Social Media Glossary
A few terms Pluto thinks you should know
A
A/B Testing
Comparing two versions of a social media element (such as an ad, post, or landing page) to determine which option performs better in achieving a desired outcome — such as clicks, conversions, or engagement.
Artificial Intellgence
The use of advanced algorithms and computational techniques to analyze large volumes of social media data, automate tasks, and enhance user experiences. Also known as a tool that can help increase content development productivity, but solid editing to combat word salad and ensure brand integrity is still essential. Also a 2001 film starring Haley Joel Osment.
Aesthetic
The visual style, theme, and overall appearance of a brand's content and presence on social media platforms. It encompasses elements including color palette, typography, imagery, layout, and design consistency — all of which contribute to creating a cohesive and visually-appealing brand identity.
Algorithm
The set of rules and calculations used by social media platforms to determine the content that users see in their feeds or search results. These algorithms are designed to prioritize and personalize content to deliver the most relevant and engaging content to each user.
Analytics
The process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data related to a brand's performance and audience engagement on social media platforms. Social media analytics provide insights into how effectively a brand's social media marketing efforts are performing and help inform strategic decisions to improve performance and achieve marketing objectives.
Audit
A social media marketing audit is a comprehensive examination and evaluation of a brand's social media presence, activities, and strategies across platforms. The purpose of a social media audit is to assess the effectiveness of current practices, identify areas for improvement, and develop a plan for optimizing social media efforts to better align with business goals.
B
B2B
The use of social media platforms for business-to-business (B2B) marketing and communication purposes. Businesses utilize social media channels to connect, engage, and build relationships with decision-makers at other businesses — rather than directly with consumers. The goal of social media B2B is often to generate leads, establish thought leadership, foster industry partnerships, and ultimately drive business growth within a professional network.
B2C
The utilization of social media platforms for business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing and communication purposes. Businesses interact directly with individual consumers through social media channels to promote products or services, engage with their target audience, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales. Social media B2C strategies often involve creating engaging content, running targeted advertising campaigns, providing customer support, and fostering relationships with customers to enhance loyalty and advocacy.
B2G
Use of social media strategies for organizations that work directly with governmental entities (business-to-government). Again, knowing who decision-makers are and their pain points is essential for effective outreach and engagement.
B2M
Boyz II Men is an American vocal harmony group formed in Philadelphia, PA. They’re best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. (See also *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.)
BeReal
BeReal is a photo-sharing app where users can share one photo per day, showcasing their current activities to followers in real-time. Emphasizing authenticity, BeReal encourages users to stay genuine. With its once-a-day posting limit, users can engage without spending excessive time on the app — setting it apart from other popular social media platforms.
Bio
A brief description or summary about yourself or your brand that is displayed on the profile page of each social media platform.
Bit.ly
A URL shortening service that allows users to shorten, customize, share, and track links. It takes long URLs and converts them into shorter, more manageable ones that are easier to share.
Blog
A platform where individuals or brands regularly publish content. These entries (known as blog posts) are typically long-form copy, and cover a wide range of topics such as company-related updates and information, tips and tricks, industry news and trends, or community happenings.
Boost/Boosted Post
A paid advertising feature that increases the reach, visibility, and engagement for organic (non-paid) content.
Brand Awareness
The extent to which a brand is recognized, remembered, and familiar to users within the context of social media platforms. It involves creating a presence and visibility for the brand among the target audience, increasing its recognition and recall value.
Brand Identity
The unique and consistent representation of a brand's values, personality, and visual elements across its presence on social media platforms. It encompasses the visual, verbal, and experiential aspects that distinguish a brand and shape how it is perceived by its audience in the social media space.
Brand Loyalty
The level of commitment, attachment, and preference that users exhibit towards a particular brand on social media platforms. It reflects the strength of the relationship between a brand and its audience and may be reflected via engagement.
Brand Recall-Lift
Meta's estimated number of people who would remember the ad if they were asked about it within two days of seeing it. This indicates how well an ad resonates with its audience and improves the performance of other campaigns. Reinforced messaging leads to familiarity and more clicks!
