Christopher Gilmer

  • Start Here
  • Work with Chris
  • About
  • Blog
  • The Not So Daily Chris
  • Contact

Demystifying UTM tracking codes

November 14, 2016 by Chris Gilmer

Photo via: http://minimography.com

Photo via: http://minimography.com

One crucial aspect of being an effective marketer is being able to measure your successes. Whatever metrics you use, you want to provide people involved with all of the ammunition available  to prove what you are doing in the digital and social media world are is on point. However, measuring the impact of digital marketing initiatives can prove to be kind of tricky without the proper tools and techniques. You might know that Facebook is driving a certain percentage of traffic to your website, but do you know if your companies Facebook posts are the ones driving that traffic?

Through the magic of UTM tracking codes you can add a few special characters to the end of your URL’s to prove what traffic is having the impact.

What are UTM tracking codes

UTM codes are also know as UTM parameters. They are little snippets of text that are added the end of URL’s to help track the success of digital content. Here is an example of what the code might look like – with the bold being the UTM addition to the URL:

http://www.christophergilmer.com/demystifying-utm-tracking-codes?utm_campaign=blogpost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

The snippets of code after the question mark will not affect the way in which your webpage is displayed, it simply communicates to your analytics software, letting it know that someone has arrived through a particular marketing channel as part of a certain campaign.

What story do UTM tracking codes tell

UTM codes commonly track five things for your digital marketing initiative:

  1. Campaign: Groups all of the content from one campaign into your analytics. Ex: utm_campaign=GuestBlogPost
  2. Source: What website is sending you traffic. Ex: utm_source=Facebook
  3. Medium: The type of marketing medium that the link is on. Ex: utm_medium=DisplayAd
  4. Content: This is used to track the different content types that point to the same URL from the same campaign, source and medium codes. Its more commonly used in PPC. Ex: utm_content=headerbarlink, utm_content=rightsidelink
  5. Term: Identification of the keywords you’ve paid for in a PPC ad.  Ex: utm_term=plumbingtechnician

How to setup UTM tracking codes

Setting up UTM tracking codes could never be easier… thanks to Google. They have an easy to use UTM tracking code Campaign builder. Enter your website url. campaign source, campaign medium, campaign name, campaign content and the builder builds a URL string for you.

Happy tracking!

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: analytics Tagged With: analytics, tracking codes, utm, UTM tracking codes

Dominate your digital marketing now!

Care for a spot of tea?

Generate more leads and sales by making a deeper impact with your social and digital marketing! Sign up for free and receive cool stuff each week that will help make a greater impact for your business.

Hey, I’m Chris

Living life as an artist, designer, writer, vegan, surfer and tea drinker, I am also a gentleman of digital and social marketing.

I work together with professionals to help them connect and engage with potential (and current) customers using digital platforms. More about me.

Recent Posts

  • That Selling on Social Media Thing, You’re Doing It All Wrong
  • How to find your customers on social media
  • A Few Email Marketing Strategies To Help Make You Money
  • How much is a social media follower worth?
  • The Shocking Truth About What To Talk About on Social Media
  • Increasing landing page conversions in 8 simple steps
  • Best practices for creating a live broadcast with Facebook
  • Anatomy Of The Perfect Real Estate Blog Post
  • The Real Truth About Social Media Posting Schedules
  • 3 Reasons Your Business Should Be Blogging For Leads

Search blog posts

Categories

  • analytics
  • blogging
  • brand
  • design
  • digital marketing
  • drops
  • email
  • instagram
  • linkedin
  • Links
  • mobile
  • personal brand
  • projects
  • social media
  • social selling
  • thoughts
  • Uncategorized
  • video
  • website
  • works

WHOA! YOU’VE HIT THE END!

But making your business dominate the digital and social space, that ride is just beginning!

Hop on my list for addictive advice on how to inject more digital and social fun into your business.

Recent Posts

  • That Selling on Social Media Thing, You’re Doing It All Wrong
  • How to find your customers on social media
  • A Few Email Marketing Strategies To Help Make You Money
  • How much is a social media follower worth?
  • The Shocking Truth About What To Talk About on Social Media
  • Increasing landing page conversions in 8 simple steps
  • Best practices for creating a live broadcast with Facebook
  • Anatomy Of The Perfect Real Estate Blog Post
  • The Real Truth About Social Media Posting Schedules
  • 3 Reasons Your Business Should Be Blogging For Leads
  • How To Be CASL Compliant Without Losing Your Mind
  • 2017 is the year of the digital strategy

Work with Chris

Are you interested in elevating your personal or business brand in the digital space?

Let me help you take your digital business to the next level?
Lets talk!

Connect

Want to keep up with what's going on in the digital and technology space? Follow Chris on these Networks:

  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter

© Copyright 2018 Christopher Gilmer · All Rights Reserved

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.