# How to attribute leads & sales to social media

> Tag the links you share, ask new customers how they found you & compare against your analytics. No method catches everything, so combine two or three & treat the total as a floor, not an exact number.

Updated: 2026-10-05.

## Why it's hard

People rarely click a post & buy straight away. They see you a few times, search later, or hear about you from a friend. Last-click tracking misses most of that.

Accept that attribution will be incomplete, & choose methods that are cheap & honest.

## Tag your links

Add tracking parameters to links you share, so your web analytics can tell social traffic from other traffic. Use a consistent naming pattern for source, medium & campaign.

Without tags, much social traffic shows up as direct or unknown.

## Ask people

A single field on a sign-up or checkout form, "How did you hear about us?", catches what tags miss, including word of mouth & private shares.

Ask in your own words & read the answers. Self-reported sources are imperfect but often reveal channels analytics can't see.

## Compare before & after

When you launch a campaign or a big post, note the date. Look at branded searches, direct visits & sign-ups in the days after.

A rise that lines up with a post isn't proof, but several such patterns build a convincing case.

DunSocial's calendar is a handy record for this, since it shows exactly when each post went live.

## Where DunSocial fits

DunSocial can't attribute revenue to a post, & it's best to be clear about that. It does give you a clean record of what went out, where & when, which makes before-and-after comparisons easier.

You can put tagged links straight into any post you schedule, & the calendar keeps those dates in one place.

## Combine & stay modest

Use two or three methods together: tagged links, a form question & timing patterns. Report the result as "at least" this much, because some value will always go uncounted.

DunSocial's role is on the publishing side, so keep the numbers themselves in your analytics tool & your CRM.

## Related guides

- [How to measure social media ROI](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-budgeting-and-roi/how-to-measure-social-media-roi.md)
- [How to track social media performance across platforms](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-analytics/how-to-track-social-media-performance-across-platforms.md)
- [How to write a call to action for social media](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-content-creation/how-to-write-a-call-to-action-for-social-media.md)
- [What do social media analytics tools actually track?](https://www.dunsocial.com/hub/social-media-analytics/what-social-media-analytics-tools-actually-track.md)

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