What You Need to Know About the Shift to Google Analytics 4

computer showing google analytics

 

When Europe updated its privacy and security laws in 2018 aka GDPR, Universal Analytics (UA)
essentially became illegal. Many other countries followed suit in updating their privacy
legislation including New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, and even the state of California. This change in
policy resulted in Google announcing the rollout of Google Analytics 4, offering up increased
privacy, security, and control over your data.

What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 (or GA4) is a completely new version of Google Analytics replacing the
current Universal Analytics. It measures website and app traffic together, instead of being
tracked separately.

How is GA4 different?
GA4 and UA differ in how they view and track page views and screen views, user sessions,
content groupings, custom dimensions, and more.

Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics: What’s Changing?

Data collection
With the advent of omnichannel e-commerce, GA4 collects data from both web and apps to let
businesses see unified user journeys and customer life cycles across different platforms.

Event-based tracking
UA measured users by tracking sessions on platforms and devices. This resulted in missed
opportunities and data loss when switching devices. Now, GA4 uses an event-based data model
to track user behavior. Using user IDs and unique Google signals, it’s much easier to follow
users along the customer journey.

With the shift to event and parameter tracking, GA4 introduced engagement metrics such as
engaged sessions, engaged time, and engagement rate. This is a big shift from how you were
able to track metrics in UA.

Data control and privacy
In the wake of data privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA, GA4 offers new data controls for users
to keep their privacy. These data privacy options include the user's ability to:

● Control how their data is collected, retained, and shared.
● Decide whether the data collected can be used to deliver personalized ads.
● Delete Analytics data by submitting a request to Google.
● GA4 only stores data for 14 months and doesn’t carry over historical data from UA.
When you switch to Google Analytics 4, it only collects data going forward, so
transitioning early is critical.

No IP Collection
Unlike its predecessor, GA4 does not collect IP addresses or store cookies.

Machine learning
GA4 applies machine learning technologies to fill in data gaps versus first and third-party
cookies with UA. Predictive analytics finds trends in user behavior, allowing you to provide
more intelligent insights and create forecasts.

In-depth Reporting
GA4 introduces Explorations, which lets you access data and analytical techniques that aren’t
available in UA’s default reports. These features give you a more in-depth look at your data to
answer complex questions.

Expanded integration
GA4 was designed to work better with other products such as Google Ads, and Google Data
Studio.

I need help making the switch to GA4.

The Digital Team at AW has been hard at work transitioning our clients to GA4 to ensure
historical data is recorded and future data collection is started early.

If you need help in making the transition, ArachnidWorks is here to help. Contact us today!

The Top 7 Digital Marketing Myths of 2021

digital marketing on computer screen

Marketing is constantly changing, evolving to meet new technologies and audiences. One thing remains constant, however: digital marketing holds the key to a business’ success or failure.

If you’ve been researching your own digital marketing strategy, chances are you’ve read a lot of misinformation that will make even the best plans ineffective. We call these marketing myths. Here are the top seven digital marketing myths of 2021.

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Meet Heather Bohn, Senior Project Manager

As we continue to help more businesses to grow, we’re also growing our own. We happily introduce Heather Bohn, our new Senior Project Manager!

As you can see from the picture, Heather brings an air of positivity with her in addition to her extensive project management experience. Whether it’s during a friendly chat at the lunch table or a down-to-business discussion in the conference room, you can’t help but be in a good mood when she’s around.

Before she started here, Heather spent ten years filling various roles within patient recruitment marketing. After taking a three and a half year break from the office to focus on being a stay-at-home mother, she made her return to the workforce at a local marketing company. In her time there, she was a Project Manager and Director. This impressive history is exactly why we know she’ll be right at home here. Able to wear many hats, she has a soft spot (and a magic touch) for Project Managing.

But enough about the professional. What about the person? Heather has three daughters and a fiancé whom she spends as much time with as she can. That time usually involves exploring the outdoors. Mountains, woods, rivers… the list goes on. If it’s in nature, she belongs there. What’s even more intriguing is that she’s an ordained minister, so if you’re looking for someone to officiate your wedding, we know a gal.

Oh, and she’s a dog person, so she definitely belongs at AW. Welcome to the team, Heather!

AW President & CEO Monica Kolbay Participates in Digital Marketing Webinar

As we return to more normalcy after a year of pandemic-enforced restrictions, we’ve noticed that many of our clients are asking us to help them embrace more aspects of digital marketing. Obviously, digital marketing has been trending upward for the past 10 years or more, but recent factors have caused interest to skyrocket.

