One of the mistakes that can make marketing your TpT store much more time consuming is not tracking which strategies are actually working for you. When you track your campaigns, you can quickly see which things you should keep doing and which things are really not worth your time. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using UTM codes.
What are UTM Codes?
UTM Codes are a little piece of code that you add to the end of an internet address that records extra information. TpT allows teacher authors to use these codes so that we can track how often the links are used.
Why do I want to use UTM Codes?
UTM codes are a great way to track how effective your marketing strategies are. They not only show how many people are following the links, but how often those links result in sales. So by using them, you can tell – for example – which Pinterest pins are actually sending traffic to your store, and whether or not those people end up purchasing your product.
Where can I use UTM Codes?
Short answer: Everywhere!
Longer answer: Remember that the more UTM codes you use, the more information you can gather.
- Use UTM codes in the links for your Pinterest pins so you can tell which pins are producing sales
- Use UTM codes on your blog so you can tell which blog posts are producing traffic & sales
- Use UTM codes in the links on your Instagram stories
- Use UTM codes in the links you put in your product downloads
- Everytime you put a link to a product somewhere, use a UTM code!
Don’t forget your store itself! Most people only think of using utm codes on their external links, but you should also put them in your store menu, banner, quotebox, etc so you can tell what people are clicking on within your store.
Tips to make using UTM codes faster and easier
Newsflash: You don’t need to use the generator on TpT’s website in order to use UTM codes! Just copy and paste the following onto the end of any link and change the qualifiers (parts in caps):
?utm_source=SOURCE&utm_campaign=PRODUCT
For source, just put where the link is going (Pinterest, your blog, instagram, product file, etc)
For product, put the name of the product so you know which link was clicked. I like to put an extra qualifier (separated by an underscore) to differentiate between different links that go to the same product. For example:
?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_campaign=TrackingSanta_videopin
or
?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_campaign=TrackingSanta_coverpin
If you have many similar links to the same product, you might wish to add a number to the end of the product qualifier and then keep track of them in a spreadsheet – but I wouldn’t bother going to the trouble unless you are doing a specific test to see what converts the best.
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