- Which campaigns are driving traffic to our website?<\/li>
- How effective is each marketing channel in our integrated cross-media campaign? How many people responded to the direct mail, the emails, and the social media posts?<\/li>
- Which is more effective, social media or email marketing?<\/li>
- How can we see what is working and what isn\u2019t?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
What Are UTM Parameters?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UTM Parameters are extra information you can add to URLs that tell Google Analytics which campaigns, source, and channel that drove a visitor to your website. This extra information does make the URL complicated and ugly, but there are ways to hide this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s an example of a URL with link tagging:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get these benefits you need to add a campaign name<\/b>, the medium<\/b> used, and source<\/b>. There is also an optional content<\/b> tag. Google Analytics uses a term<\/b> tag when tracking online advertising, but you can ignore this UTM parameter as it is handled automatically by advertising platforms like Google Adwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are the five UTM parameters you can use to measure your campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Campaign name<\/dt>\n
- A marketing campaign is the theme that commonly spreads across multiple channels. It can be a specific campaign, such as \u201cSummer Sale\u201d, or be an ongoing marketing program, such as \u201cAnalytics_whitepaper\u201d.<\/dd>\n
- Medium<\/dt>\n
- The channel used to communicate the campaign message. \u201cEmail\u201d, \u201cdisplay_ads\u201d, \u201csocial_media\u201d, and \u201cradio\u201d are examples of different mediums.<\/dd>\n
- Source<\/dt>\n
- This is more specific than the source where the visitor comes from. Examples include:\n
- \n
- Identify the social media channel, such as \u201cTwitter\u201d, \u201cFacebook\u201d, or \u201cLinkedIn\u201d.<\/li>\n
- For ads in newsletters, websites, or magazines, identify the source with terms like \u201cNW_Food_Processors_Assn\u201d or \u201cSunset_mag\u201d.<\/li>\n
- If you are sending out a series of emails in a \u201cdrip\u201d campaign, change the source for each email, something like \u201cemail01\u201d, \u201cemail02\u201d, etc. The campaign name and medium would stay the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/dd>\n
- Content<\/dt>\n
- Identifies the version of something that compelled the visitor to take action. If you have an image and clickable text in an ad, you can tag the content as \u201cimage\u201d or \u201ctext\u201d. Knowing exactly what people are clicking on is very useful when deciding to do a redesign. The content tag can also be used for \u201cA\/B testing\u201d to distinguish which versions is driving more traffic.<\/dd>\n
- Term<\/dt>\n
- This identifies the keywords used when buying online advertising. You can ignore it if you\u2019re not buying online ads.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n\n\n\n
Adding this information to your URLs allows you to see what is working, what isn\u2019t, and make changes to improve your marketing performance. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be Consistent with UTM Parameter Terminology<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You need to be consistent with your terms to be able to measure campaign results. Capitalization matters. Avoid spaces, either use underscores \u201cWinter_Sale\u201d or camelcase like \u201cWinterSale\u201d. Google doesn\u2019t care how you do it, just be consistent for each campaign and each term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"moderno](\"https:\/\/www.modernostrategies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/moderno-utm-parameter-url-builder-1150x712.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe easiest way to stay consistent is to use a spreadsheet with the UTM parameters you use that are used by all members of your marketing team. This spreadsheet serves as a common point of reference for your strategists, marketing creatives, and technical specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nGet the Moderno Campaign URL Builder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n