Google recently released new tools to track the impact of social media plugins such as tweets, likes and +1s. 

 

The +1 metrics in Google Webmaster Tools provide three reports – Search, Activity and Audience – that show you how the +1 button affects traffic to your website.

Search Report – indicates how +1 button affects your site performance through organic search results. The report shows the list of pages that have the most +1 annotated impressions and the click through rate (CTR) with or without a +1 button.

Activity Report – indicates how many times a page has been +1’d on your site. The report shows the amount of users that +1’d from your site and other sites.

Audience Report – shows the geographic and demographic information of users that have +1’d your site.

The social plugin tracking tool for analytics tracks not only the +1 button, but also tweets, likes and any other social sharing action on your website. The social tracking tool generates three reports- Social Engagement, Social Actions and Social Pages. In order to track other social plugins, Google provides the code to be placed on your site.

Social Engagement Report – shows behavior changes for visitors to your site through social plugins.

Social Actions Report- tracks the number of clicks from a social plugin.

 

Social Pages Report- shows the pages on the site that drive the most social actions.

 

Google indicates that this is only the beginning of social reporting. As people continue to interact, businesses will find the value that social actions are providing to their bottom line.