Use of UTM tracking and UTM codes.

Use of UTM tracking and UTM codes:

As a marketer, one needs to know that the marketing is driving traffic to the client's websites, but have hard data to prove.

Unless one can measure the impact of marketing, one cannot improve it or use it as proof of work.

This is where UTM tracking comes in.

These special codes can be added to the end of any URL to track clicks and performance of marketing activities.

Help understand UTM codes and show how to use them to track marketing performance.

UTM codes:

A UTM code is a sample code snippet that can be added to the end of a URL to track content and campaign performance.

There are 5 variants of crawlable URL parameters: source, medium, campaign, term, and content. Dimensions to track through UTM codes appear in analytics reports to provide a clearer view of marketing performance.

UTM stands for "Urchin Traffic Monitor".

This name comes from Urchin Tracker, a web analytics software that served as the basis for Google Analytics.

The UTM code itself has two components:

UTM parameter: starts with UTM.

There are 5 separate parameters that can be traced: utmsource, utmcampaign, utmcontent, utm_term.

Tracking Variable - A unique variable to identify the dimension that is being tracked (such as the name of the traffic source).

This variable is preceded by the "=" sign.

One can only have numbers, letters, hyphens, '+' signs, and periods in the variable.

UTM codes can be long and complex.

Take, for example, this URL from Inbound.org (from a Facebook post-click):

This code tracks multiple variables such as traffic source, traffic campaign, etc.

Adding the UTM code does not affect the actual page. one can remove the UTM code from the URL and the page will continue to load normally.

The code has only one purpose: to help the analytics tool trace the source of the visitor.

For agency marketers, these codes can be used to calculate the impact of campaigns.

If one has ever had a problem with marketing attribution, UTM codes will be extremely helpful.

There are five different UTM parameters.

The first 3 are by far the most used parameters (Source, Medium, Campaign), but for additional information, one can also choose to keep track of all 5.

This is exactly what one should track with each one:

1. Traffic source:

The origin parameter allows tracing where the traffic originated from.

The parameter added to the URL is utm_source.

Traceable sources could be Facebook, google, bing, inbound.org, or the name of an email list.

Example: & utm_source = twitter

2 Medium:

The middle parameter tracks the type of traffic the visitor originated from: CPC, email, social media, referral, display, etc.

The parameter is the UTM medium.

Example: & utm_medium = cpc

3. Name of the campaign:

The campaign name parameter allows tracking the performance of a specific campaign.

For example, the campaign parameter can be used to differentiate the traffic between different Facebook ad campaigns or email campaigns.

Example: & utm_campaign = example-campaign.

4. Content:

In case of having multiple links pointing to the same URL (like an email with two CTA buttons), this code will help track which link was clicked.

The parameter is utm_content.

Example: & utm_content = navlink

5. Keyword term:

The keyword parameter allows to track which keyword term a website visitor comes from.

This parameter is used specifically for paid search ads. The parameter is utm_term.

Example: & utm_term = growth + hacking + tactics.

To use UTM codes:

These codes can be used in any combination by separating each parameter with the '&' sign.

One could have a simple URL that simply wants to track the actions of visitors to an email campaign.

By adding the utm_campaign parameter, track the performance of the email campaign in Google Analytics.

One can also choose to have more complex code that tracks multiple parameters.

Here's an example of tracking the source, medium, campaign name, medium, and content:

Once add the UTM code to the campaign URL, track the performance in Google Analytics on a few different reports.

• Create a custom report in "Personalization"> "Custom reports".
• Add Media, Campaign or Source as dimension and the metrics to view.
• Go to Acquisition → Overview → All Traffic → Source / Medium to view the traffic.
• Go to Acquisition → Campaigns → All Campaigns to view traffic based on custom campaign names.

There are several ways to create UTM codes.

The most popular:

1. Manual method:

There is nothing technically complicated in UTM codes.

The first option is to add the parameters manually.

This is as simple as writing individual parameters at the end of the URL.

The tricky part here is not making any mistakes!

UTM codes can be quite long and can make mistakes.

2. Google URL Builder:

Google's URL Builder offers a quick way to create UTM codes.

To use it, simply enter the website address.

One is required to enter the source of the campaign (to be able to track in All Traffic → Source / Medium); the rest of the parameters are optional.

