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How to Create a Social Media Dashboard in Google Analytics

Cody Schneider•

Trying to prove the value of your social media efforts can feel like chasing ghosts. You know it's driving traffic and creating buzz, but connecting that activity to tangible results like leads and sales is a constant struggle. Building a dedicated social media dashboard directly within Google Analytics cuts through the noise. This article will walk you through, step-by-step, how to create a custom dashboard in Google Analytics 4 that tells you exactly which platforms and campaigns are working, so you can stop guessing and start making data-driven decisions.

Why You Need a Dedicated Social Media Dashboard

Your social media performance data is scattered. You have vanity metrics on Facebook, reach numbers on Instagram, click data on X, and engagement stats on LinkedIn. While each platform’s native analytics are useful, they only tell part of the story. They can't tell you what happens after a user clicks a link and lands on your website.

That's where Google Analytics comes in, but its standard reports lump all social traffic together, making it difficult to isolate the performance of specific channels or campaigns. A custom dashboard solves this by pulling all relevant social media data into one unified, easy-to-read view.

Here’s what a dedicated dashboard helps you do:

  • Unify Your Reporting: See traffic, engagement, and conversion data from all your social channels in one place instead of jumping between a dozen different analytics platforms.

  • Identify Top-Performing Platforms: Instantly see which networks - Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. - drive the most valuable traffic, not just the most clicks.

  • Measure Campaign ROI: Go beyond likes and shares to see which specific social media campaigns are actually leading to sales, form submissions, or newsletter sign-ups.

  • Justify Your Social Media Spend: Provide clear, concise reports to stakeholders that directly connect social media activity to key business objectives.

Getting Started: The Pre-Dashboard Checklist

Before you start building widgets, you need to ensure Google Analytics is collecting the right data. A dashboard is only as good as the information it displays. Here are two critical things you need to have in place.

1. Goal Tracking (or 'Conversions' in GA4)

To measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts, you must first define what a "win" looks like for your business on your website. In Google Analytics, these wins are tracked as Conversions. If you don't set these up, you can track traffic all day, but you'll never know if that traffic is actually doing anything valuable.

Common conversions for businesses include:

  • A user purchasing a product.

  • A visitor filling out a contact or lead generation form.

  • Someone signing up for your email newsletter.

  • A user creating an account on your website.

In GA4, many common events like a purchase (purchase) are automatically tracked when set up correctly. For others, like form submissions, you may need to configure them yourself. Navigate to Admin > Conversions in your GA4 property to see which events are marked as conversions and to create new ones. Make sure the most important user actions on your site are being tracked as conversions before you proceed.

2. Consistent UTM Tagging

This is arguably the most important step for accurate social media tracking. Without proper tagging, Google Analytics often misattributes social media traffic, lumping it into the "Direct" or "Referral" traffic buckets. This makes your social efforts look less effective than they truly are.

UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are simple tags that you add to the end of a URL. When someone clicks a link with these tags, they tell Google Analytics exactly where that user came from. A UTM-tagged URL might look like this:

Here's a breakdown:

  • utm_source: The platform the traffic is from (e.g., facebook, linkedin, twitter).

  • utm_medium: The marketing channel (e.g., social, cpc, email). For organic social, just using social is standard practice.

  • utm_campaign: The specific campaign you're running (e.g., summer_sale, q4_webinar, new_product_launch).

Use Google's Campaign URL Builder to easily create these links for every post, ad, and link in your bio. A consistent UTM strategy is the foundation of a meaningful social media dashboard.

Building Your Social Media Dashboard in Google Analytics 4

Creating a "dashboard" in GA4 is slightly different from the old Universal Analytics. Instead of a single widget-based dashboard, you'll create a collection of custom reports and then publish them to a new section in your left-hand menu. Think of it as creating your own custom reporting hub dedicated to social media.

Step 1: Navigate to the Reports Library

In the left-hand navigation of GA4, click on Reports. At the very bottom of this menu, you'll see a folder icon labeled Library. This is your command center for creating and organizing custom reports.

Step 2: Create Your First Report - Social Traffic Overview

Let's start with a high-level view of which social channels are sending you the most traffic.

