A marketer’s guide to setting up Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a free tool from Google that allows you to add and manage marketing and analytics tags on your website without having to modify the website code.

It is a powerful tool that can help you collect and analyze data on your website, and can be used to set up Enhanced E-commerce tracking, custom variables, and triggered emails.

In this post, we will discuss how to use GTM to its full potential and some of the cool things you can do with it.

How to install Google Tag Manager

To install Google Tag Manager manually, follow these steps:

1. Sign up for a Google Tag Manager account.
2. Create a new container for your website.
3. Copy the container code snippet provided by Google Tag Manager.
4. Paste the container code snippet into the header section of your website’s HTML code.
5. Save and publish the changes to your website.

To install Google Tag Manager using WordPress, follow these steps:

1. Install the “Google Tag Manager for WordPress” plugin.
2. Activate the plugin and go to the “Settings” page.
3. Enter your Google Tag Manager container ID in the “Container ID” field.
4. Save the changes.

Once you have installed Google Tag Manager, you can start adding tags and tracking user behavior on your website.

Event tracking

Event tracking in Google Analytics is a way to track user behavior on your website, such as button clicks, form submissions, and other custom events.

With event tracking, you can see which areas of your website are most engaging to users and which areas may need improvement.

To use event tracking in Google Tag Manager, you need to create a new tag in your GTM account and select “Universal Analytics” as the tag type and “Event” as the track type.

You can then configure the tag by entering a name for the event, selecting your Google Analytics tracking ID, and selecting the trigger that corresponds to the user behavior you want to track.

Once the tag is set up, you can use it to track user behavior on your website and gain insights into how users interact with your content.

1. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and create a new tag.
2. Select “Universal Analytics” as the tag type and choose “Event” as the track type.
3. Under “Configure Tag,” enter a name for the event, such as “Button Click” or “Form Submit.”
4. Under “Google Analytics Settings,” select your Google Analytics tracking ID.
5. Under “Triggering,” select the trigger that corresponds to the user behavior you want to track, such as clicking on a specific button or submitting a form.
6. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have set up the event tracking tag in GTM, you can use it to track user behavior on your website, such as button clicks, form submissions, and other custom events.

Enhanced E-commerce Tracking

One of the cool things you can do with GTM is set up Enhanced E-commerce tracking. This feature allows you to track user behavior on your website, such as product clicks, adding to cart, and purchases.

With Enhanced E-commerce tracking, you can see which products are popular, which products are not selling, and where users are dropping off in the sales funnel.

This information is valuable because it helps you make data-driven decisions to optimize your website and increase sales.

To set up Enhanced E-commerce tracking in Google Tag Manager, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and create a new tag.
2. Select “Universal Analytics” as the tag type and choose “Page View” as the track type.
3. Under “Configure Tag,” select “Enable Enhanced E-commerce Features” and set it to “True.”
4. Under “Google Analytics Settings,” select your Google Analytics tracking ID.
5. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have set up Enhanced E-commerce tracking, you can use it to track user behavior on your website, such as product clicks, adding to cart, and purchases. This information can be used to optimize your website and increase sales.

Custom Variables

Another cool thing you can do with GTM is set up custom variables. Custom variables allow you to collect and send data to your analytics tools, such as Google Analytics.

You can set up custom variables to track user behavior, such as the number of times a user clicks a specific button or how long a user spends on a page.

With this data, you can create custom reports and analyze user behavior to improve your website.

To set up custom variables in Google Tag Manager, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and create a new tag.
2. Select “Universal Analytics” as the tag type and choose “Page View” as the track type.
3. Under “Configure Tag,” select “Custom Dimensions” or “Custom Metrics” depending on the type of variable you want to set up.
4. Enter the index of the custom dimension or metric you want to track. The index is a number between 1 and 200, and it represents the position of the custom dimension or metric in your Google Analytics account.
5. Enter a name for the custom dimension or metric.
6. Under “Value,” enter the variable that you want to track. This could be a URL, a button click, or any other user behavior that you want to track.
7. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have set up custom variables, you can use them to track user behavior and analyze data to improve your website.

Triggered Emails

Finally, you can use GTM to set up triggered emails. Triggered emails are emails that are sent automatically based on user behavior, such as abandoning a cart or signing up for a newsletter.

GTM can trigger these emails by sending data to your email marketing tool, such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact. With triggered emails, you can create personalized and timely messages to your users, which can increase engagement and sales.

To set up email triggers for Mailchimp in GTM, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Mailchimp account and create a new automation workflow.
2. Choose the type of automation you want to create, such as an abandoned cart email or a welcome email.
3. Set up the content of the email and the timing of the trigger.
4. In Google Tag Manager, create a new tag.
5. Select “Custom HTML” as the tag type.
6. In the HTML code, add the code for the Mailchimp API that corresponds to the automation workflow you created in Mailchimp.
7. Under “Triggering,” select the trigger that corresponds to the user behavior you want to trigger the email, such as clicking on a specific button or abandoning a cart.
8. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have set up the email trigger tag in GTM, Mailchimp will automatically send the email to users who meet the triggering criteria.

Installing Facebook pixel

The Facebook pixel is a small piece of code that you can add to your website to track user behavior and create custom audiences for Facebook ads.

you have installed the Facebook pixel, you can track actions such as pageviews, add-to-carts, and purchases, and use this data to create targeted Facebook ads.

The Facebook pixel can be added to your website using Google Tag Manager. To add Facebook tracking using Google Tag Manager, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Facebook Ads Manager account and go to the “Pixels” tab.
2. Click “Set Up Pixel” and follow the prompts to create a new Facebook pixel.
3. Once you have created the pixel, click “Install Pixel” and select “Manually Install the Code Yourself.”
4. Copy the pixel code provided by Facebook.
5. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and create a new tag.
6. Select “Custom HTML” as the tag type.
7. Paste the Facebook pixel code into the HTML code.
8. Under “Triggering,” select the trigger that corresponds to the user behavior you want to track, such as a pageview or a button click.
9. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have added the Facebook tracking tag in GTM, you can use it to track user behavior on your website and create custom audiences for Facebook ads.

Conversion linker

Conversion Linker is a tag that helps to ensure that all conversions are properly attributed to the correct source.

It works by automatically tagging all links and forms with Google click identifiers (GCLIDs) so that they can be tracked by Google Ads and Google Analytics.

To set up Conversion Linker in Google Tag Manager, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Tag Manager account and create a new tag.
2. Select “Universal Analytics” as the tag type and choose “Page View” as the track type.
3. Under “Configure Tag,” select “Enable overriding settings in this tag” and set it to “True.”
4. Under “More Settings,” select “Fields to Set.”
5. Under “Field Name,” enter “linker.”
6. Under “Value,” enter “true.”
7. Save the tag and publish your changes.

Once you have set up Conversion Linker in GTM, all links and forms on your website will be automatically tagged with GCLIDs, which will ensure that all conversions are properly attributed to the correct source.

Final thoughts

Google Tag Manager is a powerful tool that can help you collect and analyze data on your website. With Enhanced E-commerce tracking, custom variables, and triggered emails, you can take your website to the next level. If you haven’t already, give GTM a try and see how it can benefit your business.