Wouldn’t it be good to know where most of your traffic is coming from? What about email sign ups or even revenue broken down by social channels? How effective is your email marketing?
You may have published a new guest post on another site. Did anyone click through?
Wonder no more! UTM tags are the solution for your problem.
COPOJ – Culture of Peace Online Journal, 2(1), 66-81. ISSN 1715-538X www.copoj.ca 66 Track One and a Half Diplomacy and the Complementarity of Tracks Jeffrey Mapendere Assistant Director Conflict Resolution Program Carter Center This paper is based on the author’s document “Consequential. The first three numbers following the expiration year and month both on track 1 and track 2 are the service code. 101 is not the defacto standard. Improve this answer. Follow answered Aug 30 '14 at 16:59. 1st stab at this 1st stab at this. 11 1 1 bronze badge. Add a comment 0.
Today’s guest blogger is GaborPapp. He is a Growth Marketer at Shapr3D, the world’s first professional 3D modelling tool on iPad Pro. He’s an expert in Search Engine Optimizaton (SEO) and mobile app marketing.
What is a UTM tag?
The UTM tag is a parameter that you can attach to any URL. These parameters hold additional information that can be tied to that URL. And this additional data can be later analyzed in Google Analytics or in other analytics tools.
“UTM” itself stands for “Urchin tracking module.” Urchin was a software company that Google acquired back in 2005. The Urchin software was the baseline what we now know as Google Analytics (GA).
How do UTMs work in real life?
In practice, UTM tags are snippets of a text added to the end of the URL.
Here’s an example URL:
https://data36.com?utm_campaign=blogpost&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
- Track1, track 1, track1 generator, track 1 generator, generate track1, track1 gen, genarator track1, track2gen, generator dumps, track1 generator online.
- Open or create a new Studio One 4 song: 2. From the top menu bar, click on: Track - Add Tracks. The “Add Tracks” window will open as: 4. Configure the “Add Tracks” window to create a new instrument track: This window lets the user select the type of track created, the number of tracks created and configure all of its parameters.
The part in bold (highlighted) is the UTM parameter in this link. It’s important to know that this code doesn’t affect anything on the site where it is being used. It only contains extra information for the analytics program you use.
And this extra info can be extremely valuable when you try to figure out which marketing channel is working better, which is bringing in more or better leads. So it makes sense to use UTM tags for tracking.
What can you track with UTM codes?
You can track multiple things with UTM codes. These include campaigns, sources, medium, content and terms.
Let’s break these down one by one.
- Campaign UTM: This tag groups all the content from one specific campaign in the analytics tool.–» Example: utm_campaign=march+promoYou can create any campaign you prefer, just make sure to be consistent. It could be a newsletter, a big promo, a group on Facebook, or another website.
- Source UTM tells you which website is sending the traffic to you.–» Example: utm_source=FacebookIt could be any website, like data36.com, thepitch.hu, pappgab.com or if you are focusing on social sites, these are the most common ones to use here:
- facebook.com
- twitter.com
- linkedin.com
- youtube.com
- plus.google.com
- reddit.com
- Medium UTM parameters set the type of marketing medium where the link appears.–» Example: utm_medium=socialThe most common medium channels are:
- social
- partner
- affiliate
- referral
- cpc
- banner
- Content UTM is often used when you want to track different types of content that point to the same URL (with the same campaign, source, medium). It is another layer of differentiator and very often used with PPC ads or to separate 2 identical links on the same page.–» Example: utm_content=sidebar or utm_content=footerThere is a great flexibility here as well in terms of adding a value to this UTM. Just make sure to keep it consistent, so you can later compare data in your analytics tool.
- Term UTM is often used to identify the keywords you are targeting in PPC ads.–» Example: utm_term=data+analytics+workshop
In one sentence:
UTM tags are important because they help you see where your traffic is coming from.
With all this in mind, take a look at a real life case study.
How to Track Every Link and the Traffic From Social Media
Let’s say you have just published a new blogpost and want to share it on different channels, platforms.
As an example, I just picked a recent article from Data36.
I want to share this in the newsletter, on my own Facebook, in a few groups, on Linkedin and on Twitter. How do I know which channel brings the most traffic? Which source brings better visitors? That’s where UTMs can help you.
If you tag your url properly, you can collect all this info in GA.
For Facebook I could be using these UTM tags:
- https://data36.com/sql-best-practices-data-analysts/?utm_campaign=data36&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
- https://data36.com/sql-best-practices-data-analysts/?utm_campaign=data+analyst+group&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
- https://data36.com/sql-best-practices-data-analysts/?utm_campaign=TomiMester+newsfeed&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
What is the difference between the 3 links?
They are all for facebook which is a social channel. But the campaigns are all different.
