Ever wonder how to track social media traffic to your website?
Ever wonder how well your social media campaigns are doing? Want to track social media traffic to your website and see which channel is performing best? Below is an easy way to gather this information using Google Analytics and UTM codes.
Why track social traffic with UTM codes?
Hopefully you’re using Google Analytics (or a similar analytics tool) to track website traffic. Even a quick look at your reports can reveal a lot. If you want to take it a step further, UTM codes help you dial in on traffic sources more precisely—this is my go-to method for tracking social media traffic and measuring campaign performance.
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) was the software that helped lay the groundwork for Google Analytics. A UTM code is a small bit of text added to your link (URL) that provides more detail about where a click came from. Example UTM link
https://jusbmedia.com/digital-marketing-services/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campagin=march2022When you post links on social media, you can track the performance of every link you share. Google Analytics provides helpful high-level information, but the variables you add via UTM codes can capture finer details and allow you to compare traffic sources (for example: social media traffic vs. email marketing traffic).
The 3 essential questions a UTM link can answer
- Where is my traffic coming from?
- How is my traffic getting to my website?
- Why is traffic coming to my website?
These questions are answered using three key UTM parameters: Source, Medium, and Campaign. When you define these parameters, your analytics platform can better organize and classify your traffic. Let’s break down what each one means and how to use it.
UTM parameters explained
Source
The source parameter identifies where your traffic is coming from. A good best practice is to use the channel you’re sharing the link on, such as:
/&utm_source=facebookMedium
The medium parameter answers the general question of how your traffic is getting to your website. Since we’re tracking social media channels in this example, you can use:
/&utm_medium=socialCampaign
The campaign parameter is often the most powerful. Knowing where and how is important, but being able to answer why traffic is coming to your website can be even more valuable for decision-making.
If you post dozens (or hundreds) of links, using a campaign value that reflects the purpose of those links can help you see how much traction your efforts are gaining. For example:
/&utm_campaign=springsalesUsing Google Analytics to track your UTMs
Once you’ve added UTMs to your links, you’ll want to view that information inside Google Analytics. You can find it by following these steps:
- Go to Acquisition
- Select Campaign
- Click All Campaigns
Under All Campaigns, you should see reporting options that allow you to view Source, Medium, and Campaign data.
Ready to get more from your social media marketing?
Hopefully this sparked some ideas for experimenting with UTM codes and using the data to improve your social media marketing efforts—and better track social media traffic to your website.
Jus B Media is your Social, Search, and Website resource. Feel free to contact us to learn how we can help with all the things.