Google Tag Manager - What Does it Mean for Marketers?
“Google Tag Manager is a free tool that consolidates your website tags with a single snippet of code and lets you manage everything from a web interface.”
Sounds good… but what exactly does this mean for marketers working in the digital space who are being ever more charged with refining and increasing ROI, adding value and making a tangible impact?
Well, as Google puts it in their oh-so-handy video, ‘Google Tag Manager puts you, the marketer, back in control of your digital marketing’. Using tags to help optimise marketing efforts and increase web traffic shouldn’t be neglected, and Google Tag Manager, promises to make this process easier and quicker. For those of us who don’t have code running through our veins, free tools such as this, that simplify the organisation and administration of digital information comes as a welcome solution.
Integrating online and social within campaigns to reach the people that matter comes naturally to PRs that have embraced the new way of communicating. New platforms are popping up on a regular basis, each with unique elements to suit an infinite number of demographics. Engaging in compelling conversations with target audiences is one of the more appealing aspects of the comms world.
To evaluate the success of these conversations, tools have been available on the market for some time, both free and paid for, that increasingly allow us to relay the reams of digital data into a digestible format. Devices and gadgets that let us splice and dice information to achieve insights into what’s working, what’s not, where you need to be and who you need to be there with have become indispensable to online marketers.
The issue that is presenting itself now is that of how to ensure that an independent voice is maintained in the analytics process. As helpful as Google Tag Manager is – it’s not going to change the market, or inspire innovation unless it’s utilised alongside critical thinking. No matter how robust a tool is, how reliable the source is, or indeed whether it’s paid for not, it’s still crucial to assert an objective, critical view towards results.
As a PR professional in the ever-converging world of communications, I believe that the value of insight is the extent to which it allows you to strategise effectively. This is something that should certainly not be forgotten about when shiny new developments come to the fore.
Take a look at Google’s blog explaining the thinking behind the tag management system.
Photo (c) Google Tag Manager
Grace Park is an Account Manager at communications agency, theblueballroom
