How to get started with Google Data Studio Community Connectors

Online businesses around the world survive and grow on data. But with the increasing volume of data, it’s become a little challenging for marketers to extract the maximum value out of the large data chunks.

If you, too, feel exhausted spending hours pulling reports than working on actual insights, then this article can be your light at the end of the tunnel.

Here, we will discuss the most powerful data visualization tools that will make reporting efficient and your life easier.

Yes, we are talking about Google Data Studio and how its introduction in mid-2016 revolutionized the way data is visualized in organizations.

What is Google Data Studio?

Google Data Studio is a free-to-use, fully customizable data visualization tool that combines data from several sources to provide a unique reporting experience. With this tool, analysts get the power to use every bit of crucial data and get insights that help them make result-driven decisions.

With this tool, importing data from sources like Analytics, Google Ads, Campaign Manager 360, Google BigQuery, and others becomes a simpler task to accomplish.

Google Data Studio and its community of connectors

With over 370 data connectors, a.k.a community connectors, Google Data Studio enables direct connections to any internet-accessible data source. They even create reports and dashboards and keep them updated by fetching the latest data from sources like social media platforms, CRMs, finance, search, advertising, etc.

With real-time data integration, analysts can save hours of pulling reports and work on actionable insights.

Are you ready to get started with Google Data Studio Community Connectors?

To create a Google Data Studio Report, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Choose A Template

Start with choosing a template from the pool of a wide range of options. The selection of the template should be based on the type of data you want to project. After choosing a template, you get the flexibility to customize the font and items to create a more specific reporting format.

Once the report is created, multiple pages can be added to it to showcase each data set separately to deliver clear business insights.

Step 2: Add Data Sources

Google data studio offers more than 370 connectors (including third-party connectors) and the power to build one that connects Google data studio to any on-premise and cloud data sources.

To add data sources, go to the toolbar and click on “Add data source.”

Step 3: Choose Metrics

Reporting is done to make sense out of the data dump, not to create more confusion. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to use all metrics just because you have the option to use them.

Use metrics that provide a clear peek into the business operations. By getting knowledge of where the business is heading and what the market & customer’s expectations are, you can make decisions that power your business growth.  

Step 4: Share Reports

Once you’re done with reporting, share it with individuals, teams, and departments in your business. Invite them to view or edit reports or send them links via scheduled emails. To tell what your data wants to say, you can tweak your reports and create separate pages for each source.

The power to build a Community Connector

Google Data Studio has a gallery of community connectors where you can search for a connector that supports your data integration needs. In case you don’t find one, you have the option to build one.

Anyone with experience in JavaScript can build a community connector using Google Apps Script.

Benefits of building a community connector:

• Fills the gap between your needs and goals: Every business is unique, and so do its data integration needs. The pre-built or already available data studio connectors may not fit nicely in those needs. Therefore, building a community connector that gets your data integrated and visualized in a way you want will help you achieve your goals better.
• Help you think beyond the marketing analytics: You can connect your marketing data with information from other sources and get additional insights into your business operations. The insights will help you strengthen your decision-making process and open the doors for better returns.

Analyze all your data in Google Data Studio with DataChannel

DataChannel allows you to connect Google Data Studio to your Data Warehouse and build stunning visualizations on-the-go. With over 100 pre-built connectors and the ability to customize more, we empower your marketing teams to get the most out of the data generated.

With the combined power of DataChannel and Google Data Studio, you can:

• Get analysis-ready data directly to your data warehouse
• Accelerate your decision-making with real-time data integration from any source;
• Create stunning visualizations and reports with SQL or code.
• Visualize marketing reports using your preferred BI tools.
• Always get the support of our team in data integration tasks.

DataChannel – An integrated ETL & Reverse ETL solution

• 100+ Data Sources. DataChannel’s ever-expanding list of supported data sources includes all popular advertising, marketing, CRM, financial, and eCommerce platforms and apps along with support for ad-hoc files, google sheets, cloud storages, relational databases, and ingestion of real-time data using webhooks. If we do not have the integration you need, reach out to our team and we will build it for you for free.
• Powerful scheduling and orchestration features with granular control over scheduling down to the exact minute.
• Granular control over what data to move. Unlike most tools which are highly opinionated and dictate what data they would move, we allow you the ability to choose down to field level what data you need. If you need to add another dimension or metric down the line, our easy to use UI lets you do that in a single click without any breaking changes to your downstream process.
• Extensive Logging, fault tolerance and automated recovery allows for dependable and reliable pipelines. If we are unable to recover, the extensive notifications will alert you via slack, app and email for taking appropriate action.
• Built to scale at an affordable cost. Our best in class platform is built with all ETL best practices built to handle billions of rows of data and will scale with your business when you need them to, while allowing you to only pay for what you use today.
• Get started in minutes. Get started in minutes with our self-serve UI or with the help of our on-boarding experts who can guide you through the process. We provide extensive documentation support and content to guide you all the way.
• Managed Data Warehouse. While cloud data warehouses offer immense flexibility and opportunity, managing them can be a hassle without the right team and resources. If you do not want the trouble of managing them in-house, use our managed warehouse offering and get started today. Whenever you feel you are ready to do it in-house, simply configure your own warehouse and direct pipelines to it.
• Activate your data with Reverse ETL. Be future-ready and don’t let your data sit idle in the data warehouse or stay limited to your BI dashboards. The unidimensional approach toward data management is now undergoing a paradigm change. Instead, use DataChannel’s reverse ETL offering to send data to the tools your business teams use every day. Set up alerts & notifications on top of your data warehouse and sync customer data across all platforms converting your data warehouse into a powerful CDP (Customer Data Platform). You can even preview the data without ever leaving the platform.