Updated at: 03-03-2023 - By: Eden Wise

Overview

Anybody who has worked in digital marketing or social media knows the pain of trying to remember all the different acronyms and terms.

If there is a difference between impressions and reach, what is it? What is the difference between dark posts and dark social? I won’t even begin to explain the acronyms: A working knowledge of social media jargon is helpful in the modern marketer’s world of CPC, CPA, CTR, and PPC.

Okay, I’ll lend a hand.

With the hope of clearing the air, we have compiled a list of the most frequently used terms and phrases associated with social media, along with definitions for each. If you need to find a specific term from the world of social media, you can use the links provided below, which are arranged alphabetically.

Top Social Media Marketing Terms

Top social media marketing terms

A/B Testing

One of the fundamental social media tests is A/B testing, also known as split testing, which helps you determine which marketing strategy is most effective for your brand or service. In order to determine which of two social media post variations is more effective at generating sales, you must first run a split test. Instagram users, for instance, can use A/B testing to compare the effectiveness of different types of content (photo vs. video) in generating sales.

Analytics

Understanding and discovering patterns in data is called analytics. Analytics, when applied to social media, refers to the practice of keeping tabs on data regarding one’s activity and then using that information to fine-tune one’s approach. One application of social analytics is tracking post-to-follower engagement to determine whether or not your content is gaining traction with your audience.

Application Programming Interface (API)

Application Programming Interface (API)

Programmers can use the components of an API to create new software. When it comes to social media, every major platform provides developers with access to APIs for building network-specific applications. Our social intelligence solution, like many others, relies on social media APIs to connect to major social networks.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Companies like consultancies and makers of business software fall under the category of “business-to-business” (B2B). Many business-to-business (B2B) brands use social media to establish themselves as authorities in their fields and a resource for their peers in the business world.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

A hotel or department store are examples of businesses that “go straight to the source,” or directly to the customers. When it comes to social media marketing, business-to-consumer brands typically prioritize customer service and brand advocacy.

Business Manager

Businesses can organize their Facebook Pages, advertising accounts, and staff with the help of Facebook Business Manager. It’s a central location for managing a company’s advertising, finances, users, and Pages. The company, rather than an individual user, will be held legally and practically responsible for the security of any company data and account access.

Blog

A blog, short for “web log,” is an online discussion or informational journal published by an individual or organization and updated on a regular basis. Casual, diary-like text is a common form for blog entries or posts, which are often presented in reverse chronological order. The latest news and developments in the world of social media can be found by reading social media blogs, which are useful resources for digital marketers and business owners.

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

It’s no secret that CTR, or click-through rate, is a buzzy term in the world of social media marketing. indicates how many people interacted with your post. It’s figured out by dividing the number of times a link was clicked on by the total number of times the post was seen. Better for business is a higher click-through rate.

Conversion Rate

One of the most crucial concepts in the field of social media advertising. In the context of social media, the term “conversion rate” describes the percentage of people who take the desired action in response to a given social post or ad. Depending on the marketer’s end goal, this could be a download, a purchase, or some other action. The success of a company’s marketing can be measured, in part, by its conversion rate.

Conversion rate (CVR)

The conversion rate of a social media post or ad is the percentage of users who see it and go on to perform some desired action. A conversion is any time a user takes the desired action, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a mailing list, downloading an ebook, etc. If you want to know how successful your social media marketing post or ad was in bringing in new customers, look no further than your conversion rate (CVR).

Crisis management

The term “social media crisis management” refers to the process of dealing with situations that could be harmful to a company’s online reputation. Angry comments from a few customers do not constitute a social media crisis, but inappropriate posts by an employee or a social media boycott against your brand could. Managers of social media accounts need to be prepared for and able to respond swiftly to crises so that the situation can be brought under control.

Direct message (DM)

Direct message (DM)

A social media user’s inbox will receive a direct message when another user sends them a private message. Direct messages (DMs) are a private alternative to more public social media features like commenting on posts or sharing content on a user’s timeline.

Disappearing content

The term “disappearing content,” also known as “ephemeral content,” is used to describe social media posts that are deleted after a specified amount of time has passed. The photo and video collections known as “Stories” on Instagram and “Reels” on Snapchat are two such platforms. In order to increase user engagement through fear of missing out (FOMO), social media marketers use time-sensitive, fleeting content.

Engagement Rate

The level of interaction with a social media post is quantified by its engagement rate. Percentage of users who took some sort of action after viewing your content as compared to the total number of users who viewed the content. Successful social media marketing is indicative of a high engagement rate (between 4 and 5%).

Follower

Users who have chosen to follow your social media accounts in order to see your updates are called “followers” in the context of social media advertising. A brand’s social media engagement can be measured in part by looking at how many people are following the brand.

