UTM trackers? What are they and how to use them

As a Medical Device marketer, how do you prove which content is working? Accurate data is often hard to come by in marketing, or maybe not?

Imagine if you had access to data that could tell you what content (a social media post, webinar, piece of literature or paid ad) generated traffic to your website and which didn’t.

UTM tracking does exactly that and even better it’s simple to set up.

What are UTM’s and why are they so useful?

UTM’s provide clarity!

Where can I use UTM tags?

UTM tags can be added to any URL that points from an external source to your website. Note: If you want to track activity within your website, you should use event trackers, not UTM tags (Click for more information).

Here are some good examples where UTM tags can be used to better effect:

What should I know about setting up UTM tags?

Setting up a UTM tag is simple, however managing them can be tricky if you don’t have the correct nomenclature in place.

How do I set up a UTM tag?

UTM tags are set up using Google Analytics’ URL builder.

Top tips for creating your UTM parameters

• Be precise

  If you create a UTM tag for a post and allocate the source as “social media” your data will be general (LinkedIn and Twitter etc) and you will limit the power of UTM tags. Make sure all parameters are specific, so they allow you to see which content is driving traffic to your website.

• Be organised

  The more UTM tags you create the more confusing it can be, especially if your codes and nomenclature system is not consistent and organised. At Podymos we use an excel table to monitor UTM tags. This is important as it allows us to easily analyse our results, saving time and ensuring accuracy. We have included a blank table below to help you manage your UTM tags, which you may find useful.

  Use lower case for all tags and without spaces.

  Using a consistent case (upper or lower) prevents you from creating two identical campaigns (such as “linkedin” and “LinkedIn”). Although this isn’t a big problem, it’s an annoyance as your reports will show replicating lines creating confusion during your analysis.

Shorten your UTM links

UTM tags are lengthy which can be unwieldy in your communications. Using Google Analytics’ URL builder or Bitly can be helpful in shortening them.

If you are using Hootsuite to send out content, your UTM code will automatically be shortened with Owley (Hootsuite’s own URL shortener).

How to access the data your UTMs create

In order to start analysing your UTM data in google analytics, go to Acquisition > All traffic and then Source / Medium.

This is where you will see your UTM trackers reported as source/medium. This is a snapshot of our google analytics’ dashboard showing 3 of our UTM tags.

Become a UTM ninja, you won’t regret it!

If you are a Medical Device marketer in charge of content creation, UTM tags will allow you to understand your audience and what brings them to your website.