Parse.ly Dashboard groups

The Parse.ly Dashboard allows collections of authors, campaigns, referrers, sites, and tags to be saved. This allows performance for these groups to be viewed and assessed collectively.

Dashboard groups can be created and organized however you like — there are some use cases described below as a starting point.

User permissions for groups

The ability to view and create Dashboard groups depends on each user’s role:

• All Dashboard users under the same Publisher can view groups.
• All users can create author, tag, and referrer groups.
• Only site admins have access to create campaign groups.
• Only network admins have access to create site groups.

Author groups

Organize author data however you like: Group authors by team, employment type (freelance vs. full-time, for example), the type of content they create, etc.

Clean up author data

If a single content creator has published under various bylines (“Jane Doe,” “Doe, Jane,” and “jane doe,” for example), these are each logged in the Dashboard as separate individual authors. Create an author group that consists of each variation to see that content creator’s performance as a whole.

Exclude sponsored content

If sponsored content pieces should be excluded from reporting, create an author group that excludes “Sponsored Content” or whatever other value used to indicate sponsored content in bylines.

Exclude staff

The Dashboard assigns the “Staff” author to any post where author metadata was not detected. “Staff” may also be used purposefully to assign a generic author to content. Creating an author group that excludes “Staff” will allow a view of data that includes only individual authors.

Campaign groups

Campaign groups can include both posts and videos, if Video Tracking has been enabled. Only site admins can create campaign groups.

Separate paid and non-paid traffic

A campaign group that excludes paid traffic (when a visitor comes to a post via a paid promotion like a display ad, social media ad, or affiliate link) allows you to determine what content garners organic attention.

Fix campaign parameter mistakes

Adding campaign parameters to URLs is a manual and often error-prone process. Parameters are case-sensitive — one post using utm_medium=Social and another using utm_medium=social will be logged separately in the Dashboard. A campaign group including all parameter variations allows all traffic for the campaign to be viewed in one place.

Referrer groups

Grouping referrers together allows you to more quickly determine how content is doing across all social media, tech domains, etc. A referrer group can also be used to view traffic and evaluate performance on all domain versions used by a single referrer.

Site groups

Site groups allow data for a selection of sites to be viewed in the Dashboard as a whole, using the top bar. Only network admins can create site groups, and Network Rollup must be enabled.

A single site can be saved in multiple site groups. A site group is only visible to Dashboard users under your Publisher with access to all of the group’s sites.

Tag groups

Tag groups can be organized based on a topic, section, or any type of grouping that matters most to your or your team. For example, a “Cryptocurrency” tag group could consist of tags like “Bitcoin,” “Ethereum,” etc. This tag group could be used to quickly see the big picture on how cryptocurrency-related content is performing.