Are you using your demographic data?

This week I’ve been working with Chris to QA and finalize our new Google Analytics 4 course available now: trustinsights.ai/ga4course

Something interesting happens when I do this quality assurance. I try to put myself in the place of the person learning this material for the first time. When I do that, I am reminded of all the things I’m not using for Trust Insights. In this case, demographics data from Google Analytics 4.

For a quick overview, this is how Google collects demographic data:

For the entire run down, you can visit this support page: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2799357?hl=en#

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into the good part. Why should you care about demographic data? If you’re like me you might get stuck in a rut when it comes to talking about what your business does. You are trying to find new and interesting ways to say the same thing, “we help you sort out your marketing data”.

It occurred to me while I was working through the GA4 course that we have an untapped well of ideas, which is the demographic data we collect. Specifically, interests.

Interests are broken out into broad categories such as fitness, travel, beauty, lifestyle, etc. When you look at it you might think, “what does that have to do with marketing data”? On its own, not a whole lot.

But there are two very strong use cases for this interest data:

Advertising Targeting

The categories in Google Analytics match the interest categories in Google Ads. You can do a 1-1 with your targeting. When you’re advertising on other ad systems, you can look for similar categories and use your Google Analytics interest data as a starting point.

Content Marketing

This is what I want to spend time talking about. Advertising targeting is all well and good but without a good ad or offer, you’re not going to sell anything. This is a snapshot of users that visit the Trust Insights website:

It’s a varied mix of interests. We have value shoppers, movie buffs, travel buffs, avid investors, and music lovers.

So what do we do with this? First, we need to remember that this is about promoting Trust Insights. What do we do? Change Management, Data Analysis, Strategies and Planning, and Digital Marketing Consulting. Now, the challenge that I have before me is to figure out how to combine that with the interests of the people that visit our site.

Let’s take music lovers. I could create content that analyzes data from sites like Spotify or Pandora (if it’s available). I could write about how artists approach marketing in the modern world. I could dissect some of my favorite songs and break down the trends and patterns of the music itself. All those ideas are on-brand for what we do at Trust Insights. It’s another way to demonstrate our capabilities.

And therein lies the “so what” – finding new and interesting ways to show your capabilities using your demographic data. You don’t always have to go in for the hard sell. You can write something entertaining and engaging. Give people a reason to stick around.

How are you using your demographic data? Tell me in our Free Slack Group Analytics for Marketers