How to Connect Socialinsider Data to Looker Studio

If you've been manually exporting your Socialinsider data and building reports from scratch, we've got something that'll make your life easier.

The Looker Studio integration helps you create custom dashboards that automatically pull in fresh data, no more manual updates needed.

Here's how to get it set up.

You'll need an active Socialinsider account with some data already in it, plus a Google account that can access Looker Studio. If you've never used Looker Studio before, don't worry, because you can figure it out as you go.

Head over to Looker Studio (Google rebranded it from Data Studio a while back, in case you're wondering). Once you're in, look for the connectors gallery and search for Socialinsider. You should see the official connector - that's the one you want.

Important: The Looker Studio integration requires an API key, which is available as an add-on to any Socialinsider plan. If you don't have the integration add-on enabled, the connection won't work. You can add it to your account regardless of which subscription plan you're on.

You will find the API key in your account settings - Integrations.

Click into it, and you'll be prompted to authorize the connection. This basically means you're giving Looker Studio permission to pull data from your Socialinsider account. Sign in when it asks, grant the permissions, add the API key, and confirm everything.

Now comes the part where you decide what actually shows up in your reports.

You'll need to select which Socialinsider project you want to connect, which platforms to include (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever you're tracking), and which metrics matter for what you're building.

One thing worth knowing: you can connect multiple projects if you manage more than one. So if you're tracking different brands or clients in separate Socialinsider projects, you can pull them into a single Looker Studio dashboard and compare them side by side.

You should then select the profile you're interested in (which is part of the selected project), the content pillar (if you're using this feature), and the interval selector (day, week, month, or year).

Alright, data's connected - now you get to build the thing.

Initially, you'll see a blank page that needs to be populated with the data you're interested in.

Looker Studio gives you the usual dashboard tools: charts, tables, scorecards, and so on. You can visualize your Socialinsider metrics however makes sense for your audience. Some things people typically build:

You can combine your Socialinsider data with other sources if needed - like pairing social performance with Google Analytics traffic, for example.

Make sure to select the metrics you want to see in each type of chart you add to the dashboard. The setup fields are available on the right side.

When Socialinsider updates metric names to match platform changes (like when Meta switched from "Impressions" to "Views"), your Looker Studio dashboards won't update automatically. You'll need to go in and manually swap those fields.

We send email updates when metrics change, so keep an eye out for those. Then just open your dashboards, find the old metric names, replace them with the new ones, and double-check that everything still looks right.

It's annoying, but it only happens when the actual social platforms change their terminology - not something we do for fun.

Here are a few ways marketers actually use these dashboards:

👉 Weekly exec reports: Set up a dashboard with your key metrics, week-over-week changes, top content, and maybe some competitive context. Executives can check it whenever they want instead of waiting for you to build a deck.

👉 Campaign tracking: Build a campaign-specific dashboard, filtered to show only relevant content. Track performance in real time rather than waiting until the campaign ends to see how it performed. Include Content Pillars to see which themes performed best.

👉 Client reporting: If you're an agency, you can create branded dashboards for each client and set them to update automatically. Saves a ton of time compared to building monthly reports from scratch.

If you can't authorize the connection: Make sure you're logged into the right Google and Socialinsider accounts. Try clearing your browser cache. Check that pop-ups aren't blocked. If you're still stuck, it's usually an account-permission issue.

If data isn't showing up: Double-check that your Socialinsider account actually has data for the time period you selected. Also, verify that you picked the right project in the connector settings.

If specific metrics show as unavailable: Some metrics might not be supported by the connector, or they might have been deprecated by the social platforms. Also, depending on your Socialinsider plan, you might not have access to certain historical data ranges.

If the numbers don't match between Socialinsider and Looker Studio: Usually this is a timezone or date range issue. Make sure both platforms are set to the same timezone, and you're looking at the same dates. If it still looks off, try refreshing the data source connection in Looker Studio.

Still stuck? Hit up Socialinsider support through the in-app chat. We can help with connector issues and data questions. For Looker Studio-specific visualization questions, Google's documentation is actually pretty good.