One link per promotion
Create a separate tracking link for every place you promote: each social account, each shoutout, each paid promotion. Name them so you will recognise them in three months. A link shared across several places tells you nothing about any of them.
Look past clicks
Clicks show interest, subscribers show conversion, and revenue shows value. A link with many clicks and few subscribers may be reaching the wrong audience. A link with few subscribers who each spend a lot may be your best promotion even if it looks small.
- Conversion: subscribers divided by clicks
- Revenue per subscriber: what those fans spent after joining
- Revenue per click: a fair way to compare links of different sizes
Count what it cost
For paid promotions, divide the cost by the subscribers it brought to get a cost per subscriber. Compare that with what an average subscriber from that link has spent. If fans from a promotion spend less than they cost, it is not paying for itself yet.
Give it time
Revenue from a new subscriber builds over weeks. Judge a promotion after a month or two, not after a day. Compare links of a similar age so older links do not look better simply because they have had longer.
Decide and repeat
Put more into promotions where fans spend, reduce or drop the ones that bring clicks but no income, and try one new channel at a time so you can tell what made the difference.
Naming that still makes sense in a year
A name like “link2” is useless three months later. Include where the link was posted, the kind of promotion and the month, for example “reddit-feature-oct” or “shoutout-partner-name-nov”. When you compare links later, the names alone should tell you what each one was.
Keep a short list of what each promotion was and what it cost, next to the link names. Costs are easy to forget and hard to reconstruct.
- Where: the platform or account
- What: post, shoutout, paid promotion
- When: the month it started
A worked example
Say a paid shoutout cost $100 and its link brought 500 clicks and 20 subscribers. That is a 4% conversion and a cost of $5 per subscriber. If a typical subscriber from promotions like this spends $25 with you in their first month, before a 20% platform share, each one brings about $20, so the 20 subscribers brought around $400 for a $100 spend.
Now compare a second shoutout that cost the same, brought 1,500 clicks but only 10 subscribers who spent less. It looks bigger by clicks and is worse by every number that matters. That difference is what tracking links are for.
Common mistakes
Most tracking link mistakes come from mixing things up. Keep promotions separate, give them time, and compare like with like.
Also remember that a tracking link only sees the fans who used it. Fans who saw a promotion and searched for your page directly will not show up, so treat link numbers as a floor, not the full picture.
- One link used in several places
- Judging a promotion after a day or two
- Comparing a link from last year with one from last week
- Forgetting what a paid promotion cost
When to stop a promotion
A promotion deserves a fair trial, not unlimited money. Decide in advance what result would make you continue, for example a cost per subscriber below what subscribers from that kind of promotion usually spend in their first month. If it misses that after a reasonable time, stop and try something else.
Sometimes a promotion brings few subscribers who spend a lot. If revenue per subscriber is high, a small promotion can be worth keeping even if it looks unimpressive by clicks or numbers of subscribers.
Free promotions count too
Posts on your own social accounts cost time rather than money, and time is limited. Give each social account its own tracking link and compare them the same way. You may find that one platform brings most of your paying fans and deserves most of your posting effort, while another brings attention but few buyers.
Collaborations and shoutouts traded with other creators can be measured in the same way. A link per partner shows which collaborations bring fans who stay and spend, which makes it easier to decide who to work with again.
- One link per social account
- One link per collaboration partner
- Compare by revenue, not by followers gained