Overview
Being a marketer requires knowing how to measure your success. But do you have robust data to validate your marketing performance?
You need to know which social media channels generated the most traffic. Which ad campaigns resulted in lead generation and better conversions? Most importantly, what website contents drive the most customer engagements?
Measuring marketing effectiveness without the right tools is tough. That’s where UTM tracking comes into use.
By adding code snippets to the end of your URLs, you can track marketing campaigns and activities. You can also monitor vital metrics, including
- Website visits
- Engagements
- Sales
- Conversions
In this post, you’ll learn about UTM codes and how to use browser extensions to develop UTM codes.
What are UTM Codes?
Image Credit: Hitesh Choudhary
Urchin Tracking Module (or UTM codes) are code snippets you added to URLs to track campaigns and link performance. They monitor the traffic coming to your website and which specific ads or links that are doing better.
For example, if you include a UTM code on a link or ad that redirects to your website, sharing that link on social media channels will provide valuable data. You can track the people who have clicked those links or ads clicks, and their behavior on your website. Also, you can compare the amount of traffic from each channel and the content with the most engagements.
Here’s an example of a UTM code appended to your website:
What UTM Codes can track
UTM codes allow you to track five different parameters. Let’s take a look at them.
1. Campaign Source: This parameter tracks the origin of your traffic. So you’ll know if your traffic is coming in from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.
You can also track traffic from blog posts, forums, and more. An example of this code would be utm_source=twitter.
2. Campaign Medium: This parameter tracks the medium from where your traffic comes or where your link earned clicks. The medium is a broad category of your traffic source. It could be social media, organic or paid, email, referrals, etc. An example of this code is utm_medium=social.
3. Campaign Name: The parameter allows you to track specific campaigns. You can differentiate each campaign from a group of campaigns when you set this feature. For example, utm_campaign=sales.
4. Campaign Term: With this parameter, you can track specific keyword terms from paid ads. You can identify how well keywords from your PPC ads are driving traffic to your site. For example, if you use ‘men’s clothing’ as a keyword for a Twitter ad, the parameter will be utm_term=mensclothing.
5. Campaign content: This parameter allows you to track specific ads, links, or content pointing to the same URL. You can use it for content ads or split testing. For example, if you have different links, pointing to the same destination, you track the specific link that got clicks. You can name them as you wish, for example, utm_content=purchase.
How to Build UTM Codes
Building UTM codes for multiple campaigns can be very tasking. You have to look for a UTM builder, then copy and paste all the links to track your campaigns.
UTM.io makes UTM code building easy. You can build it from your browser.
First, let’s take a look at the traditional UTM code building process.
Building UTM Codes in Google URL Builder
Here’s the process you’d use to build UTM codes from the Google URL builder tool.
Step #1: Click on Google’s Campaign URL Builder
Step #2: Enter your website URL and campaign details
Step #3: Your campaign link generates automatically. You can copy the long URL or shorten the link using the Bitly tool.
Step #4: You can share your links on your campaigns.
Step #5: To measure your success. Sign in to Google Analytics, under the report tab, click acquisition to reveal options. Click ‘Campaigns.’
Building UTM Codes in UTM.io browser extension
You can create UTM right on your browser to track your links and ads across the web.
First, download and install UTM.io Chrome Extension to your browser.
Visit the page or URL you want to make your UTM, open the extension, and the link will appear.
You can add a team and project to help you label your UTMs. Also, you can use templates instead of manually inputting parameters.
Fill out the UTM values parameters and move on. You can shorten your URL with Bitly integration. This tool is free and easy to use.
From the Chrome extension, you can share your UTM link directly to Twitter and Facebook.
You can also build your UTM codes using the UTM.io web app
The UTM campaign tracking feature allows you to measure your campaigns in Kissmetrics, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, and other analytics.
Bitly Tool and Chrome Extension
UTM codes are known to be too long. Bitly is an advanced link shortening tool. This tool works together with UTM builders to produce shorter links that will help track campaign performance.
Bitly allows integration with UTM.io, Google URL builder, Hubspot, and more.
See the image below.
Bitly Chrome extension allows users to shorten, measure, and optimize your links straight from their browser. Also, you can copy, customize, and share your links straight from your browser.
Over to You: Start Tracking
With the right combination of tools, you can effectively track your marketing campaigns. The UTM.io and Bitly tool work together to provide an easy but powerful way to make this happen. Start measuring your success.
Header Image credit: Thomas William
