Data Driven by Jeffalytics's video: Google Tag Manager Tutorial Part 2: How GTM Works

Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of GTM. In this section of our Google Tag Manager Tutorial, we'll look at how tags (aka analytics or marketing scripts) work. We'll also talk about how triggers (aka the rules) activate your tracking tags. Then, we'll examine variables (aka macros).  And to close out this section of our tutorial, we'll look at how previewing and publishing work. Join our FREE Google Analytics Course - https://goo.gl/gg5J1Z Read full article - https://goo.gl/LEzurg Tags in Google Tag Manager The simplicity of GTM begins with the platform's tag templates. Tag Templates replace the javascript code snippets you otherwise have to add to your site manually. Each tag template requires input to locate the system you're connecting with your tags. For example, to use the Google Analytics template, you need to input your property Tracking ID (or even better configure your Google Analytics setting variable). Another example is the Bing Ads template, which uses your Bing Ads account ID. Each tag template provided in GTM has a unique input that connects it with your account on the corresponding vendor's platform. For tag templates, you usually only need to put in one unique value and set a trigger, and you are ready to rock. That means you don't have to edit or adjust the tracking code within your tags. Tags templates do most of the hard work for you. But that doesn't mean you're entirely off the hook. You still need to set up triggers to make your tracking tags work. Triggers in Google Tag Manager A trigger is a set of rules that tells your tag when to start firing. The most basic trigger in GTM is the all pages trigger. The all pages trigger tells your tag to fire on every page when the page loads. This trigger is typically used with the Google Analytics tag. Built-in GTM Triggers There are many other built-in triggers in GTM that you can use to fire your tags. GTM has triggers for YouTube videos, scroll depth, button clicks, custom events and more. Each trigger utilizes its own set of rules for firing your tags. For example, you can set up the YouTube trigger to fire based on many different interactions a user has with your embedded YouTube videos. You can fire this tag when a user starts, seeks, pauses, buffers, or finishes your video. You can also fire this tag based on a user’s viewing progress (e.x. 50% viewed, or 5 minutes watched). A trigger can fire a tag more than once within an event. So the YouTube trigger could fire at both the start of the video and at 50% viewed. Variables in Google Tag Manager Now that we know what tags and triggers are, we need to talk about third part of the GTM triangle - variables. Variables are what make the values you track dynamic. Variables are critical if you want to scale your tag management. Google Analytics variable The first type of variable most users set up is a constant. You can use a constant variable to enter your Google Analytics Tracking ID one time and use this for all future tags. Built-in variables GTM has built-in variables for almost anything that happens within a page on your website. Video view variables Take for example the video view variables. Your trigger will fire your video event tag based on how a user interacts with your video. The Category, Action, Label, and Value fields in your event tag will report what happened during the event your tracking. A static description in these fields won't change with your users' behavior. But if you enter a variable in these fields, your event will report dynamic data generated by your users' in-page actions. Data layer variables You can learn even more about your user behavior using the data layer. GTM gives you the ability to create custom data layer variables. These variables can pass dynamic values from your CMS, back-end system, or e-commerce platform into GTM. Then GTM can record these values in your tags, and pass them on to your reporting interfaces. A data layer variable can pass critical values to all your marketing systems at once For example, you could use the data layer to pass data about an online sale into all your reporting interfaces - Google Analytics, AdWords, Bing, etc. Data layer variables are a significant innovation in analytics tracking. Companies used to spend $10k to $20K building solutions to pass back-end dynamic values between their marketing systems. Now, you can access, translate, and deliver this information using GTM. Previewing and Publishing your tags in Google Tag Manager Finally, let's talk about how to get this all to appear on your website. Your tags, triggers, and variables all work in harmony. Tags record your data. Triggers tell your tags when to record data. Variables help you translate your data, and scale your tags across your website. But before you publish your tags to your site, you want to make sure the tag, the trigger, and the variable triangle is working correctly.