Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) For GA4

[BadBob]

Yeah, it's a weird name, but it works. Use it if you are using Google Analytics and want to know if your promotions are worth the trouble. UTM tags are how you do it. I have been using them for a few days, and they work. The downside is that you must build a custom URL for every place you post. Here is a sample I used on Facebook today.

This one is on my Facebook Business page:
https://odinstoyfactory.com/564816133/?utm_source=OTF-facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Hot_Rod_564816133

This one is on my personal page:
 https://odinstoyfactory.com/564816133/?utm_source=personal-facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Hot_Rod_564816133

Instead of just showing up as some Facebook source, the red sources will be listed, and I know where the clicks are coming from.

I  put something in the utm_campaign tag to help me identify which post got clicked on. In this case, it was a short description and SKU. I think I will stick with that.

utm_medium I set all of them to social because that is where I mostly post. After I started this, the social category began appearing in my Goimagine analytics. I don't think this is a coincidence. I have asked Goimagine support but haven't heard from them.

Etsy analytics suck. They don't filter anything I have been able to detect, so if your page is getting hammered with referral spam from Poland, it will show up as page views in your stats. I highly recommend using Google Analytics for your stats.

Goimagin's analytics seem to be OK so far for what they show, but they do not show you the actual source.

[kmmcrafts]

3 hours ago, BadBob said:

Yeah, it's a weird name, but it works. Use it if you are using Google Analytics and want to know if your promotions are worth the trouble. UTM tags are how you do it. I have been using them for a few days, and they work. The downside is that you must build a custom URL for every place you post. Here is a sample I used on Facebook today.

This one is on my Facebook Business page:
https://odinstoyfactory.com/564816133/?utm_source=OTF-facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Hot_Rod_564816133

This one is on my personal page:
 https://odinstoyfactory.com/564816133/?utm_source=personal-facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Hot_Rod_564816133

Instead of just showing up as some Facebook source, the red sources will be listed, and I know where the clicks are coming from.

I  put something in the utm_campaign tag to help me identify which post got clicked on. In this case, it was a short description and SKU. I think I will stick with that.

utm_medium I set all of them to social because that is where I mostly post. After I started this, the social category began appearing in my Goimagine analytics. I don't think this is a coincidence. I have asked Goimagine support but haven't heard from them.

Etsy analytics suck. They don't filter anything I have been able to detect, so if your page is getting hammered with referral spam from Poland, it will show up as page views in your stats. I highly recommend using Google Analytics for your stats.

Goimagin's analytics seem to be OK so far for what they show, but they do not show you the actual source.

This is some good info, I really need to get GA set up etc. Thanks for sharing the info. 

I don't seem to have much pull from promoting on FB or Instagram anymore.. For one, these short video clips is what gets me success but some products just don't do great with video. It's super hard to get people to read a description of something they are buying let alone read a description of a photo on FB & IG.. video works best and doing a voiceover to describe the photo does way better to grab attention from some of the short attention span video watchers. I've also found it hard to get people to go to any outside links on these sites now that you can sell right on the social sites.. It has become a whirlwind of work to promote because you need to actually work to get views on the social sites now.. almost need to be some sort of entertainer to really grab attention and get interaction within the social sites.. almost easier to just sell through the sites.. 

On IG Business account you can see how many times a post was shown and how many people watched or how many people clicked on your profile etc. etc. I find on just photos most just skip over it.. certain videos do well while others are so so.. real action video of putting a puzzle together does well.. a slide show or short video showcasing a clock just doesn't grab the attention that a real action hands on video does.. 

IF I post the same video on all the social sites I'm on which is FB,IG, TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.. I find that FB, IG have the worst views and interactions. TikTok used to do really well but it also has gone way down but still better than FB, IG..  

 

[BadBob]

I get the best returns from Pinterest because I post a lot there, and the posts are perpetual. People are still seeing pins I posted years ago. There are some oddities that get lots of views and click-throughs but rarely or never sell. I see stuff from Facebook, but unless you use UMTs, you don't know where they are coming from. If they copy and paste a link into a browser, it will show as direct. Most of my views are direct. This is true for Etsy and Goimagine. When I started promoting my Goimagine shop, I knew I had to figure out how to track this and see which sites were worth the effort. It is a lot of work, and if I am not getting results, why waste my time?

You can configure Google Analytics to track conversions, but I don't know how. Yet.

Videos are a pain to make. You have to make them, edit them, add soundtracks, upload them, and wait for them to get processed. I haven't made any in a long time. That said, I do get hits from YouTube for the few I have posted there.

 

[kmmcrafts]

I think most video editors have soundtracks built into them that are royalty free. The one I use does everything I need and only takes me about 2 minutes or so to edit. Then it’s just uploading them to the media sites. I try not to list same video on all the platforms at the same time but do it on purpose sometimes just for testing. Otherwise I mix them up and post different stuff on each site. 

