Key Points About Tracking Links
- In influencer marketing, tracking links allow you to measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns developed.
- The easiest way to create tracking links is through platforms such as Google Analytics, Hubspot or Bitly, which allow you to generate and edit them by filling in a couple of data.
- With tracking links, it is possible to analyze metrics such as traffic origin, conversions, ROI and user preferences so that companies can make more informed strategic decisions.
What Does Tracking Link Mean?
It is a URL that has been modified to track the source of traffic or conversions that can be attributed to a specific marketing channel.
In influencer marketing, tracking links make it possible to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns developed with content creators. With these links it is possible to determine precisely how much traffic, sales and conversions are being generated by the mentions made by the influencer you are collaborating with.
Read also: How to measure your influencer marketing success
Are Affiliate Tracking Links and Tracking Links the Same Thing?
Affiliate tracking links are a specific form of tracking links, but they are used specifically in the context of affiliate marketing.
When an affiliate promotes a product or service, they are provided with a unique tracking link. If someone clicks on that link and makes a purchase, the affiliate receives a commission. Affiliate tracking links are used to track which sales and conversions were generated by which affiliates.
So while both types of links are used to track user behavior, affiliate tracking links have a more specific purpose related to tracking and compensating affiliate sales.
How to Generate a Tracking Link or URL for Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns?
To create tracking links you can use online tools. Here are some of the platforms most commonly used by marketers in their campaigns.
Google Analytics, Link Builder Tool
Google Analytics has a tool available for users to create tracking links. If you want to use this platform follow these steps:
- Go to the Google Analytics Campaign URL builder here.
- Fill in the requested fields as follows:
- Website URL: The URL of the landing page you want to direct users to.
- Campaign ID: The campaign ID.
- Campaign Source: The origin of your traffic, such as the search engine, the newsletter name or the specific social network.
- Campaign Medium: The marketing channel of your campaign.
- Campaign Name: The specific name of your campaign to help you track it in Google Analytics.
- Campaign Term and Campaign Content: Both are optional and can be useful for keyword tracking and ad targeting, respectively.
- When you fill in the data the website will generate your tracking link automatically.
Bitly, Online URL Shortener
Bitly is a platform that allows you to shorten links and in turn, makes it easy for you to track user interactions with the links. By shortening a URL with Bitly, you can track how many people click on the link, from which geographic locations and the devices they connect to.
To create tracking links in Bitly, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Bitly account.
- Click “Create” in the upper right corner.
- Paste the long URL you want to shorten and track.
- Click “Create”. Bitly will automatically generate a short URL that you can share.
- To track interactions with your link, simply click on the shortened URL in your Bitly dashboard, and you will be able to see all the stats related to it.
UTM.io, for UTM Generation
UTM.io is a very useful URL tracking and UTM generation tool that allows marketing teams to create, share and sync UTM tags for their campaigns. This tool allows you to create standardized UTM parameters, which makes data analysis easier. Like Bitly, UTM.io features a URL shortener to make your links more user-friendly. It also offers templates to save time when creating multiple URLs with similar parameters. One of UTM.io’s strengths is its ability to integrate with other tools, such as Google Analytics.
To generate tracking links in UTM.io follow these steps:
- Create an account on UTM.io.
- Log in and select “Create new UTM”.
- Fill in the required fields as follows:
Website URL: The URL of the page you want to direct traffic to.
- Campaign Source: The place where your traffic comes from (google, newsletter, etc).
- Campaign Medium: The general delivery method.
- Campaign Name: The name of your specific campaign.
- When you fill in the data the website will generate your tracking link. Your tracking link will be ready to be shared on the different digital platforms.
HubSpot, the Multifunctional Platform for Direct and Tracking Links
HubSpot is a multifunctional platform for marketing and sales that also includes URL tracking tools. HubSpot allows you to monitor how many people click on your links and how they interact with your website.
To create your own link in HubSpot you must:
- Log in to your HubSpot account and navigate to “Marketing” > “Email”.
- Click “More Tools” at the top right and select “URL Tracking”.
- Click “Create Tracking URL”.
- Fill in the requested details of the tracking URL, such as the campaign URL, campaign source, medium and name.
- Click on “Generate tracking URL” to create your link.
Why Are Tracking Links Important in an Influencer Marketing Strategy?
Tracking links are essential to measure the performance of an influencer marketing strategy. Through them, it is possible for brands to accurately quantify the impact of the influencer’s actions. This includes tracking how many people have clicked on a link and, of these people, how many have taken a specific action, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter.
Another advantage of tracking links lies in their usefulness for optimizing marketing strategies for businesses. Thanks to the ease of collecting and analyzing data related to the performance of your campaigns, brands can make informed decisions to improve their future strategies.
You might be interested in: Influencer marketing and sales: How to convert followers into customers?
Follow links also facilitate performance-based payments for influencers. In some cases, collaboration agreements between brands and influencers are established based on sales generated from the content creator’s posts, i.e. the creator receives a commission or payment for successfully completed business transactions. So with tracking links, it is possible to accurately track the conversions made by each influencer you work with.
What Can We Measure With a Tracking Link?
With tracking links, we can measure several metrics among which stand out:
Traffic origin (social networks, email, blog, etc)
With a URL it is possible to know where visitors come from to your digital platforms. In the case of campaigns with influencers, you will be able to know how much traffic the sponsored content of this particular content creator generated. We recommend reading Kolsquare’s blog: Everything you need to know about sponsored posts.
Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI is one of the most important points of any strategy, so by tracking conversions and associating them with specific campaigns, you can calculate the ROI of your marketing efforts.
Number of clicks
This metric provides insight into the level of interest and engagement your audience exhibits towards your communications or advertisements. In influencer marketing, it gives you the possibility to know how much attention the sponsored content created and shared by the influencer attracted.
User preferences
Tracking links helps you understand what kind of actions your target audience takes from each communication: Do followers buy from an advertisement? Do they sign up for a newsletter? Do they download collateral such as eBooks? With all this information you can adjust your advertising strategy and offer valuable content.
Conversion
A tracking link allows you to identify whether users who click on your link perform the actions you expect, such as buying a product, purchasing a service or registering for a specific event.