Marketing · 6 min read · Updated October 7, 2026

What Are Link Campaigns? Track a Launch Across Every Channel

A campaign is a group of short links that belong to the same marketing push: a product launch, a seasonal sale, a webinar, a conference. Every link in the campaign shares one UTM preset, so analytics tools see one consistent campaign instead of a dozen hand-typed variations, and ReSlug reports clicks for the whole campaign in one place.

This guide explains what a campaign is, how channels split it by where links are shared, how the UTM preset keeps everything consistent, and when a campaign is the right grouping compared with a folder or a tag.

What a campaign does

Think of a campaign as a container with a built-in naming rule. You set the UTM values once on the campaign, for example utm_campaign=summer-sale-2026q3, and every link you assign to it gets those values applied automatically. Nobody has to remember the spelling, and nobody can get it wrong.

• Shared UTM preset. Source, medium, campaign, term and content are defined on the campaign and stamped on every link it owns. Values are lowercased so Email and email never split your reports.
• Channels inside the campaign. Break the push into channels such as email, social and paid, each with its own UTM overrides. A link assigned to a channel inherits the campaign preset plus the channel values.
• Campaign analytics. The campaign page shows clicks over time, top links and a per-channel breakdown, so you can see which channel is actually driving traffic without stitching together individual link reports.
• Re-stamp on edit. Change the campaign preset later and every link in it is updated. One edit fixes a typo across the whole push.

Campaigns, channels and links

The three levels fit together like this. The campaign is the push, the channel is where links from that push are shared, and the link is the individual short URL someone clicks.

Campaigns, folders and tags: which one to use

A single link can use all three at once: it lives in the acme-corp folder, belongs to the summer-sale-2026 campaign and carries the paid tag. Use a campaign whenever the grouping has a start, an end and a result you want to measure.

How to set up a campaign in ReSlug

1. Open Campaigns in your workspace and click New campaign. Give it a name, an optional description and the UTM preset that applies to the whole push. At minimum set utm_campaign.
2. Add channels for each place the links will be shared, with their own utm_source and utm_medium. Email, social and paid are a good starting set.
3. Assign links to the campaign and, optionally, to a channel. Pick the campaign in the create or edit link dialog, or use Add links on the campaign page to pull in existing links. Their UTM parameters are applied immediately.
4. Watch the campaign page as the push runs. Clicks over time, top links and the per-channel split update as traffic arrives, and the report can be exported.

The Free plan includes 1 campaign with 3 channels per workspace, and Pro raises that to 10 campaigns with 25 channels each. See the pricing page for the full comparison. For help choosing the UTM values themselves, read UTM naming conventions.