Link #1 would go on the Data36 Facebook page, link #2 goes into the Data Analyst Facebook group and link #3 goes on to the personal newsfeed of Tomi Mester. And this info is passed on the analytics suite you are using.
So if I head over to GA, I can see which campaign brought more / better traffic.
The good thing is that you don’t need to tag these manually, but there are tools that can help your workflow.
One of the best and easiest tools to use is Google’s own Campaign URL builder
Here’s how it works:
- Add the website URL
- Define the campaign source
- Add the medium
- Add a campaign name
- The tool will automatically generate the campaign URL
From here on, all you need to do is share the link the tool generate on the right channels and medium and look at the results in GA.
Pro Tip:
Use the ”+” or the “_” sign instead of spaces (“ “). If you use a space in Google Analytics, GA will not interpret it as a space, but instead a funny character. The “+” sign functions as the space in GA, so if you add the “data+analyst+group” as utm parameter, you’ll see “data analyst group” in GA.
Where can you see these numbers in Google Analytics?
If you head over to GA, go to Acquisition –» All traffic –» Source / Medium.
This will give you an overview of which channels are performing the best for you.
If you are interested in campaign level data, then this is the path you are looking for:
Acquisition –» Campaigns –» All campaigns
You can get your campaign level data here in GA for any timeframe.
Over time you can collect invaluable data on many channels and sources that can help you understand where to focus and where not to.
I personally use a copy of this tagging spreadsheet because it helps me stay consistent.
You are more than welcome to make a copy for yourself at File –» Make a copy.
Conclusion
UTM tags can be a great asset for any marketer who wants to know where the traffic and where the best converting traffic is coming from.
If you haven’t done it already, get started with UTM tagging, either with this spreadsheet or with any other tool. You won’t regret it.
Gabor Papp
Guide to Magnetic Encoding on Cards
According to ANSI & ISO/IEC Standards
The purpose of this guide is to give an overview of the magnetic encoding characteristics as defined by ANSI and ISO/IEC standards.
I. Magnetic Stripe Card Physical Configuration as Specified by ISO Standards: 7811-1 through 6, 7812, 7813, and 4951.
I.1 Magnetic Stripe Card Dimensional Characteristics
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I.2 Location of Encoded Data Tracks
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I.3 Standard Definition of Magnetic Tracks
The magnetic track assignments were made for specific industry uses, such as financial, thrift etc. and comprise the vast majority of cards in use, but not all. Other applications such as access control, identification, and driver’s licenses have developed their own custom formats for each track. This capability to reformat the content of each track has allowed magnetic stripe card technology to expand into many industries. The three magnetic tracks, defined for financial industry applications, have been assigned names and numbers as listed below:
Track 1: Developed by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), track 1 contains alphanumeric information for automation of airline ticketing or other transactions where a reservation database is accessed.
Track 2: Developed by the American Bankers Association (ABA), track 2 contains numeric information for the automation of financial transac- tions. This track of information is also used by most systems that require an identification number and a minimum of other control information.
Track 3: Developed by the Thrift Industry, track 3 contains information, some of which is intended to be updated (re-recorded) with each transaction (e.g., cash dispensers that operate “off-line”).
I.4 Basics of Magnetics and Reading Coded Character Set Tables
A magnetic stripe is encoded with bit patterns, which correspond to alphanumeric (Track 1) or numeric (Tracks 2 & 3) ASCII characters. The number of bits on a given track is limited to a certain number of bits per inch, or BPI. There are also a series of all zero bits encoded at the beginning and end of a magnetic stripe; these “clocking bits” establish timing for the reader, or the time the reader will detect flux reversals as it moves down the magnetic stripe.
For each character in the bottom right section of the Track 1 Coded Character Set table, there is a bit pattern which consists of six bits. To determine this bit pattern for each character, read to the left of the character in its corresponding row, from bit 1 to bit 4. To determine bits 5 and 6, read above the character in its corresponding row. For example, the bit pattern for “D” (Column 2, Row 4) would be “0 0 1 0 0 1” plus odd parity bit = 1.
For the Tracks 2 & 3 Coded Character Set table (page 7), read to the left of each numerical character. For example, the bit pattern for “6” (row 6) would be 0 1 1 0 with odd parity (P).
II. Data Format for Financial Transaction Cards
II.1 Definitions
Bit - A binary digit with the value of either 0 or 1. Each track consists of a string of bits; bits strings make up an alpha or numeric character (see Coded Character Set tables).
End Sentinel - A defined character (bit pattern) in an encoding format. Cannot be used for data. The End Sentinel is encoded on the magnetic stripe immediately after the last data character and indicates the end of data.
Field Separator - A designated character which separates data fields. Cannot be used for data.
Format Code - Under ANSI/ISO Track 1 protocol there are two defined formats: Code A is name first; Code B is account number first. For Track 3, the first two digits identify the data format used.