Brand Reputation
The perception, beliefs, and opinions that users hold about a brand based on its interactions, activities, and presence on social media platforms. It encompasses the collective sentiment, trustworthiness, and credibility that a brand has established among its audience in the digital space.
Brand Style Guide
A comprehensive document that outlines the visual and verbal elements that define a brand's identity — and describes how they should be applied consistently across general branding and social media platforms. It serves as a reference tool for ensuring that all social media content and communications align with the brand's overarching identity and messaging strategy.
C
Call-to-action (CTA)
A prompt that encourages users to take a specific action. This could include activities like clicking a link, sharing a post, commenting, subscribing, purchasing a product, or signing up for a service. Effective CTAs are clear, compelling, and aligned with social media marketing goals.
Campaign
A campaign is a coordinated marketing effort that utilizes social media platforms to achieve specific business objectives. These objectives can vary widely and may include increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, boosting sales, or engaging with the audience.
Canva
An online graphic design platform used to create visual content including graphics, presentations, posters, social media posts, and more.
Caption
Descriptive or quippy/referential text that accompanies a photo, video, or other content shared on social media. Captions are used to provide context, convey a message, add humor, ask questions, share insights, or engage with the audience. They can be short or long, depending on the platform and the type of content being shared — and they often include hashtags, mentions, or emojis to enhance visibility and engagement.
Carousel
A type of post format that allows users to share multiple images or videos in a single swipeable post.
Chat
A feature or functionality within a social networking platform that enables users to communicate with each other in real-time or near real-time through text-based messages. These chats can occur one-on-one between two users or within group conversations involving multiple participants.
Chatbot
An automated software program designed to interact with users via messaging platforms within social media networks or websites. These chatbots can simulate human conversation using predefined responses or artificial intelligence algorithms to understand and respond to user queries or commands.
ChatGPT
A chatbot powered by OpenAI's GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technology, specifically designed to engage in natural language conversations with users. ChatGPT is trained on a diverse range of internet text and is capable of understanding and generating human-like responses across various topics and contexts. It's often used for tasks such as answering questions, providing information, offering suggestions, and engaging in dialogue on a wide range of subjects.
Clickbait
Content — typically headlines or thumbnails — that are designed to attract attention and encourage users to click on a link or engage with a post. Clickbait often uses sensationalist language, misleading information, or exaggerated claims to pique curiosity and generate clicks.
Click-through rate (CTR)
A metric used to measure the effectiveness of a specific social media post, advertisement, or link at generating clicks relative to the number of impressions it receives. In simple terms, CTR indicates the percentage of people who click on a link, ad, or post after being exposed to it. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage.
Comment
A reply left by a user in response to a post, image, video, or other content shared on social media. Comments allow users to engage with the content creator or other users by sharing their thoughts, opinions, questions, or feedback.
Community Guidelines
A set of rules or standards established by social networking platforms to govern user behavior and content shared on their platforms. These guidelines outline the acceptable and unacceptable actions, behaviors, and content that users are expected to adhere to while using the platform.
Community Manager
An individual responsible for managing and nurturing online communities on behalf of a brand, organization, or online platform. Their primary role is to compose, schedule, and monitor content, engage with users, foster meaningful interactions, and cultivate a positive and active community around the brand or organization's products, services, or interests.
Compliance
Refers to the adherence to legal regulations, industry standards, and internal policies governing the use of social media platforms by individuals, businesses, organizations, and other entities. It encompasses a range of requirements related to data privacy, advertising, intellectual property, consumer protection, and other relevant areas.
Connections
The relationships established between users on a given platform. These connections can take various forms depending on the platform and its features, but they generally enable users to interact, share content, and engage with each other's posts. Also one of the New York Times daily word puzzles.
Content Calendar
A strategic planning tool used to schedule and organize the creation, publishing, and management of content across various social media platforms. It serves as a roadmap for guiding the development and distribution of content to ensure consistency, relevance, and effectiveness in social media marketing efforts.
Content Creator
An individual or entity responsible for producing and sharing original content on social media platforms. This content can include a wide range of formats such as text, images, videos, graphics, animations, podcasts, and more tailored to the preferences and behaviors of the target audience.