Influencer Marketing

The term “influencer marketing” refers to the practice of promoting a product or service through the endorsement of well-known members of an online community who have a sizable fan base and can therefore sway the buying decisions of their followers. It would function similarly to word-of-mouth marketing, only much larger in scope (thanks to social media).

Instagram

This social media site is a mobile app for sharing photos and videos that was first released in 2010 and later purchased by Facebook in 2012. The app is designed for mobile use but can be accessed from a desktop computer. The Instagram brand is owned by Facebook.

Key Performance Measurement (KPI)

Key Performance Measurement (KPI)

A metric to assess how well your social media marketing efforts are doing. Key performance indicators are typically used to track metrics like customer engagement, traffic, and revenue. As such, it is also one of the terms used in social media marketing.

Klout

Former website and mobile app that quantified one’s impact on social media. Businesses could also identify “Klout”-worthy users and offer them free swag in the hopes that their endorsement would boost the company’s image. The influence of a user is measured by this term (also spelled the old-fashioned way, “clout”).

Meme

Memes are pieces of content—text, video, or images—that go viral on the Internet, typically for humorous reasons. When a meme becomes popular, people join in by making their own versions of it and spreading them online.

Brands sometimes use trending memes as a means of connecting with millennials, but successful meme marketing requires more than just a good sense of humor.

Microblogging

Short-form content is a hybrid of instant messaging and content creation that enables users to create and share brief messages on social media platforms in an effort to foster greater audience engagement. Popular microblogging sites include Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Reach

The sum of all your content’s viewers. In the context of social media, “reach” refers to the number of people who have seen your posts. Social media users may be familiar with the term “Reach” as an acronym for “Remember Everyone Affects Customer Happiness.”

Relevance Score

The expected positive and negative responses from a specific demographic are used to determine an ad’s relevance score. Ads with a higher likelihood of positive user engagement will have higher relevance scores.

Share

To “share” something means to share it again on a social media platform. The “share” button on most social media sites lets you easily copy and paste the content of another user into your own feed.

Users are more likely to share content on social media if it is helpful, entertaining, or inspiring to them.

Share of eye

This is the percentage of visual real estate that the brand occupies in comparison to rivals when shopping online. Many businesses use image recognition software to analyze things like the frequency with which their logo appears in photos.

Share of voice

Considerable online real estate is occupied by the text of your posts, and consumer discussion of your brand occurs frequently. Understanding your audience’s knowledge of and interest in various campaigns and their priorities through observation of their online discourse is possible through analysis of conversation data.

Social Awareness Campaign

A public relations campaign that uses messaging, social media, and other channels to raise awareness of an issue. That a company cares about and is trying to fix social issues in the world today can be communicated through their brand.

Story

Social media stories are collections of media like photos and videos that can be passed around amongst followers. A story loses its relevance after the first day. Companies use social media’s story features to spread information about their goods and services. It’s also one of the jargon used in social media marketing.

Traffic

Traffic is the number of times a website or mobile app is accessed by a user. The term “social traffic” refers to all online activity conducted via social media. As a common marketing goal, gaining more social media traffic can be achieved by increasing your profile’s visibility and encouraging users to interact with your posts.

In social media, “trending topics” are discussions about topics or events that have suddenly become very popular. Many social media sites compile a list of “trending topics” based on a search of the most popular hashtags and topics being discussed by users.

UGC

Content such as social media posts, images, videos, reviews, etc. that is created by users (as opposed to brands) and shared publicly online is considered user-generated content. Marketing campaigns that incorporate user-generated content are growing in popularity.

Vanity metric

A vanity metric on social media is a number that looks good but tells you nothing useful about your performance. A classic case is impressions, which can be much higher than reach but only reveal the quantity of times a post was seen in a user’s feed without providing any insight into the post’s overall popularity or engagement.

Viral

Content that quickly gains a large online audience is said to go viral. The content becomes more widely disseminated as more and more people share it with their followers, who in turn share it with their followers, and so on. The pinnacle of social media marketing is to produce content that goes viral, as this attracts a massive following for little to no cost.

FAQs

What is social media in marketing terms?

Internet marketing that makes use of social media applications is known as social media marketing (SMM). Connecting with consumers on these social media sites is crucial for businesses looking to do things like raise awareness, boost sales, attract more visitors to their website, etc.

What are the 7 Ps of marketing with example?

The 7Ps of marketing are the product’s price, location, advertising, distribution channels, customer service, and proof of delivery. There were originally only 4, but as time went on and the complexity of marketing increased, another 3 were added.

Conclusion

As a marketer, you should dive into the world of social media with an understanding of these top terms and their meanings. Join Simplilearn’s Advanced Social Media Marketing Course and other well-regarded programs to expand your horizons and improve your employability in a job market where yesterday’s expertise is tomorrow’s relic. Invest in your professional future now.