The estimated reading time for this post is 6 minutes
Social media is all about sharing, getting the word out to others. For the first time ever we all have free platforms to share our thoughts with the world.
But is anybody actually listening?
With Twitter and Pinterest we may know how many followers we have, how often our posts are retweeted and re-pinned, and when we are mentioned. But do you know the true reach of your message?
New Analytics
Twitter and Pinterest both released new analytics tools recently that give you a much clearer picture of the reach of your messages. Whether you want to see the reach of your tweet or your pin, these new tools can show you if your message is getting through or just getting lost in the social media shuffle. You can also get a clearer picture of your audience, including their location and interests.
You may have fun diving deep into your social media data!
Twitter Analytics
Formerly only available to business accounts, Twitter analytics are now available to anyone who has a Twitter account that’s at least 14 days old. Now you can see very interesting information about the impact of your tweets and the demographics of your followers.
To get started go to https://analytics.twitter.com and log into your Twitter account. Click on Tweets in the upper menu.
You’ll be shown a bar graph of the number of impressions your tweets had over the past month.
Below that graph you can see your most recent tweets and their impressions and engagements. You can see this information for your tweets and replies by clicking on the menu at the top of this list. Click on a tweet to be shown more detailed information, including the number of impressions over the first 24 hours.
The right sidebar shows you graphs with information about the impact of your tweets over the past 28 days. Scroll over the graphs to see more detailed information. You can export the data if you want to save it or view it on a spreadsheet.
Followers
Click on Followers in the upper tool bar to get a fascinating look at the demographics of your followers. You can see how the number of your followers has grown over the past year in a line graph at the top of the page. Scroll over a date to see how many followers you had then.
You can also see lists of your followers’ interests. Scroll over each interest to see how many followers share that interest.
➪ Also see, The 15 Best Twitter Tips to Get More Followers!
One of the coolest insights is the location of your followers. You can see how many followers you have by country, state and city in a block graph. Scroll over each location to see the number of followers you have there. A list of cities where you’re most popular is below the block graph.
In the right column you can see the gender breakdown of your followers. Mine are 69% male and 31% female, which surprised me. You can also see a list of the most popular Twitter accounts that your followers are following.
➪ Also see, Free Twitter Analytic Tools: The Ultimate Guide for more ways to measure your Twitter reach.
Twitter Cards
Under Twitter Cards (if you have them enabled), you can see your biggest fans, those who tweeted you the most, as well as your followers with the biggest influence on Twitter.
Twitter Disclaimer
At the bottom of the analytics pages, Twitter advises: “The data reported on this page is an estimate, and should not be considered official for billing purposes.” So you can’t take these numbers to the bank, but you can certainly learn a lot from them.
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest has had analytics for a while but recently they were updated and greatly enhanced to show you your most popular pins and your biggest fans. Unlike Twitter, you may have no idea who is pinning and repinning your images because your best pinners may not be your followers.
Limited Access to Pinterest Analytics
Also unlike Twitter, Pinterest analytics aren’t available to everyone. You need to:
1) have a website and
2) get your website verified by Pinterest
➪ See, How to Verify Your Pinterest Account to find out how to verify your website on Pinterest.
After your website is verified you will see a check mark by your website on your Pinterest profile page.
How to Use Pinterest Analytics
In the upper right corner of any Pinterest page, click on Analytics. You’ll then go to your analytics page where you’ll see an overview of your activity on Pinterest over the past month. Below that information you will see which of your pins were the most popular in the past month.
Click on More in the upper right corner of each box or use the menu bar at the top of the page to see more analytics information.
With all information, you can view time periods of 7, 14 or 30 days.
You can see the number of impressions to your Pinterest profile, as well as the pins that got the most impressions. Pinterest will show you which pins were clicked and repinned the most. You can also see your all-time best pins.
Your Audience
Like Twitter you can see the demographics of your audience. You can see the demographics of your audience geographically and by gender. You can also see the interests of your audience and which boards have the most pins of yours. (Hint: be sure to follow those boards!)
➪ See, The Exciting New Pinterest Feature “Follow Your Interests” and What It Means for You!