Content Curation
The process of planning, designing, producing, and sharing original and engaging content on various social media platforms. This content can encompass a wide range of formats including text, images, videos, graphics, animations, infographics, podcasts, and more tailored to the preferences and behaviors of the target audience on each platform.
Content Lifecycle
The stages that content goes through from conception to publication, distribution, and reception by the audiences.
Content Marketing
The strategic creation, distribution, and promotion of valuable, relevant, and engaging content across social media platforms to attract, engage, and retain a target audience. It is a key component of digital marketing strategies aimed at building brand awareness and thought leadership, driving traffic, increasing engagement, and ultimately achieving business objectives.
Conversion
The desired action taken by a user after interacting with a brand's social media content or advertising. This action typically aligns with the brand's marketing objectives like online sales, app downloads, form-fills. Conversions are essential metrics for measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns and determining their return on investment (ROI). By tracking conversions, brands can assess the impact of their social media efforts, optimize their strategies, and allocate resources more effectively to achieve their business objectives.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of users who take a desired action after interacting with a brand's social media content or advertising. This action is typically aligned with the brand's marketing objectives and may include activities such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, filling out a form, or downloading an app. The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions (desired actions) by the total number of interactions (such as clicks, views, or engagements) and then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage.
Cost-per-click
The amount of money an advertiser pays each time a user clicks on their advertisement on a social media platform. CPC is an important metric for advertisers to track as it helps them evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of their social media advertising campaigns.
Cost-per-lead
The amount of money an advertiser pays for each lead generated through their social media marketing efforts. A lead is typically defined as a potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service by taking a specific action such as signing up for a newsletter, filling out a contact form, downloading a whitepaper, or requesting more information. CPL is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of social media marketing campaigns in generating leads and acquiring potential customers.
Cover photo
A prominently displayed image that appears at the top of a profile or page on social media platforms. It is a large horizontal banner-like image that serves as a visual centerpiece and provides users with an opportunity to showcase their personality, brand identity, or key messages.
Creators
Individuals who actively produce and share content on social media platforms, often in a professional context. These individuals are often known for their creativity, authenticity, and ability to engage and connect with their audience. Creators play a significant role in shaping online communities, influencing trends, and driving conversations on social media
Cross-posting
The practice of sharing the same piece of content across multiple social media platforms, whether simultaneously or at different times.
D
Doomscrolling
The habit of endlessly scrolling through social media or news websites — particularly during times of crisis or distress — often anecdotally leading to feelings of anxiety, depression, or hopelessness. It involves compulsively consuming negative or alarming content such as news about disasters, conflicts, or other unsettling events.
Direct Message
A private message sent between users within the same social media platform. Unlike public posts or comments, DMs are typically only visible to the sender and recipient(s). They allow for one-on-one or group communication and can include text, images, videos, or links.
E
Earned Media
Publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid advertising. In the context of social media, earned media typically includes mentions, shares, retweets, likes, comments, and other forms of engagement that are generated organically by users, followers, or media outlets. It is essentially the result of the content's quality, relevance, or appeal to the audience — rather than being directly paid for or sponsored by the brand or organization.
Earned Media Value
The quantifiable worth of the organic exposure, engagement, and impressions generated by a brand's social media presence without direct monetary investment. It assesses the impact and effectiveness of a brand's social media efforts in terms of the reach, engagement, and influence it generates among its audience. Earned media value can be measured by evaluating metrics such as the number of shares, likes, comments, retweets, mentions, and other forms of engagement — as well as the reach and visibility of the content across social media platforms.
Effectiveness Rate
The metrics or measurements used to evaluate the performance and success of social media marketing campaigns, strategies, or content. It typically involves assessing how well a particular aspect of social media activity is achieving its intended goals or objectives.
Embed
The process of incorporating content from one platform into another platform's interface. This allows users to view and interact with content from one source without leaving the platform they are currently using. It also enhances user experience by providing easy access to multimedia content without the need to navigate to external websites. Not to be confused with Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid.
Engagement
Interactions and activities that users undertake with content shared on social media platforms. These interactions can include likes, shares, comments, mentions, retweets, clicks, and other forms of interaction that demonstrate users' interest and involvement with the content.
