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How to set up tracking for SoMe channels?

Steffanie Buggild avatar
Written by Steffanie Buggild
Updated yesterday

If you want to set up tracking for different channels, open the campaign, go to the “Add-ons” section: 

Then select “Channels”:

Or “Tracking":

After that, you can enter the channel names you want to track and match them to your campaign links.

If you're running digital campaigns, ads, or email marketing, your links must be set up correctly. A small mistake in your URL structure can lead to missing or incorrect tracking, meaning you lose valuable data.

In this article, we'll cover:

  • How to use UTM codes

  • Common mistakes in URL structure (hint: too many ?)

  • How to correctly add Scratcher’s channel parameter

What are UTM codes?

UTM codes are tags you add to your URLs to track where traffic comes from and how your campaigns perform.

Parameter

Function

utm_source

Identifies the traffic source (e.g., facebook, google, newsletter)

utm_medium

Defines the marketing channel (e.g., social, email, cpc, display)

utm_campaign

Names the campaign (e.g., summer2025)

utm_content

Distinguishes between ads or links (e.g., banner-vs-text)

utm_term (optional)

Used for keywords in paid campaigns (e.g., Google Ads)

Examples of correct and incorrect URL parameter usage

❌ Incorrect – multiple question marks (?)

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_source=facebook?channel=social

What’s wrong:

  • There are two ? in the URL

  • Only the first parameter (utm_source) will be recognized

  • The rest (channel=social) may be ignored or misinterpreted

✅ Correct – one question mark + & between parameters

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_source=facebook&channel=social

Why it works:

  • Only one ? is used to begin the query string

  • All additional parameters are separated with &
    ​

✅ Correct – standard UTM parameters only

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=springlaunch

Use case:

  • Used for traffic tracking in Google Analytics, Matomo, etc.

  • Helps you segment campaign performance by source, medium, and campaign name
    ​

✅ Correct – UTM parameters + custom tracking parameter

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=summer2025&channel=instagram

Use case:

  • utm_* parameters for web analytics

  • channel=instagram for internal system tracking (e.g. lead system, form submissions, gamification platform)
    ​

✅ Correct – One custom parameter only

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?ref=affiliatepartner1

Use case:

  • Simple referral tracking without using full UTM structure
    ​


❌ Incorrect – Spaces in parameter values (not encoded)

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_campaign=summer sale

Issue:

  • Spaces in URLs must be encoded (either as + or %20)

  • Otherwise, the URL may break or parameters won’t be read correctly

Correct version:

https://www.example.com/landingpage/?utm_campaign=summer+sale

Quick summary

Problem

Correct Approach

More than one ? in a URL

Use only one ?, then & between params

Vague parameter names

Use standard UTM parameters (utm_source, etc.)

Inconsistent naming (e.g. Facebook vs facebook)

Use lowercase consistently

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