[BadBob]

I use a large collection of royalty-free music. To use it, drag and drop the music, add the fadeout filters at the end, and test. I use Shotcut.

[kmmcrafts]

18 hours ago, BadBob said:

I get the best returns from Pinterest because I post a lot there, and the posts are perpetual. People are still seeing pins I posted years ago. There are some oddities that get lots of views and click-throughs but rarely or never sell. I see stuff from Facebook, but unless you use UMTs, you don't know where they are coming from. If they copy and paste a link into a browser, it will show as direct. Most of my views are direct. This is true for Etsy and Goimagine. When I started promoting my Goimagine shop, I knew I had to figure out how to track this and see which sites were worth the effort. It is a lot of work, and if I am not getting results, why waste my time?

You can configure Google Analytics to track conversions, but I don't know how. Yet.

Videos are a pain to make. You have to make them, edit them, add soundtracks, upload them, and wait for them to get processed. I haven't made any in a long time. That said, I do get hits from YouTube for the few I have posted there.

 

Pinterest works like a search engine and you can get page views from pins you posted years ago... IG is more of a feed and if you get no attention after about 1-2 days it doesn't get shown again unless searched for it.. not many people search like that on IG as it is feed based. 

YouTube is also more search engine based.. and videos will come up from years ago if search terms are similar. 

IG is great if you're a content creator for instant page views so long as you have a large following of the right followers.. If you're showing how it's made you likely will get other woodworkers following you but not your target for purchasing customers. IF you're a content creator and every now and then mention running a sale then IG might work well.. but it doesn't hold any weight for long term.. so in my mind it's not going to work well unless you already have a huge following.. and you mention running a sale or similar promotion type thing. 

I believe TikTok is also feed based but i got in on it early enough to create a content and gained followers.. I get pretty good views on it because I have around 12,000 followers.. If I post the same video on all platforms I likely get 40 - 80 views on IG with only about 10 - 15 likes.. TikTok I get about 400 - 600 views and maybe 60 likes. YouTube I've only done a couple videos on and maybe only 15 followers, LOL.. but for a Short I get 600+ or - views and sometimes I get around 20 likes.. I think that is the place I'm going to put more focus on because the videos aren't in a feed type algorithm.. Clapper I get similar views as TikTok but only have around 2500 followers.. and I don't post much on there either. I do get more likes etc than Tikok and they keep coming in from videos I posted a long time ago.. however I don't seem to get any coming to my websites from it like I do from TikTok and Youtube. 

I think the best ROI is going to be Pinterest and YouTube. 

 

[kmmcrafts]

I should also mention that FB is creating a new system much like TikTok.. I kind of wonder if somehow they are trying to force Tiktok out of the game and FB steps in to take over that market.. either way.. ( probably for control of political stuff but that's a different topic ) if you get in on it early it's easier to gain followers and grab attention to your page. I've gotten a lot of business from TikTok videos.. I think I can do the same with youtube as well.. I get views from IG as well but I think it's more from other woodworkers.. quite a few of my followers are just other scroll sawers and woodworkers etc. 

[BadBob]

I quit using TikTok when they started using that match-the-puzzle thing to log in. It doesn't work in any of my four browsers.

I've been on Pinterest since it started, so I'm very familiar with it. When I first saw it, I said, "Wow, bookmarks with pictures."

I only use Instagram because it is easy. Although there have been very few hits from there, one of my biggest customers found me through Instagram.

 

[kmmcrafts]

Not even sure what the match the puzzle thing is, LOL.. I mostly do all the stuff right from my phone.. however I do sometimes get on the PC on there.. whenever I do that it used to give me a QR code to match up with my phone onto my browser so it would log me in on the PC.. 

I honestly haven't done much for promoting anywhere in the last year or more other than just now and then.. which hurts me on the social sites and getting views.. just seems the last couple years life has been throwing curve balls my way, LOL.. 

I just set up GA for my GI site this afternoon, boy they have changed a lot over the years when I used to always use them but it's been at least 5 years or more since I've even messed with it. Not even quite sure I set it up right. I don't get much traffic to it currently either so there is that too. 

 

[BadBob]

I rarely use phone apps for social media. If I try to log in using my user ID or email, TikTok shows me a round puzzle that I am supposed to spin one of the pieces until the parts of the photos line up. It doesn't work. The pieces will not move.

GA4 is different. I have found that if I have questions about how to do something the Google Gemini AI is a great place to ask. You have to be very clear with your questions and read the responses carefully. It works well for most anything Google.

[BadBob]

The utm_medium tag works with Goimagine analytics. I promoted a listing yesterday, changing my tag from social to OTF-social, and this morning, the new tag was in Goimagin Analytics.