Our President & CEO Monica Kolbay recently joined two other thought leaders in the digital marketing field in a one-hour webinar entitled “Banking on Digital Marketing with Stories That Connect.” Jay Sedgwick, Banking Industry Specialist of WebbMason Marketing, led the webinar.
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A Sign of the Times

arachnidworks sign
Hey, Frederick locals—have you walked by our offices at 47 South Carroll Street lately? Did you notice anything new?

If not, glance up next time. With the help of AMI, our brand new signs are in place! Another local business and one of our former neighbors on Pegasus Court, AMI did a great job creating attractive signage that complements the one-of-a-kind 19th century building that has housed our offices.since last February.

You’ll notice that our traditional AW burgundy is set off with a border of light-hearted green—we think the combination is a fun graphic update for our business as we continue to grow and thrive in our new location.

Working in one of Downtown Frederick’s historic buildings just steps away from the Carroll Creek Linear Park is a creative opportunity we’ve only just begun to explore. Hanging these signs was the next step in making our new building our forever home.

AW sign by Carroll Street

Merry Christmas From ArachnidWorks!

AW Blitzkreig Team
‘Tis the season for ugly sweaters, too much food, and general holiday merrymaking—and everyone at AW was in it to win it at our annual holiday party.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s plans were a bit more sedate than in previous years, but a physically distant, masked good time was still had by all. We closed at noon and spent the afternoon enjoying monster subs from South Market Street Sandwiches (#trythe4sisters) with all the trimmings, playing games, listening to holiday music, and basking in the glow of our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. As always, the highlight was the presentation of the annual A-Dub Awards, where each of our unique contributions to life at Arachnidworks, Inc. is recognized and applauded.

For a bunch of geeks, we’re a highly competitive lot. Project Manager Joel Layman’s Grinch sweater helped him win top honors in the Best Holiday Attire contest, followed by a round of games as a warm up to the main event later in the afternoon. We ended up declaring a draw between designer Drew Ahrens and copywriter on the Holiday Trivia Game (just to keep the peace), but Wes Stull was the clear winner of Name That Tune.

Next we enjoyed some holiday hijinx at ClueIQ, one of Frederick’s escape rooms around the corner from our offices at 47 South Carroll Street. If you’ve never been to an escape room, it’s a live-action adventure in which two or more players have to use hidden elements to find clues, solve the puzzle, and produce a solution in less than an hour…not unlike working in advertising and marketing, so we all felt right at home.

This was our first holiday season in our new Downtown digs, so being within sight of Carroll Creek added to the festive vibe. A lot of things feel different this year, but the most important things are the same as they ever were—we’re grateful for our talented team, and another wonderful year of helping our clients thrive and meet their goals!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at AW!

AW Camelot Escape Room Team 1

Lumberjakkss & AW Team-up For Co-branded Boat

co-branded boat at frederick office building

We would like to say a special THANK YOU to Lumberjakkss for creating this AWESOME co-branded boat for us!

We love it and we love having Lumberjakkss as a client!

If you’re strolling along Carroll Creek, be sure to check out this work of art on the wall behind our building!

boat being lifted

back of co-branded boat

Advertising & Marketing in the Time of COVID


It would be hard to find a segment of American life that has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic—and sales and marketing are no exception. Influencer Marketing Hub (IMH), a US-based marketing strategy company, recently surveyed 237 brands of all sizes to see how they the coronavirus public health crisis has affected them, and combined those results with additional COVID-related sales and marketing statistics to create an overall snapshot of lessons and trends.

General Findings

• Some industries have been and will continue to be more affected than others. Luxury, travel, and service-related companies are struggling to survive, while business that have been classified as “essential” are struggling to meet demand.
• Companies that rely on “old media” are especially at risk. Prestigious publishers have already ceased publication of well-known, long-running publications, with more likely to come.
• Both small (less than 50 employees) and large companies (more than 1,000 employees) surveyed express significant concern over the coronavirus’s impact, and are strategizing carefully about how to market their way through the economic downturn.

