Running a marketing campaign is not easy at all. The task becomes more confusing when we can’t measure the campaign’s performance.
There are so many platforms, advertisement types, companies and creatives. And when you need to explain everything about the campaign to your higher authorities, it becomes more hazardous. The solution to this problem is Google Analytics 4, where you can see the campaign data. You only have to consider the changes in the location where you will find those data in the reports and the UTM parameters that can be tracked in Google Analytics 4.
Digital marketers require a sound knowledge of the functionalities of UTM tracking. They should know everything about tracking UTM parameters in GA4.
What are UTM parameters?
UTM or Urchin Tracking Modules are the snippets attached with the URLs at their end. There was a company called Urchin Analytics which Google bought and named Google Analytics.
These parameters give Google Analytics additional pieces of detailed tracking information.
The information covers how a visitor has landed on the website and the performance of various marketing campaigns. For instance, you can track the performance of a specific email newsletter or an A/B testing on a paid advertisement.
When you click a link with UTM parameters and land on the website, Google Analytics will catalogue it as campaign traffic. This way, digital marketing agencies such as Obiyan Infotech can analyze all their campaign-tagged traffic at once. Different parameters are used in a website’s Google Analytics properties to catalogue its traffic differently.
Why are the UTM parameters crucial?
UTM offers you access to your traffic source more than previously. You can also use essential data, including source, campaign and medium.
Google Analytics 4 provides data for eight UTM parameters. These parameters help you analyze how different marketing campaigns and traffic sources perform.
If you can only get to see the traffic source, you won’t be able to evaluate the performance of your campaign. Thus, when you have to provide an extensive report to the management regarding ad campaigns to seek more budget, you will be in trouble. The UTM parameters will allow you to see how your campaign is performing in detail if you add more parameters.
Keeping an eye on the performance of your campaigns, content, and ads is necessary to prevent the wastage of resources.
It also allows the scope to change failed strategies quickly.
The UTM codes provide relevant information about marketing campaigns without affecting the performance or speed of the page. Therefore, all leading digital marketing agencies, like Obiyan Infotech, use this method to offer clients enhanced reports regarding their business campaigns.
Digital marketers utilize the tracking information the UTM codes offer by communicating with Google Analytics. Whether it is GA4 or a new Google Analytics, UTM parameters are helpful.
How to Use The 8 UTM Parameters?
- UTM Source
This is the particular source from where the traffic comes. You can’t prepare a report or start an analysis without a UTM source. If the company runs both weekly and monthly paid campaigns, the UTM sources may be like utm_source=monthly_newsletter at first and then utm_source=weekly_promo.
- UTM Campaign
You can track a specific campaign name through this UTM parameter. The URL will show Halloween_2022 at the end of the link URL if a paid ad for Halloween pulls the traffic.
- UTM Medium
This is the type of your traffic. For example, when a company sends both weekly sale emails and monthly newsletters, both the link URLs will include utm_medium=email. So, you can get all your email-driven traffic piled up in one place. Actually, you are getting it separately at the source UTM and at once in the medium.
- UTM Content
The content parameter tracks certain creative content within an ad. It may be anything you have focused on to make your ad unique and attract the audience. It may be the name of a fruit or vegetable or anything else.
- UTM Source Platform
It tracks and collects the values of platforms like Google Ads etc. The URL may show utm_source_platform=GoogleAds.
- UTM Term
This parameter tells you the specific keyword that brought traffic to your website. It is basically used for the paid Google Ads campaign.
- UTM Marketing Tactic
UTM marketing tactic helps you track information on your targeting activities like prospecting and remarketing. Even it provides you with information on the audience and bidding strategies. E.g. utm_marketing_tactic=remarketing_90days.
- UTM Creative Format
As digital marketing is diversified with many types of creativity like images, videos, and more, the creative type is necessary to track. You can track traffic originating from a campaign with the image of a mountain in the URL. It will be like utm_creative_format:image_mountain.
How Can UTM Parameters Track Traffic from Campaigns?
How Does Google Analytics Track Traffic Sources?
Creating UTM Codes
Creating UTM codes to enhance reporting is quite easy for digital marketers now. Top agencies, including Obiyan Infotech, use various ways like spreadsheets and free and premium online tools.
Google Campaign URL builder is one of the most common tools for creating UTM codes. The process is very simple.
- Copy the original URL and paste it into the campaign URL builder.
- Type the parameter you want.
- Get the final URL with your desired UTM parameter.
A spreadsheet can also do the job for you if you customize it as per your requirements. Besides, there are several web tools, both free and premium, to match your digital marketing needs. No matter which one you use, the ultimate result depends on how accurately you tag the URLs. Otherwise, you can’t get relevant information in Google Analytics 4.
Where Can You Find UTM Data in Google Analytics 4?
You can see UTM data by navigating analytics.google.com. You will find the Reports section there. There are options like Acquisition and Campaigns under that section to show you all the relevant data.
The Most Effective UTM Taggings
Proper URL tagging is very much important to get useful data about your campaigns and traffic. Here are some quick tips: –
- Keep a simple campaign name
- Make the URL short
- Develop a naming convention to make the URL easy to understand
- Add the name of the URL maker to get help if needed
- Using lowercase is preferred
Final Thoughts:
A company values a digital marketer only if he provides clear and concise data. UTM parameters play a vital role in the vast world of digital marketing.
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