How can the performance of different marketing campaigns be tracked in Google Analytics?

Using UTM parameters and viewing the Campaigns report in Google Analytics is the most effective method for tracking the performance of different marketing campaigns. UTM parameters are tags that you can append to your URLs, which allow you to track the source, medium, and campaign name associated with your traffic. When users click on these tagged links, Google Analytics captures this information and attributes their activity to the correct campaign.

The Campaigns report in Google Analytics is then utilized to view the performance metrics related to these UTM tagged campaigns. This includes data on user engagement, conversions, and the overall effectiveness of each campaign, helping marketers assess which strategies are yielding the best results.

The other options, while they may provide some insights, do not offer the same level of detailed tracking and analysis specific to individual marketing efforts. For instance, analyzing social media activity may provide information on engagement, but it does not specifically attribute traffic to targeted campaigns without UTM tagging. General traffic reports aggregate all website traffic without distinguishing between different marketing efforts, and direct URL tracking doesn't encompass the varied sources of traffic that campaigns can generate.