Google Analytics, the tool that does it all. From how many visitors to how long sessions are, Google Analytics is an essential tool for today’s savvy marketer. G.A. has the power to also tell you where your social media referrals are coming from, but not how to determine what kind of content is bringing users to your page (or so we thought).
Thanks to UTM Tracking Codes, that will now be a thing of the past.
UTM Tracking Codes & How They Work
Google Analytics provides a way to track what type of content is driving visitors to your page; it’s called a UTM code. The UTM code, which you can attach to links, allows you to track a source, medium, and campaign name. This can provide new insights into how users are interacting your social media and what type of posts are working to drive traffic and conversions.
How they work is not too complicated, but these three parameters need to be added to your URL:
- utm_campaign – generated from the “Campaign Name” setting that you, the owner, or Account Manager defines. At the moment, Custom URL Tracking only supports one campaign per domain.
- utm_medium – auto-generated with a value of “social”
- utm_source – posting to an individual network = specific network (ex. facebook or twitter)
Where to Use These Customized Campaigns
Whether your goal is to bring more traffic to your website or gain impressions and engagement on social media, these UTM Parameters will change the way you use social media and stay connected with your followers and/or potential customers. Ideally, you should be using these customized UTM Parameter Links wherever you can.
If you’re not sure where to start tracking, here’s some ideas on where you can use them:
- Use them on all social media posts.
- Any email marketing initiatives.
- Your blog posts.
- Links within social media profiles.
Upon using this, you can start seeing different results in Google Analytics within the “Acquisition” tab. For help building and creating the URLs with UTM Parameters, you can either use Facebook or this Google Analytics Tool.
Happy Data Collecting!
