Learning patterns/Tracking an online campaign

Tracking an online campaign
problemIt is difficult to track new user registrations that come from a specific event or online campaign.
solutionUse the campaign tracker URL to point to the Wikipedia signup page and create an automatic list of users!
creator• Jwild
endorse
created on3 July, 2014
Category:Learning patternsCategory:Pages using Probox

What problem does this solve?

When running a campaign - for example, social media outreach, a central notice, or mobile editing - attempting to bring it new users, it can be difficult to track back the number of new registrations directly associated with your outreach. Without this list of users, it is likewise impossible to know the effects of your campaign over time to help answer questions around user acquisition (how many new users), user activation (how many new active editors), and user retention (proportion of new editors that still edit after x months). Such data is essential for understanding and improving on campaigns into the future.

What is the solution?

Create a unique URL for the target audience to click!

Anyone can start using URLs of this form to point to the signup page:
e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin/signup&campaign=foo&returnto=Gerald_B._Lefcourt

  • returnto is automatically captured but can be overridden to send people to a specific page
  • the campaign parameter permanently associates the value “foo” with any successfully created account landing on that page

General considerations

  • campaigns are not sticky (the parameter is lost if you browse away from that landing page)
  • campaigns are project-specific (if you want to point people to N different wikis, you'll run into problems)
  • data is housed by WMF Analytics staff, so work with them to get it following the campaign!

When to use

  • Running a central notice directly people to sign up for registration
  • Hosting an edit-a-thon (or other program) focused on getting new users editing on Wikipedia
  • Doing a Facebook outreach activity advertising for editing on Wikipedia
  • Writing a personal blog post encouraging people to start editing Wikipedia
  • the list goes on!

Endorsements

See also

References

Category:Learning patterns not yet ready for translation Category:Draft learning patterns Category:Programs learning patterns Category:Project management learning patterns Category:Event management learning patterns Category:Volunteer management learning patterns Category:Evaluation learning patterns Category:Organizational effectiveness learning patterns Category:Communications learning patterns Category:Wiki design patterns Category:Social media learning patterns Category:Photo events learning patterns Category:Editing workshops learning patterns Category:Editathons learning patterns Category:On-wiki writing contests learning patterns Category:Workshops learning patterns Category:Participation learning patterns Category:Low complexity learning patterns Category:Evaluation measurement learning patterns
Category:Communications learning patterns Category:Draft learning patterns Category:Editathons learning patterns Category:Editing workshops learning patterns Category:Evaluation learning patterns Category:Evaluation measurement learning patterns Category:Event management learning patterns Category:Learning patterns Category:Learning patterns not yet ready for translation Category:Low complexity learning patterns Category:On-wiki writing contests learning patterns Category:Organizational effectiveness learning patterns Category:Pages using Probox Category:Participation learning patterns Category:Photo events learning patterns Category:Programs learning patterns Category:Project management learning patterns Category:Social media learning patterns Category:Volunteer management learning patterns Category:Wiki design patterns Category:Workshops learning patterns