Tracking data on your website can be overwhelming, if you have setup and used Google Analytics you know what I mean. Being able to determine how much money a paid advertising campaign is bringing in is one of the most important parts of running successful digital marketing campaigns yet it seems to get more and more difficult to do accurately as our main digital advertising channels (Google, Meta, etc) continue to restrict what data is available.
UTM tracking involves adding specific parameters to the URLs of your marketing links. These parameters are appended to the end of the URL and provide additional information to analytics tools about the source, medium, campaign, and other relevant details of the traffic.
The typical UTM parameters include:
- utm_source: This parameter identifies the source of the traffic, such as a search engine, newsletter, or social media platform.
- utm_medium: It indicates the medium of the traffic, such as email, CPC (cost-per-click) advertising, or referral.
- utm_campaign: This parameter allows you to label your campaigns, allowing you to track their performance separately. For example, you might create different campaigns for a specific product launch, holiday sale, or partnership.
- utm_term: It is used to track keywords for paid search campaigns. This parameter is not commonly used for other types of campaigns.
- utm_content: This parameter is often used for A/B testing or tracking different versions of the same advertisement or link. It can help you differentiate between multiple links within the same campaign.
How can I use this in my real estate business?
Here are some sample scenarios and corresponding UTM URL’s that you can put to use. The UTM part of each URL is highlighted in green.
Paid social media listing campaigns.
youragency.com.au/listing/1234?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialAd&utm_campaign=10SmithAve
QR codes on your letter box drops.
youragency.com.au/sell-with-us?utm_source=DLflyers&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=justSold
Google PPC ad campaigns
youragency.com.au/sell-with-us?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=sell
Links in your email campaigns
youragency.com.au/sell-with-us?utm_source=weeklyupdate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JuneUpdate
How do I create my own UTM URL?
We recommend using this free UTM URL builder to generate your URL. For more assistance, take a look at How to create UTM tracking URL’s for your real estate website.