  1. From the Library, click + Create new report and select Create detail report.

  2. Choose the Traffic acquisition report template.

  3. Click the Dimensions button on the right side. Make sure the Primary Dimension is Session default channel group. You can add Session source / medium as a secondary dimension.

  4. Click the Metrics button and ensure you have key metrics selected, such as Users, Sessions, Engaged sessions, and Conversions.

  5. Now, let's filter this report to show only social media traffic. At the bottom of the right sidebar, under 'Report Filter', click + Add filter.

  6. Configure the filter:

    • Dimension: Session default channel group

    • Match Type: exactly matches

    • Value: Organic Social

    • Or add another condition where the Dimension exactly matches Paid Social.

  7. Click Apply. You should now see a report that only includes traffic from your social channels.

  8. Click the Save button in the top right, name the report "Social Traffic Overview," and click Save again.

Step 3: Create a Report for Conversions by Social Network

Next, we want to see which specific social networks are driving conversions and revenue.

  1. Again, click + Create new report and Create detail report from the Library. You can use the Traffic acquisition template again.

  2. Set your primary Dimension to Session source. This will show you facebook.com, linkedin.com, t.co (for X), etc.

  3. For Metrics, focus on Users, Conversions, and Total revenue (if you have an e-commerce site).

  4. Apply the same filter as before to include only the Organic Social and Paid Social default channel groups.

  5. Save the report with the name "Conversions by Social Network."

Step 4: Create a Report for Top Social Landing Pages

This report will show which of your website’s pages are getting the most traffic from social media, helping you understand what content resonates most with your social audience.

  1. Create another new detail report. This time, choose the Landing page report template.

  2. The primary dimension, Landing page + query string, is already set, which is what we want.

  3. For Metrics, let's include Sessions, Engagement rate, and Conversions. This will show not just how many people visit, but how engaged they are and if they convert.

  4. Apply the filter for Organic Social and Paid Social channel groups.

  5. Save the report as "Top Social Landing Pages."

Step 5: Create a Report for Campaign Performance

Thanks to your diligent UTM tagging, this final report connects it all together, showing you the performance of individual campaigns.

  1. Create a new detail report using the Traffic acquisition template.

  2. Set the primary Dimension to Session campaign.

  3. For Metrics, include Sessions, Conversions, and your key conversion events on their own (e.g., form_submit or purchase). Don't forget Total revenue if applicable.

  4. Apply the same filter for Organic Social and Paid Social.

  5. Save the report as "Social Media Campaign Performance."

Assembling Your Social Media "Dashboard" Collection

Now that you've created your custom reports (the "widgets" of your dashboard), it's time to group them into an accessible collection that lives right in your main reporting navigation.

  1. Back in the Library, find the section called 'Collections' and click + Create new collection.

  2. Choose the Blank template.

  3. Give your collection a name. A simple name like "Social Media Dashboard" works perfectly.

  4. On the right side, you'll see a panel labeled "Drag reports to create collection." Drag the four reports you just created (Social Traffic Overview, Conversions by Social Network, Top Social Landing Pages, and Social Media Campaign Performance) over to the left panel under a topic name like 'Social Media Performance'.

  5. Click Save.

  6. Find your newly created "Social Media Dashboard" collection in the Library. Click the three vertical dots on its card and select Publish.

Congratulations! A new "Social Media Dashboard" section will now appear in your left-hand Reports navigation, giving you one-click access to all your key social media reports.

Final Thoughts

By building this custom social media reporting hub in Google Analytics, you've moved from scattered data points to a centralized source of truth. You can now clearly identify what's working, what isn't, and confidently prove the value of your social media strategy to your team or clients, optimizing your efforts for real business growth.

While powerful, setting this up in GA4 requires manual steps, and getting answers to new questions can mean building another custom report every time. This is precisely why we built Graphed. We connect directly to your Google Analytics, social media platforms, ad accounts, and CRM. You can then simply ask questions in plain English, like "Show me our top converting landing pages from Facebook last month" or "create a dashboard comparing paid vs organic social conversions," and get a live, interactive dashboard built for you in seconds. It allows you to get straight to the insights without the setup.