Whether you’re new to Mediatool, exploring untapped potential, or refreshing your memory on Integrations, welcome! In this quick guide, we’re going to step through Integrations in detail: why they’re useful, and how you can get the most value from third-party data.
Why Integrations are the secret weapon in our media planning software
Integrations funnel all your campaign data from third-party sources into a single centralised platform. Rather than hunting down data across the media landscape, Integrations bring all that information into your Mediatool account.
Essentially, Integrations are Mediatool-in-miniature. They take you straight to the solution, saving enormous amounts of time and energy.
From there, you put the data to work:
- Craft a campaign story based on data
- Make mid-campaign ad spend adjustments
- Compare periods or platforms against each other
- Track progress against campaign targets
- Generate instant reports
This kind of insight and data control is the key to improving marketing results and media planning effectiveness.
Data sources you can track with Mediatool Integrations
Integrations are always evolving. As of October 2020, these are the data sources available to marketers and media planners:
- Facebook Marketing
- Facebook Pages
- Google Ads
- Google Analytics
- Google Campaign Manager (DCM)
- Instagram Pages
- LinkedIn Marketing
- LinkedIn Pages
- Connecting different sources from the same platform
One of the ways Mediatool media planning software improves campaign results is by giving users greater control over their data. More insight means better business decisions. In some cases – for example, LinkedIn and Facebook – this means setting up concurrent data connections for slightly different products within the third-party platform.
For example:
Globalcom* launches a new product. They push one set of creative assets out through the corporate Facebook Page, and another, more targeted set of assets through Instagram and Facebook Ads.
By setting up different Integrations, results across all platforms appear as individual data streams.
Globacom’s marketing department knows exactly how each platform performs, down to the detail contained in the data.
Or, if we take a different example:
BeautyMaxCorp* is running a brand awareness campaign for a new eco-friendly make-up brand. Most of the activity is focussed on Instagram, with a Google Ads spend and sponsored posts on LinkedIn.
At the same time, BeautyMaxCorp is launching a new product by advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Integrations allow the BeautyMaxCorp team to track individual assets, funnel data into the correct campaign dashboard, and collect real-time insights.
(We made up the names Globalcom and BeautyMaxCorp for this blog, but you probably figured that out).
How to set up an Integration
1. Find Integrations
You’ll find Integrations in the Settings section of Mediatool, under the heading “External Data”. Here is where you can set up a new Integration, view and manage existing Integrations and remove Integrations.
2. Make the connection
Choose the platform you want to pull data from. Select “Manage or Add” then “Add connection”.
This will temporarily redirect you to the platform you’re trying to link, and you’ll need to sign in with a registered account.
3. Choose which the data to fetch
Make sure you select the right data source!
- Sign in to the correct page, account or profile
- Make sure you’re registered on the account
- Choose when to start pulling historical data
Mediatool is powerful enough to pull an ample amount of historical data. Most Integrations will give you historical information up to 12 months in the past, longer in some cases.
4. Select measures and splits by yourself or by a template
Data is a beautiful thing – if you use it correctly. Once you establish a link, choose which measures to track in Mediatool. Here’s a handy tip:
Measures are from the source. They might be bounce rate on Google Analytics, reach on Facebook, impressions on LinkedIn.
Dimensions are the parameters, or splits, for the measures. For example, your Google Ads Integration might track bounce rate by device, or conversions by click type. Facebook might measure the reach of a specific campaign, or the impressions generated by an ad set. LinkedIn might show the cost (in local currency) of a particular piece of creative, or the landing page clicks over a campaign.
Mediatool fields and categories might have different names than some sources. This is because different platforms use different taxonomy, so we’ve standardised the language on our platform. For example, “Creative” on LinkedIn and “Ad” on Facebook are both “Ad” in Mediatool.
You can also automate this process by using one of the many Integration templates available. Simply hit “Select Template” and see if the data you need is already there.
Pause here. If you need help setting up your first connection, get in touch with your Customer Success person to go through the process at your pace.
5. Save!
Once you’re happy with the measures and dimensions, save your connection. You can always go back and add another connection, delete a misaligned Integration, or reach out to us for support.
This is the fun part…
We recently added a button that works like a magic wand in Integrations. After setting up an Integration, you’ll see the button “Create Dashboard”. This automatically populates a beautiful interactive dashboard where you can see real-time results in action.
Dashboards are your gateway to making better decisions with data. You can add or edit charts, move data around, play with the colours and create reports instantly.
What else can dashboards do? Read our article “5 Dashboard Hacks In Under 5 Minutes”.
Enjoy your Integration
How easy was that? Integrations are a powerful Mediatool feature with the potential to save you hours every week. Forget tracking down disparate data across multiple platforms. Instead, use Integrations to bring the data home to your all-in-one media planning software, Mediatool.
Reach out to your Customer Success Manager for help setting up an Integration or understanding Dashboards in more detail.