Ways to use UTM tracking:

To find out what UTM codes are, what can be tracked and how to create them, the most important question remains:

Basically, there are three ways to use these codes:

1. Know where the traffic is coming from:

The main reason to use UTM tracking is to know exactly where the website traffic is coming from.

This can be achieved using the campaign, source, and medium parameters.

Google Analytics displays default channel groupings on its interface.

By using UTM parameters, one can track sources more accurately.

UTM tracking is especially useful for understanding referral and direct traffic in Google Analytics.

In Google Analytics, one can navigate to Acquisition - → All Traffic - → Referrals to see which sites generated traffic.

By adding & utm_campaign = name-of-post to the end of the link on Quora, one can see in Google Analytics which posts generated traffic.

Direct traffic is often another mysterious traffic source in Google Analytics.

It mainly includes visitors who type the URL directly in their browser or bookmarked the page.

Direct traffic also includes visitors who clicked links in emails, e-books, and other offline marketing materials.

Add UTM links that specify the source of traffic that would otherwise be categorized as "direct."

In Google Analytics, one can filter the traffic by the source to understand how the e-book performed in generating traffic and new leads.

2. Know which links people click in a campaign:

Suppose one run a newsletter for the customer.

Each week, send half a dozen links to interesting stories from the web.

In between, also include a couple of CTAs on the customer's site.

Probably already know the newsletter open and click rates.

This is another situation where UTM codes are useful.

By adding the utm_content parameter to different links in the newsletter, the number of clicks they receive can be tracked:

There are countless ways to use this UTM parameter.

For example, separate utm_content codes can be created for individual banners in a banner ad campaign.

Add a custom code to the email signature link to track the total clicks.

3. Group the traffic by means of:

Suppose running a social media marketing campaign for a customer.

As part of marketing activities, to share content on popular social networks - Facebook, Twitter, etc. These are displayed in the "Social" channel in Google Analytics.

This is where utm_medium can be used.

By adding utm_medium = social to all share links on any social channel, performance can be tracked on all social networks.

Discover that the utm_medium parameter is particularly useful for macro-level analysis of traffic patterns.

Group all the links into a few broad media: social, CPC, search, email, referral, etc.

Measure the traffic over time.

The utm_medium parameter is especially useful for differentiating paid traffic.

4. Track the traffic of different campaigns:

Tracking these metrics is one of the hardest things for marketers.

Basic GA data makes it nearly impossible to figure out which marketing campaigns are driving current results.

Organize all the people in different campaigns, like this:

utm_campaign = person1

utm_campaign = person2

These are just a few ways to use utm_campaign.

As an agency marketer, this parameter will be essential.

Best practices for UTM tracking:

Before to start adding UTM codes to the campaign links, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Establish a UTM naming convention from scratch:

It is important to establish naming conventions that the entire team will use.

If half the people on the team use "facebook.com", the other half use "Facebook" in "utm_source", will only get garbled data.

Before starting a campaign, agree on the naming conventions for common parameters.

This should include the names of the different media ("social" vs. "social networks", "search" vs. "paid search", etc.) and traffic sources ("facebook" vs. "facebook.com" or "reddit" versus "reddit.com").

Even capital letters or spaces will make analysis a mess by splitting the same campaigns in two if different conventions are followed.

Establish rules from the beginning.

Generally, it is good practice to use all lowercase in UTM links.

2. Use easy-to-understand names:

The campaign, content, and links to the source should be easy to understand.

Anyone looking at the code should be able to figure out at a glance what the code means.

Based on the name of the campaign alone, see that it is targeting Facebook users around the world who have logged in within the last 30 days.

Anyone can understand this UTM code even if they have no idea what's going on behind the scenes.

Not only does this code use the same name for multiple parameters (term, medium, and campaign), the name itself doesn't make sense.

Without context, it is impossible to understand what this code is actually tracking.

Create a naming convention that associates a campaign with a numeric code.

3. Use easy-to-use URL link shorteners:

The complexity of a UTM code is directly related to its length.

To start running more sophisticated campaigns, the URLs will get longer and longer.

By using a tool like Bit.ly or Rebrandly, one can convert long links into more sharable URLs.

The shortened link will still keep the UTM parameters intact.

This is especially useful for social media posts.