A
Algorithms
Social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, use algorithms to deliver targeted content to specific audiences. This means that new posts may be pushed below content that the algorithm deems more interesting to the user.
Analytics
Analytics help you to understand and better target your audience by providing key demographic information (age, gender, interests etc.). This data is essential to growing your business and works best when compared to the social media acquisition data collected by Google Analytics.
Application Programming Analytics (API)
A set of methods that allow different software’s to communicate with each other. For example, GrowMetrics uses an API to integrate social media accounts to publish posts, collect data and more.
Attribution
The process of identifying a set of customer interactions, known as ‘events’ or ‘touchpoints’, that contribute to a desired outcome and then assigning value to these interactions.
Automation
Marketing automation technology that manages marketing processes and multichannel campaigns automatically. There are many tools available to automate social media marketing, however make sure that you set aside some time to engage directly with your audience so you don’t rely too heavily on automation.
B
Behaviour Segmentation
The process of brands targeting their online audience based on their behaviour (attitude, knowledge, use frequency and sentiment) toward them.
Bio
A description, usually found at the top of a social media profile, that offers a brief introduction of a brand.
Bitly
Bitly is a URL shortening tool commonly used on social media platforms that makes sharing long website addresses quicker and easier. Users can create a Bitly account to track the amount of clicks each link received.
Blog
A digital publishing platform, like WordPress or Blogger, allows the user to post text-based content that is indexed by search engines.
Boosted Posts
Without paid advertising, only 0.02% of posts are seen. Social media platforms offer to ‘boost’ paid posts to increase its visibility for a selected audience.
C
Caption
A short tagline and/or description underneath a social media post that offers context and can include account tags or hashtags.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
A metric that measures the number of clicks that a business received on their ads per number of impressions. The formula for CTR is: (Total Clicks on Ads) / (Total Impressions) = Click Through Rate.
Community Management
The process of building and managing an authentic community among a business’s customers, employees and partners through various types of online interaction.
Content Curation/Management
The act of discovering, gathering and presenting digital content that relates to a specific subject matter, theme and/or aesthetic.
Conversions
A conversion occurs when a recipient of an online marketing message performs a desired action. In other words, a conversion is simply getting someone to respond to your call-to-action.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
A metric that measures the amount of money a business pays each time a person clicks on their advertisement. The formula for CPC is: (Total Amount Spent) / (Total Measured Clicks) = Cost Per Click.
Cost Per Lead
A metric that measures the amount of money a business pays each time an advertisement generates a new prospective customer. The formula for CPL is: (Total Amount Spent) / (Total Attributed Leads) = Cost Per Lead.
Cost Per Mile (CPM)
Also known as “Cost Per Thousand”, CPM is a metric that measures the cost of an advertisement per one thousand clicks or impressions. The formula for CPM is:
( (Total Amount Spent) / (Total Measures Impressions) ) x 1000 = Cost Per Mile.
Cover Photo
A large, banner graphic at the top of a business’ social media profile that introduces users to your brand.
D
Dark Posts
A targeted advertisement that only appears on specific users’ social media newsfeed and does not appear on a business’ timeline, page, stories or the feeds of its followers.
Direct Message (DM)
A private message between social media users.
E
Engagement
The interaction of users with brands on social media, such as likes, comments, clicks, views, shares and more. Analytics track these interactions as a way to measure the performance of a post and this measurement can also be used as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to track the success of a brand’s social media account.
F
Facebook
Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. The website makes it easy for users to connect and share with family, friends and community online. Facebook Ads allow businesses to promote their products and/or services to their users.
Facebook Live
Facebook Live (sometimes abbreviated to ‘Live’) allows users to broadcast live-streamed video, allowing them to interact with their friends and/or followers intimately and in real-time.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger (sometimes abbreviated to ‘Messenger’) is an instant messaging service and software application that allows users to chat with their friends, family and community via mobile or desktop.
Filter
A software routine that changes the appearance of an image or part of an image by altering the size, colour, shading and/or other characteristics. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok regularly update their filters and offer brands the opportunity to sponsor filters as part of their digital marketing strategy.
Follower
A person who subscribes to your social media account in order to receive your updates.
Frequency
A promotional strategy designed to reward the frequency or volume of a customer’s purchases. It can also refer to a metric that measures the amount of times an advertisement appears to a single user in a specific time frame. The formula for CPM is: ( (Total Measures Impressions) / (Total Unique Users) ) x Per Time Frame Measured = Frequency.
G
Gen Z (Generation Z)
The generational cohort following Millennials, born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. They are characterised by having a familiarity with the internet from a very young age.
Geotag
The process of identifying a location, whether it be of a photo or status you’re posting on social media, at any given time.