Findings from the IMH Survey:

Ad Spends

• 69% of brands expect they will decrease their ad spend in 2020. Many companies indicated that there is either a high likelihood that they will be decreasing their ad spend this year, the majority from regions still in lockdown.
• 25% indicated they will increase their ad spend during the latter half of 2020.
Whereas the majority of companies indicated that they have switched to survival mode, it was interesting to note that one company out of four indicated that it would increase marketing activities.

COVID-19 has had a massive impact on the media, but this impact has been very uneven. There are clear winners and losers:

• Winners:
o There has been increased interest in news. This sector saw a 52% increase in ad spending from before the global impact.
o Other areas to have seen rises in ad spending in that timeframe include hobbies & interests (31%), technology & computing (14%), and education (13%). Notably, these are all activities that can be consumed at home.
o e-Commerce companies doubled their ad spending in the four weeks between February 17 and March 9—a trend that has continued. Ad spend from e-Commerce sites doubled from $4.8 million for a trailing four-week period starting on February 17 to $9.6 million for the week of March 9. Brands that operate both an online and physical presence have moved their marketing to the web.

• Losers
o Of course, many sectors have cut back on their advertising activity. At 72%, the most significant drop in ad spending is for law, government, and politics
o At a spending slowdown of 65% is the travel sector, making it the most significantly affected private-sector group.
o There were also noticeable drops in ad spending on sports (40%), science (26%), and family & parenting (24%).

Social Media

Especially in places that experienced strict lockdown, people turned to social media in increasing numbers for information. They have also used videoconferencing and messaging apps to remain in contact with families, friends, work colleagues, and clients.

• In March when stay-at-home orders began, nearly three quarters of the firms surveyed reported having slowed down their social media posting after closing or slowing down activities. This number rose significantly after social media managers settled into working from home.

• Early in the pandemic, IMH’s research indicated that 34% of respondents indicated a shift in social network preference from Instagram to Twitter, presumably because of its focus on news. A significant number of respondents reported increasing their Facebook usage, although this may have been more to check in on their family and friends than for work activities.

• Facebook has seen a definite surge in the use of both Messenger and WhatsApp over the last few months, reporting 70% more time spent across their apps and a doubling of live views in a week. They saw messaging increase over 50% and time in group calling (calls with three or more participants) increase by over 1,000% during March. The countries with the strictest lockdowns have seen the highest use in messaging apps.

Email Campaigns

A possibly surprising stat relates to email open rates during the time that consumers stay at home.

• Email open rates have risen by up to 25% week-on-week in retail. Clearly, people have more time on their hands at the moment and can devote more of it to opening and reading their emails.
• Daily email open rates are generally increasing by 5-10% each week.
• Email opens and resulting interactions have increased more on desktop than mobile. Clearly, more people are working at home on their laptops, which they use to check their emails, rather than their smartphones, as they have previously. Reading email communications on the desktop provides a less distracting browsing experience than on mobile devices, and consumers are taking more time to read longer content.

A study by Pattern89 has noticed a shift in the types of imagery used by brands in social media ads during the pandemic. They found 27.4% fewer images showing models hugging or shaking hands in ads on Facebook and Instagram. According to the study, images and videos displaying water splashing, hand/face washing, or cleaning have risen at six times the regular rate.

Last week, despite the prediction that the global ad market would shrink by 7%, or $42 billion, a new study from Viamedia shows marketers are quickly adapting. According to the study, 83% of US businesses have overhauled their marketing strategies for a post-pandemic world. (Viamedia’s findings are based on a survey among business owners [59%] and advertising agencies on behalf of businesses [29%], conducted between May 15 and May 27.)

The study found that despite the economic downturn, there remains a strong need for advertising—45% of business owners from various industries say they’re seeking creative incentives for advertising. 40% of respondents also reported an annual marketing budget of at least $75,000—over half of which was allotted to advertising.
More than 46% of respondents say they’re offering incentives and promotions to drive sales and continue operating during the downturn, while 10% have shifted to digital operations, and 9% plan to expand. Still, 28% report that they are looking for guidance on how to change their marketing strategy to weather the pandemic.

This latest study reports that many respondents expressed optimism over their post-pandemic futures, with 36% saying they felt their business would be the same as it was pre-pandemic.

Marketing in the Post-COVID Era


During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most state and local governments created and enforced stay-at-home orders to help slow the transmission of the novel coronavirus. With movie theaters, swimming pools, bowling alleys, churches, and other large venues locked down, people turned to other activities to fill their hours—and much of those involved screens. These are the top ways marketing is changing in the post-COVID era.

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