How Using a UTM Will Transform your Marketing Metrics with Chris Mercer - Episode 226

How do you really know where your leads are coming from? How do you know if a campaign you’re running is successful? In this episode of WingnutSocial, the founder of Measurement Marketing—Chris Mercer—shares a genius way to track your leads and manage your campaigns with UTMs (Urchin Tracking Modules). Even better, it can save you a whole lotta moolah. Don’t miss it!

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

• [1:47] For more info on this subject head over to Wingnut Premium!
• [2:13] Mini News Sesh: Instagram changing its model
• [6:12] Learn more about Chris Mercer’s expertise
• [9:55] What in the world is a UTM?
• [12:42] How to set up a design campaign with UTMs
• [18:25] How to understand the UTM terminology
• [23:07] Learn more about our sponsor Build Lane
• [25:35] Email marketing using UTMs
• [34:24] Learn to be good enough to get going 
• [35:32] The What Up Wingnut Round!
• [38:32] Where to learn more about Measurement Marketing
• [43:39] Blooper Reel!

Connect with Chris Mercer

• https://measurementmarketing.io/
• Measurement Market FREE Toolbox Kit (Be sure to look at the UTM in the link on the webpage!)
• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources & People Mentioned

• Adam Mosseri’s Announcement on Instagram
• Influence by Robert Cialdini (The updated edition)
• ActiveCampaign

What in the world is a UTM?

An Urchin Tracking Module (Thank God someone shortened it to UTM) is a parameter. When you go into your email and go to click on a link, look at the link. It will often end with something like “UTM_Source=” AKA a parameter. They identify themselves with platforms like Google analytics. So if you click on a link in an email, the UTM will tell Google Analytics that you came to someone’s site from an email. It will tell them the email you clicked on and even the subject line. Social media is a place you can get really busy and it’s great to know if your activity leads to results. That’s why a UTM is important. 

You might go into Google analytics and see something like Facebook.com/referral or Pitnerest.com/referral. You know those platforms caused that person to come to your site. With UTMs you can take it a step further and know exactly where the referral came from (such as a paid ad or pin that they clicked on). You get better at identifying where your traffic is coming from. 

How to set up a campaign with UTMs

Chris points out that when you share a photo or story you usually have a call to action where someone can click on a link to learn more. When you create that CTA, you can add the UTM parameters. The goal is to identify the who, what, and the why. Who is sending you traffic? What type is being sent? What was the purpose of the traffic?

If Chris just enters his homepage, Google will tell him they came from Instagram to the site but it doesn’t tell him much else. But he could add the parameters “UTM_Source=Instagram” to identify the source of the traffic (i.e. the “brand name” of the traffic source). He could use “UTM_Medium=Social” to know it’s stuff that he’s sharing for social engagement (i.e. the type of traffic). A parameter of “UTM_Campaign=Academy” can tell him the purpose of the traffic (to join his training academy).

A UTM allows you to identify where to spend your time, including the platform and type of posts. You can really hone in and employ the most effective marketing for your business. Using UTMs should NOT be optional for you. 

Listen to the whole episode to hear Chris explain why you should use UTMs for