UTM parameters are the difference between "2,000 clicks" and "2,000 clicks — 40 of which bought from my Tuesday Reel." They take 10 minutes to learn and will change how you think about content ROI.
What is a UTM parameter?
A UTM is a tiny tag added to the end of a URL that tells your analytics where the visitor came from. There are five standard UTMs:
- utm_source — where the traffic came from (e.g.
biowise) - utm_medium — the category (e.g.
social,email) - utm_campaign — the specific campaign (e.g.
bio,summer_drop) - utm_content — the specific link or ad variant (e.g.
hero_button) - utm_term — the keyword (mainly for paid search)
A real example
Here's a tagged bio link:
https://yourshop.com/summer?utm_source=biowise&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bio&utm_content=reel_july12
That URL tells Google Analytics: "this visitor came from BioWise, from the bio link on my July 12 Reel." Suddenly you can tie revenue to specific videos.
Where to see the data
Any analytics tool will break traffic down by UTM source and campaign — Google Analytics 4, Plausible, Fathom, and of course BioWise. GA4 has a report under Acquisition → Traffic acquisition that slices revenue by UTM out of the box.
Rules of thumb
- Lowercase everything.
Instagramandinstagramare treated as different sources. - Use underscores, not spaces.
summer_drop, notsummer drop. - Never tag internal links (links from your site to itself).
- Keep a spreadsheet or naming convention — consistency is everything.
The lazy way
If you use BioWise, every bio link is automatically tagged with UTM parameters. You get clean attribution without remembering a single rule. Start free here.
Want to go deeper? Read the full conversion tracking playbook.