Digital metrics are unemotional pieces of information that can be formulated into magic elixirs or poison draughts, depending on who is wielding them. But we would all agree that the information must be generated, solid and reviewed.

Many turn to Google Analytics or Adobe for basic data. Google, because it is free. Adobe because it is robust. It has been this way for years. But Microsoft is joining the crowd with Clarity. It is a free tool designed with many of the GA pain points in mind.

It shows great promise, other than being birthed from a company that has been stuck in the offline world of Windows and Office and its list of connected failures is long.

No matter which you choose (today or in the future), make sure they are solid (not missing anything or double-counting in places, etc.) and review them on a consistent basis.

Without insuring your information is true and reviewing it often, it's like a treasure chest that is never discovered or a damsel never rescued.

AMiDA: Analytics. Tune in next Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. with a deep dive into the metrics that make up our digital ecosystem. See more details on RoosterStrategy.com

SOCIAL: Social media is the most challenging platform for marketers to attribute revenue. MORE ... Chandler Bruns, Eric Postma and Gina Steffens covered social media in our AMiDA conference. MORE ... Paid social pays off with paying customers when done correctly. MORE ... Automating your social channel delivery without losing personality and responsiveness offers benefits. MORE ... Recognition in your social channels is a way to encourage your audience and also offer a psychologically beneficial result from social media. MORE

SEARCH: SEO results aren't always guaranteed. It takes work and, sometimes, money to reconfigure your content. MORE ... Generally, when you want sustained increase in traffic, it's SEO. When you need a quick jolt of a boost, that's SEM. MORE ... Paid search can be derailed by poor ad copy. MORE ... The pandemic shot paid search spending upward ahead of projections. MORE ... Sean Cotton and Eric Postma covered search during our AMiDA conference. MORE

CONTENT MARKETING: B2B marketers are out of alignment with their audiences on what their audiences really want. MORE ... Content marketing will hold steady as a tactic for marketers in 2021. MORE ... Justin Davey, Stephanie Gable and David Jones covered content marketing during our AMiDA conference. MORE ... The first challenge we all will face in 2021 with our content strategy is figuring out the real ROI. MORE

PROGRAMMATIC/DISPLAY: Supply-path optimization usually cuts back from a large group of publishers for a programmatic buy. Starting the approach with SPO engages the more powerful programmatic options, like header bidding, private exchanges, etc. MORE ... The reasons listed here for programmatic advertising should be a checklist for endemic publishers for improvement. MORE ... Sean Cotton, Eric Nelson and Courtney Yuskis covered programmatic during our AMiDA conference. MORE

VIDEO: 80 percent of consumers would rather see a livestream from a brand as opposed to a blog post. MORE ... YouTube is testing out automated chapters for videos to help users maneuver within content. MORE ... Live video was ready to explode in 2020, then we were all put inside and unable to share cool environments. But live video still grew. MORE

AUDIO: Once again, podcasts are showing up on emerging must-haves in digital marketing. MORE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Looking forward five years, more marketers see AI and machine learning as key to the future than anything else. MORE ... AI applications in China have grown 56 percent in 2020. MORE

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: It's too important to be ignored. MORE

OUT OF HOME: When people are able to go outside again, they will. MORE ... One recent launch did some cool stuff with OOH. MORE

EMAIL: Want to liven up your subject lines or pre-header text with emjois? Here's how you do it. MORE

MOBILE MESSAGING: Brands tied most heavily to the performance analytics are jumping from email to SMS/MMS. MORE

ANALYTICS: What is Google Analytics 4? MORE ... 15 minutes of social media metric analysis will save you from failure. MORE

DATA: “The companies that are going to win are the ones who are using data, not guessing.” Neil Hoyne, chief measurement strategist at Google. MORE 

PRIVACY: If you think the landscape will get more streamlined in 2021, you are wrong. MORE

DIGITAL MARKETING: How should you approach gearing up for 2021? Here are some preparation ideas. MORE ... A number of experts detailed the must and must nots in digital during our AMiDA conference. MORE ... Which software packages are core to every digital business? Here's a good list. MORE ... Here are a handful of upcoming webcasts that you can access to learn more. I included some in the past issue of this report and they seemed popular.