The curly task of measuring ROI from social media initiatives may have just gotten a whole lot easier with Google Analytics.

The website tracking arm of Google announced new analytics features yesterday that will enable webmasters to track users who arrive from social sources and if they are converted towards a desired goal, such as a purchase, or move on without converting.

The new social reports will enable marketers to determine which social channels actually drive value and which tactics are most effective. Google claims they bridge the gap between social media and business metrics, allowing marketers to measure the full value of the social channels by helping with three things:

1. Identifying the full value of traffic coming from social sites and measuring how they lead to direct conversions or assist in future conversions,
2. Understanding social activities happening both on and off of your site to help optimise user engagement and increase social key performance indicators (KPIs),
3. Make better, more efficient data-driven decisions in social media marketing programs.

The social reports will allow marketers to define goals and measure which are achieved as a result of or with assistance from social channels. Marketers will also be able to measure the value of each individual social channel by seeing the conversion rates of each social network and the monetary value they drive to your business.

Engagement and conversion metrics for each social network will be tied into the same reports to show how people are interacting with content and whether it’s leading to a desired outcome.

The new reports will be available for all users over the next few weeks under the standard reporting tab of Google Analytics accounts.