Geotargeting
A tactic used by brands to deliver specific content relevant audiences based on their geographical location.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
A compressed file format that is used on the internet for sending images and/or moving images quickly.
H
Handle
A public username that is used on social media accounts. On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, your handle follows an ‘@‘ to make it easier for people to identify and communicate with you.
Hashtag
A single word or phrase preceded by a ‘#’ to define a message that relates to a specific theme or topic. This helps brands reach more people as social media users can search for a particular type of post using a hashtag.
I
IGTV (Instagram TV)
A feature that allows Instagram users to post vertical and horizontal videos up to 10 minutes long.
Impressions
The number of times your social media content, whether a post or a story, was shown to users.
Influencer
A social media user who can reach a relevant audience and create awareness about a trend, topic, company, or product. They have established credibility with their audiences, and marketers work to build relationships with them through collaborations in order to reach those audiences.
Instagram
Owned by Meta Platforms (otherwise known as Facebook), Instagram allows users to take, edit, apply filters to and share pictures and videos to their followers and other social media platforms (like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr).
Instagram Stories
Photos and videos shared to your Instagram feed that disappear after 24 hours. This feature launched in 2016 and is also available on Facebook.
K
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a business is achieving their goals and objectives. They are a valuable resource that help businesses make decisions and prove returns on their digital marketing spend.
L
Linkedin
A social networking site designed specifically for the professional and business community. It allows you to share work-related information with other users and keep an online list of professional contacts.
Live Streaming
Online streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time. Live streaming via social media platforms grows exponentially each year and became a key feature of many brand marketing strategies during COVID-19.
M
Mention
The act of tagging another social media user’s handle in a post. The tagged user is often notified and, if their handle is properly formatted, your audience can click through to that user’s profile.
Messanger Bot/Chatbot
A computer program designed to simulate conversation with people using artificial intelligence. It is a way for brands to connect personally with customers without the expense of human representatives.
N
Newsfeed
A list of newly published content on social media platforms. It is the primary system through which users are exposed to content posted on the network.
Notification
A message or alert signalling a new social media activity. For example, if a brand’s followers were to like one of their Facebook posts, the brand would receive a notification to let them know.
P
Paid Social Media
Advertisements or sponsored posts that a brand can pay a social network to display to audiences beyond their followers.
Pinned Tweet
A tweet which Twitter users can attach to the top of their tweet stream. This is the first tweet people will see when they visit your profile, so it receives the most attention.
Pinterest
An image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information on the internet using images, videos and animated GIFs in the form of a pinboard.
R
Reach
The number of followers that saw your post or story on any given day or the estimated number of potential customers you can reach with a particular digital marketing campaign.
Regram
Re-posting another user’s Instagram post. It is best practice to acknowledge the user of the original post and add the hashtag ‘#regram’.
Retargeting
A digital marketing technique that uses advertisements to target audiences that have already visited your business’ website and/or social media profiles.
Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)
A metric that measures the amount of revenue a business earns for each dollar that it spends on an advertising campaign. The formula for ROAS is:
( (Total Gained From Ads) / (Amount Spend On Ads) ) x 100 = Return On Ad Spend.
Retweet
A tweet that is re-shared to the followers of another Twitter user’s account. Retweeting helps to share news and build relationships with other users on Twitter.
S
Share
When social media users post or repost content on a social network for their followers and/or the wider online community. Sharing action buttons can also be added to your website, allowing people to like, follow, email or tweet you, as a method of endorsing or forwarding your content to others.
Shopping Tags
Instagram offers business accounts the option to tag their content with a product’s information and price.
Social Mention
A search engine that allows you to search social networks for content.
T
TikTok
Formerly Musical.ly, TikTok is a short-form video-sharing app that allows users to create and share up to 3 minutes of video on any topic.
Tone Of Voice
How a brand communicates with its’ audience using a specific choice of words, writing style and emotional tone that best reflects its’ values and objectives.
Trending
A topic that is especially popular on social media at any given moment. Developed by Twitter, users add hashtags to join a particular discussion surrounding a popular topic, which can improve engagement.
Tweet
The name given to a message posted on Twitter.
Twitter
Known as ‘micro-blogging,’ Twitter is a platform for posting short messages (between 140 to 280 characters) which can include photos, GIFS and links.
U
User Generated Content
Any form of content, such as images, videos, text, and audio, that has been posted by users on a social media platform and then reposted by a branded account. This practice offers authentic endorsement whilst adding engagement volume to the content already in place.
V
Viral Marketing
A marketing technique where social media users are encouraged to share information from one user or platform to the next. This leads to wide coverage and high interest levels.
