Definition:
A tag manager is a tool with the ability to manage user-generated tags (also known as categories, taxonomies, or tags) within a collaboration software. Tag management features and processes are put in place to encourage consistency, navigation efficiency, and compliance with an existing taxonomy.
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Functionalities of tag managers
A tag management system is designed to help manage the lifecycle of e-marketing tags (sometimes known as tracking pixels or visitor counters), which are used to integrate third-party software into digital properties.
Many businesses rely on multiple third-party solutions to add functionality to websites, video content, and mobile apps. Examples of such solutions include web analytics, campaign analytics, audience measurement, personalization, A/B testing, target retargeting, and conversion tracking.
Integration typically takes shape by adding a snippet of JavaScript code into the content. At the most basic level, this poses maintenance, quality control and some performance challenges.
At the next level, because tags are the mechanism used to implement third-party solutions and to share data with them, by extension, tag management refers to data management, data privacy, interoperability, governance, and analytics processes.
Benefits of tag management
- Agility: less dependence on technical resources and the IT department, which gives greater agility to business users.
- Performance: Reduced page load time thanks to asynchronous load tag, conditional code loading, and timeout tag functionality.
- Cost savings: ability to duplicate the labels used to attribute commission.
- Data control: ability to control data leakage to third parties and comply with data protection legislation (cookie consent, do not track).
Most commonly used tag managers
In web analytics, one of the most used tag managers is Google Tag Manager, a tag management system created by Google to manage JavaScript and HTML tags used among other things for website tracking and analysis.
Tealium, Dynamic Tag Manager (from Adobe) and Piwik Pro Tag Manager also stand out.
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