How to create an awesome Twitter profile in Google Analytics

Using a few Google Analytics advance filters, it’s very easy to create a handy Twitter-specific profile which groups together twitter sources such as web clients and short URL services.

If you've read my earlier post 2 easy ways to track social networks in Google Analytics, you should be quite familiar with using advance filters in Google Analytics. A large percentage of Twitter's traffic is coming from phone or desktop based clients, in which case they'll appear as direct traffic so be sure to place extra attention to filter three.

1. Create a new Google Analytics profile and name it 'Twitter Traffic':

I also find it very useful to add a date next to the new profile so I'll know when it went live and what sort of reporting data I should expect. Remember to always keep your original profile intact.

2. Click on 'edit' next to the new profile and add the following filters under 'add filters' option

3. Filter one (Grouping different twitter web clients services to one source)

Filter Name - Twitter Web Clients Traffic
Filter Type - custom filter then advanced
Field A -> Extract A - under campaign source add leading twitter web clients services (for example,

I’ve used twitter|ping\.fm|friendfeed|brightkite|hootsuite|twitthat|twitterfon|twittergadget)
Field B -> Extract B - none
Output To -> Constructor - campaign source and name it Twitter Web Clients Traffic
Field A Required - yes
Field B Required - no
Override Output Field - yes
Case Sensitive - no

4. Filter two (Grouping different URL shortening services to one source)

Filter Name - Twitter URL Shortening Traffic
Filter Type - custom filter then advanced
Field A -> Extract A - under campaign source add the leading twitter url services (for example, I’ve

used twitturly|bit\.ly|tr\.im|cli\.gs|zi\.ma|poprl|tinyurl|Is\.gd|snipr|snipurl|kl\.am|snurl|tiny\.cc|dwarfurl)
Field B -> Extract B - none
Output To -> Constructor - campaign source and name it Twitter URL Shortening Traffic
Field A Required - yes
Field B Required - no
Override Output Field - yes
Case Sensitive - no

5. Filter three (Tagging URL traffic)

This filter is based on Google url builder tool so you'll need to tag your links before posting them on Twitter. I've used 'tweets' for my custom source, but feel free to be more imaginative ;)

Filter Name - Twitter URL Tagging
Filter Type - custom filter then advanced
Field A -> Extract A - under campaign source type ‘tweets‘
Field B -> Extract B - none
Output To -> Constructor - campaign source and name it Twitter URL Tagging
Field A Required - yes
Field B Required - no
Override Output Field - yes
Case Sensitive - no

Result! Head to traffic sources and type 'twitter'. You'll be able to see the different Twitter groups which are generating your traffic and using advanced segments you'll be able to compare them.

Optional but recommended step - schedule a daily email containing your new traffic sources:

6. In your new Twitter profile head to 'All Traffic Sources' under the 'Traffic Sources' navigation and in the ' Find Source/Medium' containing window paste the following Twitter Web Clients Traffic|Twitter URL Shortening Traffic|Twitter URL Tagging and click go:

7. Now click on the email report button located at the top:

8.  Click on the 'Schedule' tab, leave the 'Send to me' option ticked, decide if you'd like a daily, weekly or monthly email under the 'Date Range' option, leave the format as PDF for great visualization and click Schedule:

Result! Your PDF report will land in your inbox.