how to add UTM parameters to Facebook App Install campaigns
Hi,
I am new to Facebook ads and I have created multiple campaigns. For the website campaigns, I was able to add UTM params to be to track the ads performance on Google Analytics. But for the app install campaigns that takes the users directly to Google Play Store and Apple App Store to install the app, I don’t see any field or option where I can add UTM params to track the campaigns. Am I missing something? how can I track app install campaigns on Google Analytics?
The short answer is:
UTM parameters are specifically for web URLs, and since your App Install campaigns direct users to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, there is no field for a traditional UTM-tagged URL, which is what you noticed.
The official and most accurate way to track Facebook App Install campaigns is to use the Meta Business SDK (formerly Facebook SDK) integrated directly into your mobile app.
This SDK allows Meta to track the App Install event and other in-app events, which you then need to pass to Google Analytics for a unified view.
You do this by either using a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) like AppsFlyer or by creating a custom server-side data pipeline using the Facebook Conversions API and the Google Analytics Data API.
The long answer is:
You are not missing anything – the ad platform simply handles App Install attribution differently than website campaigns because the user never lands on a webpage you control to read the UTM parameters.
For App Install campaigns, the tracking happens through a combination of SDKs and post-install events.
First, you need to integrate the Meta Business SDK into your app (both iOS and Android versions).
This SDK automatically tracks the App Install event and allows you to track other important actions (called Standard Events) like PurchaseCompleteRegistration
Meta then uses a method called “mobile measurement and attribution” to link the ad click to the successful app install and the subsequent in-app events, showing you the campaign performance in the Meta Ads Manager.
To get this data into Google Analytics, you need a different solution, as Google Analytics doesn’t natively “see” the Facebook ad click to the app store.
The industry standard is to use a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) like AppsFlyer.
AppsFlyer’s SDK is integrated into your app and works with both Meta and Google to accurately attribute the install to the correct ad source.
AppsFlyer then shares this attribution data with Google Analytics.
An excellent and cheap solution for a budget-conscious team involves using the Meta Business SDK, the Facebook Conversions API, a free Mobile Measurement Partner integration layer like AppsFlyer (or another MMP), Google Analytics for Firebase, and a server-side tagging environment using Google Tag Manager combined with a service like Stape or a platform like Google Cloud Platform to host a tagging server.
Here is how this works and why it is so effective: AppsFlyer’s free tier often allows for the essential install-attribution link between Meta and Google/Firebase.
AppsFlyer handles the complex work of mobile attribution and then sends a clean, attributed install event, which you can map as a conversion in Firebase.
Google Analytics 4 uses Firebase as its foundation for app data, so the event flows seamlessly into your GA4 property.
For deeper post-install event tracking, you would still use the Meta Business SDK to send events to Facebook, and then you would use the Facebook Conversions API to send the same app events, but now with the Meta Ad Campaign data attached, to your server-side environment (Stape/GCP).
This server then processes the event and forwards it to the Google Analytics Data API, injecting the necessary attribution and event data directly into your GA4 reports.
This combination gives you the best of both worlds: Meta’s direct, reliable attribution using its own SDK, an MMP to bridge the gap and clean up the install data, and a robust, privacy-respecting server-side mechanism to feed rich in-app conversion data, including campaign source, into Google Analytics at a very low cost, as it bypasses the need for an expensive full-service MMP plan.
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