find more information about connectors here.

An issue Data Studio connectors pose is the lack of free connectors. Although Google Ads and Google Analytics connectors work wonderfully, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bing, Pinterest, and other none google platforms, do not have free connectors. Many agencies buy SuperMetrics connectors to fix this issue. Many of these connectors come at a high tag. As Google Data Studio becomes more main stream, I hope they start to come out with new connectors and alternative solutions to buying expensive connectors from third-parties.

Downfalls Of Data Studio

The development of this platform has increased, giving users more options on what story they tell and how to tell it. The problems come from the lack of free connectors previously mentioned, lack of options in creating master templates or objects to make changes across multiple reports, and user friendliness.

The need to create multiple reports is a downfall because every time we want to change something in the reports, it must be done several times. Some agencies are waiting for more advanced uses from data studio where certain graphs and charts can be linked to a master sheet. The chances of this coming to pass are slim.

What About Double Up Digital?

At Double Up Digital, we are adopting this new live reporting dashboard to give the clients who want more information and want to be kept up-to-date on a more frequent basis, more information at their fingertips.

If you have a question about Data Studio & live reporting, Paid Search Marketing, website development, or other services we offer, head over to the contact us section!

Joel Mehler

A graduate of the University of Alabama, Joel was first introduced to digital marketing and SEO while participating in an international internship program in Barcelona, Spain. Joel maintains consistent oversight on strategy performance, client relations and day-to-day operations. Joel is an avid traveler and spends much of his free time in search of Atlanta’s next fun trend.