Activity from Your Site
Perhaps most important to those of you with a website is the section on activity from your website. You can see the number of impressions the pins from your website got on Pinterest, as well as the growth (or decline) over time. Analytics also tell you which pins got the most repins and clicks. You can also see the most popular pins of all time from your site.
Click on the All Apps button on the right side of the page if you want to filter the results by the device used to pin, such as iPhone, Android phone, iPad, etc.
You can export the data if you want to analyze it on a spreadsheet.
My Analytics
My analytics for the past month are a bit skewed because I was away from the Internet for a week, which doesn’t happen in my typical month. Yet, in spite of my absence, my Pinterest impressions and traffic to this site grew tremendously.
My Twitter traffic was down this past month, which was to be expected because I didn’t tweet while I was away for a week. I will continue to look at these analytics in the future to get a more accurate picture of how social sharing is bringing readers to The Wonder of Tech.
Your Thoughts
Have you checked out Twitter and Pinterest analytics? Were you surprised by the results? Are the demographics of your audience what you expected? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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* Twitter and Pinterest ornament image (edited) courtesy of Esther Vargas via Flickr and Creative Commons
Hi Carolyn!
I love the Twitter analytics and have been peeking at it off and on. I don’t spend much time on Pinterest and didn’t even know they had that option available. The more goodies Twitter makes available for us, the more I love it! Twitter is by far my favorite social media app and giving it more bells and whistles, makes me that much happier!
Thanks for sharing this! Gladly passing it along.
B
Hi Bren, Yes, analytics can give us great insight into how we’re doing with social sharing. We may think that no one is listening and then be pleasantly surprised at our actual reach.
I’m a huge Twitter fan too, but Pinterest is definitely showing me more love lately. My traffic from Pinterest actually went up when I was away because people were repinning older pins. Before I looked at the analytics I had no idea that had happened.
I hope you find interesting information on both sites, Bren!
Hi Carolyn,
That surely was an informative post 🙂
Yes, I’d recently checked mine, especially when Pinterest came up with the ‘Interest’ feature as you had so many more options with that one option they came up with. I don’t usually stress much or think much about where the traffic comes from on both of these places, or any other social media, except for Google analytic, but if you do, it might just help you learn about the time you should be promoting your posts, according to that – need to try that out too.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice week ahead, while I enjoy my stay with Dad as I’m here for a few days for his 75th birthday! 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, both Twitter and Pinterest have given us greater insights into how we are using their sites. We can peek behind the curtain to see our audience, their genders, location and interests.
I found this information to be fascinating, even though I was away for a week this past month so my numbers aren’t representative of a typical month. But I was very impressed at how my Pinterest numbers actually grew while I was away!
Please wish your father a very happy birthday for me, Harleena!
Great post Carolyn. I am always in need of more information, and I actually had no idea about the new Twitter and Pinterest analytics. Always something new to learn in this world of blogging and social media!
Hi Carol, Yes, the thing about tech is that it never stops changing! Pinterest and Twitter analytics before were very basic, so this enhancement is a major change. People who enjoy looking at this sort of data will really appreciate this new information!
Wow Carolyn,
You’ve got some great information here. This is like a whole lesson in itself and I’ve got to take some time to really absorb this. I’m glad that Twitter now has analytics as I like Twitter and I get a lot of feedback and results from it. Now I’ll be able to really zone in who my audience is and where they are coming from. So important 🙂
Thanks again Carolyn and have a wonderful week ahead.
Blessings,
Liz
Hi Liz, Yes, both Twitter and Pinterest have given us a lot of information to digest. Both sites present their information in manageable formats so you don’t have to struggle to find what you need.
I think you’ll really enjoy the new analytics from Twitter and Pinterest, Liz!
There are not enough useful tech blogs out there for the low tech mom and dad or the average, tech-minded netizen – not by citizen journalists. Carolyn’s Wonder of Tech blog is a rare jewel. And I’ve been following it for years and years. I also think she rocks and I’m not afraid to say it.
Carolyn explains where to go and how to use the data to measure your performance. I checked mine out and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I’m doing a little better than I had estimated.
Hi Stan, Thank you so very much for those kind words. I’m proud to have you as a loyal reader of The Wonder of Tech and appreciate deeply your endorsement of my site.
