Google Analytics provides a simple and easy way for you to cross-reference your Facebook results against your Google Analytics data on any Top Performing Ads report.
This feature matches UTM parameters read on Google Analytics against corresponding Facebook data to display results from each service next to each other, allowing you to get the best possible data for making marketing decisions. As such, its critical that your Facebook ads are correctly setup to allow this feature to work.
Recognizing matching errors in the app
Once you've connected your Google Analytics account to any Motion account, you'll be able to check your Google Analytics results on any Top Performing ads report.
On any Google Analytics column, we'll notify you if there is a matching error through an information icon that appears to the right of the cell. Hovering over this icon provides details on the number of ads that are not matched within a group.
Clicking on the information icon brings up a popup modal that shares details on the specific ad(s) that have a matching error:
Resolving the Dynamic Parameters not correctly set error
In order to ensure accurate matching, Motion requires that users leverage Facebook's dynamic parameters feature when setting up their UTMs.
If you click on an ad that triggers this error, you can follow a quick workflow to diagnose the issue. Simply click on the Facebook link icon next to the indicated ad to view the ad in ads manager.
Once there, click "Edit" on the ad and scroll down to the bottom of the Ad Edit page on Facebook. Finally, select "Build a URL parameter" to see how UTM params are setup for the selected ad.
As you can see, this user is not using dynamic parameters correctly, which is why it is generating the matching error. Read below to see what optimal setup looks like.
Ideal configuration for the most accurate matching
We leverage the most common UTM structure used on Facebook Ads Library to deliver ad matching to Google Analytics.
This employs Facebook's dynamic parameters to automatically send the correct UTM tags everytime an audience clicks on an ad. By default, Motion will read the UTM_content, UTM_term, UTM_campaign, UTM_source, and UTM_medium tags looking for matching parameters (those parameters being ID or Names). These dynamic parameters must be correctly setup on your end so that your ads are sending the correct data to Facebook.
There are a few ways you can set up dynamic parameters to properly match Google Analytics data on Motion.
The best method for UTM matching
The ideal way to setup your UTM tags is to match the Ad ID to one of the 5 fields read by Motion (UTM_campaign, UTM_term, UTM_content, UTM_source, or UTM_medium).
Since Ad ID is totally unique, so long as you include it in one of these three dynamic parameters, we'll be able to accurately match your Google Analytics results to Facebook in almost all instances.
A less preferred method
Sometimes, marketers may not want to include Ad ID in their UTM data because it can be hard to read on the Google Analytics interface versus just writing in the ad name.
In these instances, we can still match data so long as {{campaign.name}}, {{adset.name}}, and {{ad.name}} are all included within the UTM_content, UTM_term, UTM_campaign, UTM_source, or UTM_medium tags.
Its important to note that both Motion and Facebook discourage this strategy because naming UTMs of names is fundamentally unreliable, for two reasons:
If you change your ad name, Facebook's dynamic parameters will continue to use the name the ad was originally published with. This causes Facebook and Google Analytics to have different ad names for the same ad, preventing us from matching them together.
Sometimes, you may give two ads the same name. If this occurs, Google Analytics will combine data across these multiple ads.
If you're still having Google Analytics issues, feel free to drop us a line by clicking the chat bubble on the bottom right corner and we'll get you sorted ASAP!
