Track Instagram traffic in Google Analytics

Step-by-step Playbooks
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Business Benefits

Differentiate between your paid and organic Instagram traffic and improve your Instagram strategy.

In Facebook Ads Manager, click on your ad, scroll down to website URL and click on Build a URL parameter.

  • Campaign Source: Instagram
  • Campaign Medium: CPC
  • Campaign Name: {{campaign.name}} - This will automatically pass the Instagram campaign name through to Google Analytics.
  • Adset Name: {{adset.name}} - This will automatically pass the name you’ve assigned to the Instagram ad set.
  • Add tracking parameters to the links in your Instagram Ads.

In Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > All traffic > Source/Medium and compare your paid and unpaid Instagram traffic to assess each channel’s importance to your business.

Once you’ve added parameters to your advertising links, visits from your Instagram ads will be displayed under Instagram / cpc. Your unpaid Instagram traffic will show as either (@referral) • Instagram photos and videos, Instagram, m.instagram.com /referral or lm.instagram.com/referral. Check the most important success metrics like users, goals, and revenue, for both paid and unpaid traffic.

Click on Instagram / cpc and then on Secondary Dimension > Campaign to see an overview of the performance of your Instagram campaigns.

Click on Secondary Dimension > Term to see an overview of your Instagram ad sets.

Compare the number of conversions or amount of revenue generated by your paid vs unpaid Instagram traffic.

Adjust your strategy based on this comparison. For example, increase your Instagram ad spend if the paid channel contributes to your business goals; pause your ads if your organic Instagram performs well and your ads generate low ROI. Identify campaigns and ad sets that generate the best cost per conversion or ROI. Use this data to plan your Instagram content strategy.

Click +Add filter to consolidate all of your unpaid Instagram traffic into one source in GA.

You can find this in Admin, navigate to the View column and click on Filters. Your unpaid Instagram traffic can appear as:

The steps below will consolidate all those traffic sources into one source: (@referral) • Instagram photos and videos.

  • Under Filter Type, select Custom.

  • Select Search and Replace.

  • Configure the filter:

  • Filter Field: Campaign Source

  • Search String: .*instagram

  • Replace String: instagram

  • Click on Save.

Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T11:45:31Z