Facebook UTM Parameters

Facebook UTM parameters are essential for accurate campaign tracking and attribution in AnyTrack. This guide covers AnyTrack's recommended UTM tracking template, how to install it across your Facebook campaigns, and how to verify it's working correctly. Proper UTM parameter implementation ensures your campaign data flows correctly from Facebook Ads Manager into AnyTrack's reporting dashboard.

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TL;DR: Facebook UTM parameters

1. AnyTrack provides a recommended UTM tracking template that includes standard parameters and dynamic parameters.
2. The parameters and values collected by the AnyTrack template can be integrated with 99% of the marketing platforms you're either working with or plan to work with at some point.
3. If you don't use standard utm parameters for the purpose they were created for, you are going to miss on a lot of actions, data and ROAS!

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Related Guides:

• Main Facebook Ads Setup Guide - Complete integration setup
• Verify Ads Settings - How to verify UTM template installation
• Troubleshooting Guide - Fix common UTM parameter issues
• Advanced Options - Advanced configuration and customization

List of Facebook UTM parameters

Unlike Google Ads, Facebook does not provide a global setting to add a default UTM Tracking Parameters template to your account.

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Good to know:

Through the Facebook Ads Manager, you can bulk update your ads with the AnyTrack recommended UTM tracking template.

What is a URL tracking template?

A URL tracking template is a set of URL parameters and tokens that is appended to your ad URLs. At run time (when your ad is displayed and/or clicked on), Facebook automatically substitutes the tokens with the actual variables such as the campaign.id, adset.id, ad.id and more.

For example, the Facebook Campaign ID token (also called macro) is {{campaign.id}}. At run time, Facebook replaces the token with the actual campaign id 1283912839123812938.

Using tokens instead of hard coding the campaign id value in your ads URL saves you time, prevents errors and enables you to better analyze your campaigns through ad tracking software that leverage these parameters.

URL tracking parameters are usually preceded by a query parameter that is automatically collected by analytics platform such as Google Analytics. For the campaign id, Google Analytics reads this parameter under the query parameter utm_id.

So if you wanted to collect only the campaign id, your campaign URL would look like:

https://example.com?utm_id={{campaign.id}}

The Facebook UTM Parameter Tracking Template

utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content={{adset.name}}&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_term={{ad.name}}&utm_id={{campaign.id}}&ad_id={{ad.id}}&adset_id={{adset.id}}&placement={{placement}}&site_source_name={{site_source_name}}

For example:

The tracking template Anytrack provides carries the parameter: adset_id={{adset.id}}

Your Final URL is: https://anytrack.io

At run time, the template is appended to your final URL and the {{adset.id}} token is replaced with the actual adset id: 123123123123818

https://anytrack.io?adset_id=123123123123818

Where should you place the Tracking template?

The tracking template should be added in the URL Parameters field.

Why is the URL tracking template important?

The URL tracking template standardizes data collection across your ads and campaigns. AnyTrack uses UTM parameters to build your campaign reports and align campaign data from Facebook Ads with your visitor's session data. Google Analytics uses UTM parameters to build attribution reports.

Benefits of using a URL tracking template

• Improved campaign tracking and attribution - Standardized parameters across all campaigns
• Cross-platform reporting - Consistent data across AnyTrack, Google Analytics, and Facebook
• Custom audience building - Use campaign data to create targeted audiences
• Cross-network data leverage - Use campaign parameters across multiple ad platforms

Where to find the Facebook URL Tracking Template

AnyTrack provides a prebuilt URL Tracking Template in the Facebook Ads Integration tab:

Tracking Pixels → Your Pixel → Ads Integrations

Can I customize the UTM parameters?

Yes. AnyTrack leverages UTM parameters to match the data fetched from your ad account with the session data tracked by the AnyTrack Tag. As long as you keep the ID-based parameters in the template, you can customize or replace the name-based parameters as needed.

We recommend using our tracking template because it's built according to Google Analytics best practices and enables AnyTrack to accurately report by campaigns, ad sets, and ads.

Compatibility with other tracking software

Yes, the AnyTrack template is compatible with other tracking software. AnyTrack uses standard UTM parameters, while most alternatives use custom parameters like tw_id or h_adid. These don't interfere with AnyTrack's parameters, so you can append them to the AnyTrack template.

Required Parameters:

• utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_id, adset_id, ad_id

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The pixel connected in AnyTrack should be the one that your ads is optimizing for.

How to Verify UTM Parameters in Your Ads

1. Go to Tracking Pixels ➡ click on the Facebook Pixel you want to verify
2. Click on the Ads integration tab
3. Click on VERIFY ADS SETTINGS button
4. AnyTrack will highlight the error found in each of your ads and add a suggested change.

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Important

While you can add tracking parameters directly to the final URL, it is highly recommended to add the parameters in the appropriate fields.

External references

Specifications for URL dynamic parameters (Facebook Business Center).

Best practice for UTM parameters (Google help center).