Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

If you change Tumblr themes and had Google Analytics code installed, make sure you add the code to the new theme. D’oh.

Earlier this week, I saw a Tweet about adding Google Analytics (GA) to a Facebook (FB) fan page, so naturally I checked it out. The blog post came from a London-based Web development company called WebDigi, so kudos to them for sharing this with the rest of the world.

The only problem I found with the blog post is that their instructions aren’t very clear, as evidenced by the numerous questions that appeared in the comments section. So, after piecing together the responses and doing a little trial and error myself, I decided to come up with a soup-to-nuts list of steps for implementing WebDigi’s strategy for adding GA to FB.

1.) For starters, you will need to create a new Google Analytics (GA) account for your Facebook fan page. This is completely separate from any other analytics you use to track other sites - this GA account is specifically for your Facebook fan page.

2.) If you don’t have a Gmail account, get a free account at Google.com and then visit Google.com/analytics to get started.

3.) Once you add a new site to GA, you will get some code to add to your site. Do not copy the entire set of code. Instead, just look for a small string of code that looks something like “UA-12345678-9.” Copy this string of code and move on to the next step.

4.) Visit http://ga.webdigi.co.uk/ and generate an image tag by using Webdigi’s code generator. (You’ll need your Google Analytics UA code you copied in step 3.)

5.) Enter your GA code in the first box, facebook.com in the second box, page link information in the third box, and the page title in the last box. Then click “Generate Code.”

6.) Copy the code and then move on to the next step.

7.) Go to the Static FBML Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Static+FBML&init=quick#!/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&ref=search&sid=616126479.2955418844..1

8.) In the upper left, click on “Add to my Page” and choose the fan page(s) you’d like to add FBML to and click “Close” when you’re done.

9.) Go to your Facebook fan page and click on “Edit Page” just below your page’s profile picture.

10.) Under “Applications” look for FBML and click on “Edit”

11.) Change the Box Title to whatever you want (i.e. Links, Contact Info, etc.)

12.) Paste the code from step 6 into the big text box labeled “FMBL:” (You can also add other text, but just put the code at the bottom.)

13.) Click “Save Changes”.

14.) Go back to your page.

15.) Click on the “Boxes” tab. (If you do not have Boxes enabled, click on the big plus (+) button and add it.

16.) Look for the box with the title you created in step 11. For this example, we used “Thanks for stopping by!” Click on the pencil icon on the right - this is the “edit” button.

17.) A drop-down menu will appear - click on “Move to Wall tab”

18.) This step is purely optional. It’s more for aesthetics. After you add the box to your Wall, you will be taken to your Facebook fan page home page (usually your Wall unless you’ve changed it). Look in the left column for the “Google Analytics” box, which is blank. Roll your cursor over the header, click and move it to the bottom of the left column.

19.) If you used FBML to create custom tabs (i.e. pages) for your Facebook fan page, you can add the same code (from step 11) to the bottom of each of your FBML custom pages.

20.) That’s it, you’re all done.

Now all you have to do is sit back and wait a day or two for Google to pick up on the tracking code you added to your Facebook pages. If you have questions, or would like us to blog about a specific topic, please let us know by leaving a comment below.