How to track UTM (and Burst) parameters?

Understanding where your website traffic originates and how visitors interact with your content is crucial for any digital marketing strategy. UTM parameters are a popular tool used for this purpose. This article will guide you on how to track UTM parameters effectively using Burst Statistics, a privacy-focused, WordPress-specific analytics plugin that serves as an alternative to Google Analytics.

What are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are tags added to a URL to help marketers track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. They can provide information on how visitors arrive at your website through various campaigns. The typical UTM parameters include:

• source: Identifies which site sent the traffic (e.g., Google, newsletter)
• medium: The type of marketing medium used (e.g., email, CPC)
• campaign: Identifies a specific product promotion or strategic campaign (e.g., spring_sale)
• term: Used for paid search to note the keywords for the ad
• content: Used to differentiate similar content, or links within the same ad

Setting Up Tracking with Burst Statistics

To track UTM parameters effectively using Burst Pro in WordPress, you’ll first need to ensure that your campaign URLs are correctly tagged. Here’s how to create and configure your URLs, either using traditional UTM parameters or custom Burst-specific parameters:

1. Create Tagged URLs for Your Campaigns
   • To tag URLs, you can use a URL builder tool like Google’s Campaign URL Builder or manually append the parameters.Here’s an example of a URL tagged with UTM parameters for a newsletter campaign:
     https://www.yoursite.com/product-launch?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=may_newsletter&utm_content=top_banner

     Alternatively, you can use custom burst_ parameters to distinguish the tracking further, which might look like:
     https://www.yoursite.com/product-launch?burst_source=newsletter&burst_medium=email&burst_campaign=may_newsletter&burst_content=top_banner
In these URLs:

     • utm_source or burst_source identifies the traffic source, such as a newsletter.
     • utm_medium or burst_medium indicates the medium, like email.
     • utm_campaign or burst_campaign specifies the campaign’s name.
     • utm_content or burst_content helps differentiate between links in the same context.
2. Viewing the Data
   • Burst Statistics will collect data from visitors who arrive via your tagged URLs, whether they’re tagged with UTM or custom Burst parameters. This data is accessible in the Burst dashboard, offering insights into which campaigns and sources are most effective in driving traffic. You can access your UTM (and Burst) campaigns by clicking on the “Pages” dropdown and selecting “Campaigns”. At the top right of this section, you can choose the metrics you want to view.

Analyzing the Data

With Burst Statistics, you can analyze how different campaigns perform in terms of bringing traffic and engagement to your website. Use this data to:

• Assess which marketing campaigns are the most effective.
• Understand which mediums contribute to the highest traffic.
• Optimize your marketing strategies based on performance data.

Conclusion

Tracking UTM parameters is a powerful way to enhance your marketing efforts. By integrating UTM tracking with Burst Statistics, you can gain valuable insights into your marketing campaigns’ effectiveness while ensuring user privacy. Start using UTM parameters today to optimize your digital marketing strategies and achieve better results.