That’s great your data was better than you expected it to be. Sometimes we don’t realize how broad the reach of our message can be. Congratulations on your social media success, Stan!
Hi Carolyn,
You have given a great news. 🙂
Now it will be easy to check up the growth at these two social networks.
As we all know that Twitter is one of the leading social platform to use so it’s users need to figure out their old days and present.
They should know how many followers they get and how many they followed? Which tweet was awesome last week a lot more. I hope these things can be known from it’s analytics.
Though I don’t use Pinterest much but still it’s users need it’s analytics too.
Such an effective post. 🙂
Enjoy rest of the week.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, I’m so glad you enjoyed this article and found it helpful. Yes, there are many other Twitter analytics tools you can use to analyze the data. With Twitter analytics you can see a graph of the number of followers you have had over time. Hover over any date to see the number of followers you had then.
Yes, you can see your most popular tweets easily and drill down to see its impact during the first 24 hours after it was posted.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Ravi.
great article, the incorporation of the analytics feature on both social media platforms is a good way to gauge your target audience
Hi Janine, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed this article. You’re right, we should look at our analytics to determine our effectiveness on social media.
Hi Carolyn,
I have read about these two new analytic launches from Pinterest and Twiiter some time back. Though, I never tried them yet. I am new to twitter and is busy in some work. But, with a proper overview of the Twitter analytic now I can see the impressions, clicks, demographics and everything which will surely help me in getting the better exposure about what I tweet.
Hi Aditya, Yes, if you’re new to Twitter then viewing your analytics becomes especially important. You need to learn about your audience and which tweets are successful. For example, do you do better when you tweet about one subject or a variety of topics? Twitter analytics can tell you that.
Good luck with Twitter, Aditya!
I think that it would be interesting for me to see how my web analytics match up with what Twitter is saying.
The one thing that I would caution when using impressions with Twitter analytics is that it is impartial to how much you tweeted that day. I’m sure there would be a correlation between that. It would be more helpful to see engagements overlaid on the chart.
I’d be interested to see someone’s analysis comparing impressions/engagement with tweets containing #, those without any, and those with @ replies in them. You would need to be consistent with the tweets around the same times for best accuracy. Maybe soon someone will.
Hi Qadir, Excellent point. Your success on Twitter may be tied to how much you tweet. There is such a thing as too much tweeting but in general people don’t tweet enough to get engagement.
Check out the link in the article for other Twitter analytics tools to see the advanced data you’re looking for. You’re right, using #hashtags and @ mentioning others can really improve engagement.
I have gone through twitter and pinterest analytics. Both are awesome. Earlier we were sharing a lots of content on pinterest but wont able to track result now after launching analytics we will have full access to see how our shared content performing.
Hi Manash, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, the older analytics format on Pinterest didn’t give us nearly as much useful information as the new analytics do. By taking a few minutes to see your analytics you can see how to make the best use of Pinterest.
Hi Carolyn!
Thanks for sharing this interesting information…. 🙂
I am going to try this right away… But I heard that for many people it is asking for the credit card (Twitter) details… It is True???..
This analytics is only for my profile or for any Twitter handle I can see the results????…
Regards…
Hi Karmakar, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I have never given my credit card number to Twitter. Formerly only accounts that purchased advertising on Twitter got access to analytics. Now everyone can get access to analytics on Twitter.
You get access to analytics for your account on Twitter, not for any other account.
Hey Carolyn,
That is SO cool, I didn’t know about this. I’ve been out of town and behind on everything so thank you for sharing this with us.
I went over and pulled up my Twitter analytics because you know I’m not active on Pinterest (although I will check it out because I’m curious) and boy was that some darn good information. I’ve got a few sites saved to look at when I have time, LOL, to see how I can get more analytics from my Twitter account and you just solved that for me in this post. Yay!!! Doing the happy dance over there Carolyn.
Thank you again and I’m excited now!
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I’m so glad this article was helpful to you! It’s not easy to teach you tech stuff about Twitter, you’re a pro there. But since you’ve been out of town you probably missed this important update.
I’ve been using Twitter analytics a lot and am very impressed with all I can learn there! I hope you find some interesting information there, Adrienne.