With marketing in the digital world, it is no longer enough to advertise your campaigns on a single channel. Customers regularly consume several different forms of media every day. Whether it is advertised on TV, social media, search engines, or more, customers can hear about your marketing campaigns from any number of sources. This makes collecting campaign data very important, so you know which channels provide the most traffic, and where to invest the most effort and resources.
How to collect campaign data
Through Google Analytics, you can easily track the websites and online sources that lead users to your website. Google Analytics does this naturally, with channels described as “organic search, direct, referral, social, email, and other”. You can also customize your channel reports by tagging destination URLs. Google provides a detailed article about the best ways to do this, which you can read here. Google specifically suggests tagging destination URLs for paid search campaigns on search engines other than Google. This helps them find the results of your other campaigns, collecting all that data in one place so you can see the full picture. You can also use URL Builders to create URLs, making the process even simpler.
Setting up a campaign across multiple channels is now easier than ever. The prevalence of the internet and social media makes it easier to gain referrals from different sources. Similarly, search engines can help customers find you by searching for relevant keywords. And the more people hear about your campaign through organic search and referrals, the more likely they are to search out your site directly. Collecting campaign data has become more important than ever for understanding your traffic sources, and can help you make the most of your campaigns.