Start Sentinel - A defined character (bit pattern) in an encoding format. Cannot be all zeros. The Start Sentinel is encoded on the magnetic stripe immediately before the first data character and indicates the beginning of data.
Parity - A self-checking code using binary digits in which the total number of ones (or zeros) in each track is always even or always odd. A check for even or odd parity detects errors in the system.
Longitudinal Redundancy Check Character- A bit pattern which is encoded immediately after the End Sentinel. Checks for bit errors in the message, which includes the Start Sentinel, End Sentinel, data, and field separators.
II.2 Track 1 (IATA)
Recording density (bits per inch) = 210 bpi
Character configuration (including parity bit) = 7 bits per character
Information content (max.) = 79 alphanumeric char.
Track 1 data reads:
<SS><FC><PAN><FS><CC><NAME><FS><Additional Data><CC><LRC>
where SS = Start Sentinel = %
FS = Field Separator = {
ES = End Sentinel = ?
FC = Format Code
LRC = Longitudinal Redundancy Check Character
CC = Country Code (3 characters minimum)
PAN = Primary Account Number (19 digits maximum)
NAME = 26 Alphanumeric Characters Minimum
Additional Data = *Expiration Data = 4
Interchange Designator = 1
Service Code = 2
Discretionary Data
*required by Visa and MasterCard
a. Track 1 is limited to 79 characters including Start Sentinel, End Sentinel and LRC.
b. MasterCard PAN varies up to 16 characters maximum.
c. Visa is 13 or 16 characters, including mod 10 check digit.
d. Italicized text identifies control characters.
Track 1 Coded Character Set:
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a. These characters are available for hardware control purposes only and cannot contain information characters.
b. These characters are reserved for additional national characters when required. They are not to be used internationally.
c. These characters are reserved for optional additional graphic symbols.
d. These characters shall have the following meaning for this application:
Position 0/5 % represents Start Sentinel
Position 1/15 ? represents End Sentinel
Position 3/14 ^ represents Field Separator
II.3 Track 2 (ABA)
Recording density (bits per inch) = 75 bpi
Character configuration (including parity bit) = 5 bits per character
Information content (including SS, ES) = 40 numeric max. chars.
Track 2 data reads:
<SS><PAN><FS><Additional Data><ES><LRC>
where SS = Start Sentinel = Hex B ;
FS = Field Separator = Hex D =
ES = End Sentinel = Hex F ?
LRC = Longitudinal Redundancy Check Character
PAN = Primary Account Number (19 digits maximum)
Additional Data = Country Code = 3
*Expiration Data = 4
Interchange Designator = 3
Service Code = 3
Discretionary Data
*required by Visa and MasterCard
a. Track 2 is limited to 40 characters including Start Sentinel, End Sentinel and LRC.
b. MasterCard PAN varies up to 16 characters maximum.
c. Visa is 13 or 16 characters, including mod 10 check digit.
d. Italicized text identifies control characters.
Click to enlarge...
a. These characters are available for hardware control purposes only and cannot contain information characters (data content).
b1 Start Sentinel (;) start character
b2 Separator (=)
Generate Track 1 Data From Track 2
d. End Sentinel (?) stop character
II.4 Track 3 (Thrift)
Track 1 Track 2 Layout
Recording density (bits per inch) = 210 bpi
Character configuration (including parity bit) = 5 bits per character
Information content (max.) = 107 numeric
Track 3 data reads:
<SS><FC><PAN><FS><Use and Security Data><Additional Data><FS><LRC>
where SS = Start Sentinel = Hex B ;
FS = Field Separator = Hex D =
ES = End Sentinel = Hex F ?
FC = Format Code
LRC = Longitudinal Redundancy Check Character
PAN = Primary Account Number (19 digits maximum)
Use & Security Data = *Country Code (optional) = 3 or FS
Currency Code = 3
Currency Exponent = 1
Amount Authorized per Cycle
Amount Remaining this Cycle
Cycle Begin (Validity Date)
Cycle Length = 2
Reentry Count = 1
*Pin Control Parameters (optional)
Interchange Control = 1
PAN Service Restriction = 2
SAN-1 Service Restriction
SAN-2 Service Restriction = 2
*Expiration Data (optional)
Card Sequence No. = 1
*Card Security No. (optional)
*required by Visa and MasterCard
Additional Data = *First Subsidiary Account No. (optional) = FS
*Second Subsidiary Account No. (optional) = FS
Relay Marker = 1
*Cryptographic Check = 6 or FS
Digits (optional)
Discretionary Data
*A Field Separator (FS) must be encoded if an optional field is not used
a. Track 3 is limited to 107 characters including Start Sentinel, End Sentinel and LRC
b. Italicized text identifies control characters.