How Can Google Tag Manager Help Your Local Marketing Efforts?
One of the best things about digital marketing is that you can collect data to measure its performance. You can see what works, what doesn’t, and identify places to improve to reach even more local customers. This power is multiplied when you use Google Tag Manager.
If you want to collect valuable data from your website so you can better measure the effectiveness of your on-site marketing efforts, it’s time to get to know Google Tag Manager.
What Is Google Tag Manager?
Google Tag Manager is a simplified way to add tracking code to your website or app so you can monitor the activity that takes place.
At one time, tracking activity on your website used to require complex coding and developers. But, through Google Tag Manager, you can measure the effectiveness of your website by easily adding tracking codes without using complex coding.
Google Tag Managers connects your website to other tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, or third-party sites like Facebook. It monitors interactions on your website (such as clicks and form submissions) and keeps all of this data in one place.
Related: Why It's Important to Own Your Business Data and How to Start Collecting It
Benefits of Google Tag Manager
If you aren’t using Google Tag Manager, you may have no data about your website or you may have data that is scattered across multiple dashboards or accounts.
When you have Google Tag Manager set up you can reap a variety of benefits.
- Your website analytics are visible from one dashboard. Rather than toggling from Google Analytics to Facebook to Google Ads, you can use one dashboard to see how your site is performing across multiple platforms.
- You don’t need a developer to make changes. Prior to Google Tag Manager, you needed to install custom code each time you wanted to add or edit a tag on your site. With Google Tag Manager, you can make adjustments through your dashboard without touching code.
- You can improve your marketing effectiveness. With Google Tag Manager, you can collect data that helps you identify what is working on your site and what isn’t. With insights into your analytics, you can see if your marketing efforts are effective, and if not, make steady improvements and drive better results.
- You can keep your website running quickly. A lot of tags can slow down a website and lead to a lower-quality user experience. When you use Google Tags instead of a variety of manually added tags, your site will run faster.
Rather than manually inputting data into spreadsheets or jumping from report to report, you can use Google Tag Manager to create a simplified dashboard clearly showing the results of your digital marketing efforts.
Related: Use Google Search Console to Get Insights That Grow Your Business
What Are the Elements of Google Tag Manager?
It seems like a no-brainer to set up Google Tag manager, but it can be a little intimidating the first time you dive into the product. Let’s see if we can help you get acquainted with Google Tag Manager so you can feel confident setting up and using it for your local business.
Google Tag Manager has three major components: tags, triggers, and variables.
Tags are snippets of code, javascript, and tracking pixels that track data and come from other Google products (such as Analytics and Google Ads) as well as from third-party tools and apps (such as Facebook, CrazyEgg, etc.). For example, tracking codes may include:
- Facebook pixels
- Google Ad remarketing codes
- Heatmap codes
- And more
Tags are activated by triggers you identify through Google Tag Manager.
Triggers are the rules that tell Google Tag Manager when to fire a tag. It defines the event or on-site activity you want to track. A trigger may be a:
- Page view
- Click on a specific link
- Form submissions
- Window load
- And more
Triggers are defined by one or more variables.
Variables are types of “if-then” statements that define when a trigger should go off. For example, you can have a trigger with variables that fire when someone makes a purchase because they clicked a buy button and made it all the way to the checkout page.
Related: The 7 Types of Marketing Automation a Local Business Can Use
How To Start Using Google Tag Manager?
Now that you know why Google Tag Manager is beneficial for improving your digital marketing efforts, what do you need to do to get started?
#1) Add Google Tag Manager code to your website. Create a Google Tag Manager account and install the code on your website or app.
#2) Decide what tags you need. As with all good marketing efforts, start by identifying your goals and metrics for measuring those goals. Outline your goals and assign Marketing KPIs. Then, determine what on-site action you can track to measure those metrics. You may want to track:
- Page views
- Purchases
- Clicks
- Downloads
- User demographics
- Traffic sources
- Etc.
#3) Set up your tags. Once you know what information you want to track, set up tags within Google Tag Manager. Define the triggers with parameters that will track events as they take place across your site.
#4) Review and learn. After your site begins collecting data, refer to your dashboard often to keep an eye on the performance of your site. Learn from the events that take place (and those that don't) to make changes to your site or launch new marketing campaigns that can drive better results.
Related: Using Website Audits to Find Opportunity (and Errors) On Your Site
Need Help Optimizing Your Website?
Just having a website isn’t enough to market your business to local customers. You need to know what users do when they land on your site and which one of your marketing campaigns are most effective so you can drive bigger and better results.
If you aren’t sure if your website could be driving better results, or if you know it’s not performing as well as it could be, MyArea Network is here to help.
Let us set up your Google Tag Manager and help you learn from your website data. Contact us to see how our team can analyze and improve your website to drive more visits to your local business.
