Using UTM parameters on your landing page URLs across your social ads is critical if you want to compare the performance of your campaigns in other platforms such as GA4, TripleWhale and CRM systems.
However, there is some confusion when it comes to using UTMs as GA4 groups traffic by channels and knowing which UTM parameters qualify for these channels isn’t always clear. Luckily we’ve outlined exactly what works best in the templates below so you can copy and paste them for yourselves.
Alternatively, you can use our online UTM builder to add manual UTM strings to a URL on the link below:
Top tip: keeping naming conventions short and simple is best as some UTM tracking platforms can’t handle long URL strings.
Facebook Ads (Recommended for all Meta ads)
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Dynamic UTMs
Dynamic UTMs use tags to reference live data from the platform without having to type it in each time, such as campaign and ad name. However, dynamic UTMs are sticky so they will use the first value of whatever they are referencing when first created and won’t update if anything is changed. For instance, if you duplicate an ad, publidsh it then change it’s name the dynamic UTM for {{ad.name}} will still be the old ad name.
We also recommend not using a dynamic UTM for source {{site_source_name}} or medium as the Meta ad platform sometimes uses values such as ‘msg’ (messenger) and ‘an’ (audience network) which are not recognised by GA4s default channel grouping.
https://example.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform={{placement}}&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_term={{adset.name}}&utm_content={{ad.name}}
Instagram Ads (For dedicated or Instagram weighted Meta campaigns)
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Dynamic UTMs
Dynamic UTMs use tags to reference live data from the platform without having to type it in each time, such as campaign and ad name. However, dynamic UTMs are sticky so they will use the first value of whatever they are referencing when first created and won’t update if anything is changed. For instance, if you duplicate an ad, publidsh it then change it’s name the dynamic UTM for {{ad.name}} will still be the old ad name.
We also recommend not using a dynamic UTM for source {{site_source_name}} or medium as the Meta ad platform sometimes uses values such as ‘msg’ (messenger) and ‘an’ (audience network) which are not recognised by GA4s default channel grouping.
https://example.com/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform={{placement}}&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_term={{adset.name}}&utm_content={{ad.name}}
TikTok Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=tiktok&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Snapchat Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=snapchat&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Twitter Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
LinkedIn Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Pinterest Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Reddit Ads
Manual UTMs
Change ‘campaign_name’, ‘audience_name’, ‘placement_name’ and ‘ad_name’ to whatever you want but keep everything lowercase and avoid using symbols or punctuation such as ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘=’ or ‘%’ you can use dash ‘-‘ or underscore ‘_’ to space out words, never use an actual space ‘ ‘.
https://example.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=paid&utm_source_platform=placement_name&utm_campaign=campaign_name&utm_term=audience_name&utm_content=ad_name
Other Useful Resources
General overview of what UTMs do and how they work with GA: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952
How GA4 manages default channel grouping: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891
A complete list of GA4s channel group and source categories: https://storage.googleapis.com/support-kms-prod/qn1xhBu8MVcZPIZ2WZMNdI40FtZXFPGYxj2K
Facebook’s free URL builder tool: https://www.facebook.com/business/google-analytics/build-your-url