Link Settings in Hootsuite Composer

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Video Transcript | Intro

When publishing through the Hootsuite Composer, advanced link settings can be applied to track how your social messages drive website visits, conversions, and campaign engagement. This information is accessible in your web analytics platform, such as Google or Adobe Analytics.

Let’s say you’re creating a new post in the composer, and add a link to your message. You’ll be given the option to apply link settings. Here you can either select an existing preset created, by an admin, OR choose customize to create one-off link settings. 

Begin by filling in the UTM parameters. Source, Medium, and Campaign are always required by Google Analytics, but the set up of your values can be tailored to your business needs. If you don’t need specific values they can be removed with a click. 

When filling in this information, you can select either Dynamic or Custom parameters. 

Choosing custom means the resulting link will contain the exact value entered. Picking dynamic means the value will adapt, based on what’s being done. There are three options for dynamic UTM values, Social Network, Social Profile, and Post ID. If you choose social network, your value will adjust automatically to reflect the network you’ve posted to. For example, if you’re sending a post to several networks at once, your link will be customized to each network. The value here is that you will be able to isolate the performance of a single post on each network.  Choosing Post ID will attach a unique identifier created by Hootsuite to the UTM -- which can then be used to track the link back to the original post.

You can also add multiple values to the same parameter, increasing your options for content management. For example, if your post contains multiple types of media, such as a blog and video, you could add several identifiers under the medium parameter without disrupting identifiers for other parameters. These additional identifiers are useful for tracking the reception of different types of content being used across your organization. Once you’re done, take a minute to review your URL in full below your UTM values. This is what your customers will see when they click on your shortened link.

Next, select a link shortener from the dropdown list. All Hootsuite users will have access to our Ow.ly link shorter, but if you use a different shortener like Bit.ly, you can access them here.

Once your settings are applied, you’ll see the updated link in the preview window. Clicking on this link will expand it in a new tab, where you can review the values you’ve added.  

Creating a Preset (Admins Only)

Hootsuite admins and super admins can create link settings and then turn them into presets that can be used by all team members in their Hootsuite Organization, introducing consistency and making everyone’s lives easier.

Admins and super admins can set up link presets for team members by clicking into the link settings area of any Organization they control. Here, you can view and manage presets that have already been created.

To create a brand new preset, click Create new link settings. Then, select your analytics program, such as Google or Adobe Analytics, or create a custom one that matches the requirements of the tool you’re using.

Some organizations create blanket presets, that will be applied to all outgoing links. To create a blanket preset, select the Default option. This will automatically attach the default preset to every outgoing link, unless a different preset is manually applied. This is great for tracking business as usual posts on your social channels that may not be part of a specific initiative or campaign. 

Next, fill in all your desired UTM values. If you do chose to create a blanket preset, we recommend using dynamic values so that the resulting links are easier to sort though and measure.

Once you’re happy with your preset, click to Save. And remember, you can always go in and adjust these settings at any time. 

Check out our features page to learn more about what you can accomplish with Hootsuite.