Using trackable links is an amazing way to hone in on your marketing strategy and effectively manage your campaigns. These links provide you with so much information about what’s really working in your marketing. That way, you can maximize your time by focusing on what moves the needle forward and generates more revenue in your business.
If you’re focused on improving your ROI (especially with limited budgets), trackable links are going to be your best friend. They help you go beyond the surface of things like page views and get an in-depth look at your marketing analytics.
For the most accurate (and diverse) data—and to know exactly where your results are coming from—it’s time to start using trackable links.
How Do Trackable Links Work?
Trackable links allow you to set up campaigns to track your referral traffic. With these links, you set up a destination URL (or landing page URL), which is the link you’re tracking traffic to, and label where that link will be placed. You can set up links for social media platforms, ads, blog posts, email newsletters—you name it.
The reason for doing this is that it lets you track exactly where your traffic is coming from. As people click on your links and are redirected to your destination URL, the link gathers valuable demographic and behavior data, all before they even land on your site.
One common place people typically use trackable links is within Facebook ads. You’ll be able to see exactly how many of your website visitors came from a particular ad campaign.
Using trackable links lets you be more strategic in your marketing endeavors! They are super accurate in recording the number of clicks for your links. This is beneficial because you’re getting exact metrics for specific traffic sources.
5 Reasons To Use Trackable Links Like UTM Parameters
It’s a good idea to use trackable links, no matter your niche. Here are five specific reasons you should consider setting these links up for your business!
1. This Data Is Incredibly Reliable
Tracking your metrics is so important. But it’s even more essential to get an accurate picture of your metrics.
That’s right—sometimes, other metrics sources are a little unreliable. Especially with the ever-changing landscape of social media and advertising, you need something more stable.
With Google’s UTM trackable links, you’re getting bias-free metrics. Unlike Facebook or other platforms that want you to believe certain results are from their platform, Google presents results as-is.
And if you want that specific picture of traffic sources, you need trackable links for in-depth information.
Related: Where To Find UTM Data In Google Analytics
2. You’ll Fully Understand Your Traffic and Strategically Target More
For many business owners, Google Analytics is their silent, free, and helpful business partner. Trackable links allow you to really make the most of your Google Analytics “partnership.” Instead of expecting to gain wide-ranging information from Google Analytics, trackable links allow you to get super honed-in on detailed, usable information.
With these links, often called UTM parameters, you let your Google Analytics account differentiate between the types of traffic you’re receiving. This is important in order to really measure your ROI.
For example, if you’re running Facebook ads and posting organically, and see a spike in traffic or conversions, you need to know which one actually drove those results. Without trackable links, all of those results will just show up as “Facebook.” But with those links, you’ll be able to set up specific names.
You can create category indicators like:
- Source: Typically a platform or brand, like Facebook
- Medium: Type, like social
- Campaign: Goal, like a product name or opt-in form
- Term: Classification like group, stories, or post
- Content: Differentiation in content
3. Maximize Your Social Media Marketing Campaigns
When you’re spending valuable time crafting social media content and campaigns, you deserve to know what’s working and what’s not. Your metrics are the key to continuing to strategize effectively for social media.
And trackable links let you get super specific in understanding what exactly is driving traffic from your social media to your landing pages and website.
It takes a bit of time up-front to set up your trackable links and UTM parameters….but it’s so worth it. You’ll know right away if your targeted social media campaigns are working so that you don’t waste time, effort, or money on the wrong strategy.
4. Accurately Track Conversions and ROI
The better you track your metrics and segment your data, the easier it will be to accurately calculate your ROI, or return on investment. Calculating your ROI is essential because it lets you know if your hard work is paying off for your business.
With ROI, you’ll clearly see what strategies are returning results and which ones aren’t worth your time.
You can set up specific, well-defined conversion goals with your trackable links and track precise, accurate data about those goals.
Conversion goals include things like:
- Purchases
- Completed contact forms
- Subscribing to a newsletter
- Opting in for a lead magnet
- Viewing a video
- Engaging on social media
When you set up conversion goals with your trackable links, you can divide the time and money invested into that strategy by how many people convert…..and that’s your ROI! From there, you can adjust your strategies according to what’s most effective.
5. Use Google Analytics To Clearly Analyze Data From Your Trackable Links
In Google Analytics, you can track so much metric data and truly understand your traffic. You’ll be able to track traffic from each social media platform you utilize. This is important because it helps you see which of your social media platforms are performing best!
Even better, you can get super specific with your trackable links and see which posts, ad campaigns, groups, stories, and more are driving traffic. You’ll be able to accurately pinpoint the source of your traffic on a much deeper level.
Creating and using trackable links might seem like an overwhelming extra step in tracking your metrics. But it’s so worth it for getting a detailed picture of your important traffic metrics! I’m here to support you in all things metrics tracking so that you can concentrate your efforts and grow your business with less stress.