How do I know who clicked my link on Facebook?

With the Web as viral as it is these days, it’s hard to tell if anyone ever actually click on the link you e-mailed them about the funniest new cat videos, the prototype website you just designed, or an album from the party last weekend. If you want to keep a tab on whether your links get seen by your recipients, Was It Viewed? can help you track it down.

The simple web app requires very few entries: Just insert the URL of the link you want to share and your e-mail. The site will create the same version of the link with a tracking feature so you can check how many times the particular link sent from you has been clicked. Of course, this can also be helpful in tracking the click statistics when you share them via Twitter or Facebook. Be forewarned, however, that for each click, you will receive a notification e-mail straight in your inbox. The app is designed to discount clicks that come from the original sender.

WasItViewed also suggests that the app can be used to help check if e-mails have been opened. “Most spammers know if you read their email by placing images in emails and tracking when the images are viewed,” the site reads. “Just generate a link that redirects to an image (maybe a 1x1px image) and add an image to your email with our link as the source. You’ll get an email notification with the reader’s ip address when it is downloaded.” Sneaky!

However, the downside is WasItViewed identifies itself before viewers are taken to the shared link, allowing them to know they are being tracked. So if you are just sharing links with friends, this might be fine, but if you are snooping on whether a potential employee clicked on your web portfolio, the method might not be stealthy enough. WasItViewed allows you to shorten the link to a bit.ly format to slightly mask this, but it may interfere with proper tracking.

The method may not be foolproof, but it is an interesting way to keep up with shared links amongst your group of friends especially if you’re one of those who’s always finding something interesting on the Web. 

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If you’re a marketer, you’ll need to keep track of who clicked your links from any channel you use.

This can help you develop strategies for the future, understand your current mishaps, and use the information for more creative campaigns.

When you send out marketing material on a digital platform, you can track who opened your campaigns using the latest tools. It’s one major difference between digital and paper campaigns.

Link tracking is one of the most effective ways to monitor your marketing campaigns.

Source: Forbes

Whether you use social media, your website, or email campaigns, tracking your clicks is vital to understanding what works and what doesn’t. Subscriber and consumer behaviors are constantly changing, but one way to keep your finger on the pulse of your list members is by tracking their engagement.

Source: Campaign Monitor

What are link clicks and why should you track them?

A click on a link is a good indication of engagement. It means someone saw your content and decided to find out more or investigate further. You can track these clicks on all major platforms, using the tools they provide.

Specifically, you’ll want to know what your exact ROI per channel is and whether you should be spending more or less on any platform. As a conversion always starts an engagement, knowing which platforms deliver better click-through rates is vital for any marketer.

Tracking link clicks on websites

For websites, you can use Google Analytics. To do this, enable the analytics tools provided by Google and use their measurements to check all your clicked links arriving at the website.

If you use marketing channels to mostly drive traffic to your website, this is a good place to start. It gives you an understanding of which platforms generate the most traffic.

Tracking clicks in social media

Similar to Google, most social media platforms will have an analytics engine. These will track individual campaigns that you promote or share organically on those platforms.

Social media can help you with reach, but it’s still the lowest ROI for marketing channels. As of June 2017, content marketing and email campaigns had a 30% ROI, compared to 17% on paid social media advertisements.

Tracking email campaign link clicks

Email campaigns remain the workhorse of every marketer. The benefits of using a curated list of eager subscribers speak volumes when it comes to conversion rates.

It also applies to click-through rates, as you’ll want to track every click and subsequent action. With Campaign Monitor, you’ll be able to track different types of link clicks or CTA behavior.

This can help you identify specific blocks of content in the campaign that performed better than others.

Tracking every link click helps marketers use all available data from multiple sources to organize their marketing strategies for maximum effect.

How to measure the success of your campaigns with link tracking

You’ll need to activate the different analytics tools in every platform you use. To combine all the information, use the URL tracking tools available and you’ll be able to adjust your strategy to match your customers’ trends.

The more data you have access to, the better you can adapt quickly to increase conversions.

Does it really matter?

To continue growing a brand or a product, engaging with customers and subscribers can make or break a campaign. By improving the way you track your ROI per channel, you can improve your budgeting and run effective campaigns that are more successful in the future.

What now?

Tracking the clicks on all your links depends on the analytics available in every channel you use. The information you gather from these tools can help you make better marketing decisions for your company or brand, but it’s important to know what information matters from which channel to ensure success.

Now that you know why you should track link clicks from different channels, check out this article to learn about how effective Facebook advertising is.