Engagement Rate
The metric used to measure the level of interaction and involvement that users have with a particular piece of content or a social media account. It is typically calculated as a percentage and considers forms of engagement such as likes, shares, comments, retweets, clicks, and other interactions relative to the total number of users who were exposed to the content.
Entertainment Score
A subjective metric used to evaluate the level of enjoyment, amusement, or engagement that content provides to its audience — often based on their reactions, responses, and interactions with the content.
Ephemeral Content
Posts, stories, or updates on social media platforms that are available for a limited duration before disappearing automatically. Unlike traditional social media posts that remain on a user's profile indefinitely, ephemeral content typically has a short lifespan — ranging from a few seconds to 24 hours, depending on the platform.
Evergreen Content
Social media posts, articles, videos, or other types of content that remain relevant and valuable to the audience over an extended period. Unlike time-sensitive or trending content, evergreen content maintains its usefulness and interest long after it is initially published.
F
Launched in 2004, Facebook (the parent company is now known as Meta) allows users to connect with friends, family, acquaintances, and brands by sharing updates, photos, videos, messages, and links.
Fan
A user who “likes” (or follows) a particular individual, brand, celebrity, or entity on Facebook.
Feed
A central feature of most social media platforms, serving as the primary interface through which users discover, consume, and engage with content from the personalized network of friends, family, brands, influencers, and other accounts they follow.
Filter
A digital tool or feature that allows users to modify and enhance their photos, videos, or other visual content before sharing them on social media platforms. Filters typically apply effects, adjustments, and transformations to the appearance of the content that alters elements such as color, contrast, brightness, saturation, and sharpness.
Followers
Users who have chosen to subscribe to or follow a particular account or profile on a social media platform. When a user follows an account, they receive updates, posts, and other content shared by that account in their feed or timeline. “Fan” and “follower” are often used interchangeably.
Friend
A user who has been mutually connected with another user on a social networking platform.
FYP - For You Page
The primary interface on TikTok where users can discover content that is recommended or curated specifically for them based on their interests, preferences, past interactions, and algorithms.
G
Gatekeeping
The act of controlling or regulating access to certain information, communities, or discussions within online platforms.
Geotagging
Attaching geographical location data to a piece of content — such as a post, photo, or video — before sharing it online. This data typically includes latitude and longitude coordinates that pinpoint the specific location where the content was created or shared.
Geo-targeting
The practice of delivering content or advertisements to users based on their geographical location. This targeting method allows advertisers or content creators to tailor their messages to specific geographic regions such as countries, cities, or even neighborhoods.
Gif (Graphics Interchange Format)
A short looping animation or image format commonly used to convey emotions, reactions, or ideas in a concise and visually engaging way.
Google Analytics
A web analytics service offered by Google that provides detailed insights into website and app traffic and user behavior. While Google Analytics itself is not a social media platform, it can be used in conjunction with social media marketing efforts to track and analyze the effectiveness of campaigns, referral traffic from social media platforms, and user engagement originating from social media channels.
Google Documents
A cloud-based document creation and collaboration tool developed by Google. While it's not specifically designed for social media, it can be utilized to support social media management and content creation tasks.
Great
The most boring adjective ever — and a big no-no in WideFoc.us copy, whether for clients or in our own branded content.
Grid
The layout or visual presentation of content on a user's profile page. The grid layout is commonly associated with platforms like Instagram, where users curate their profiles by arranging posts in a visually cohesive manner.
H
Hashtag
A word or phrase preceded by the '#' symbol, commonly used on social media platforms to categorize content and make it discoverable to a wider audience. When a user includes a hashtag in their post or comment, the platform automatically turns it into a clickable link that leads to a feed of other posts containing the same hashtag.
Header Image
Also known as a cover photo or banner image, this prominent visual element is displayed at the top of a social media profile. It serves as a key design element that provides users with an immediate visual impression of the profile's identity, brand, or content theme.
Handle
The unique username or identifier that a user chooses to represent themselves on a particular platform. Handles are often preceded by the "@" symbol and are used by other users to mention or tag someone in posts, comments, or messages.
I
Impressions
The total number of times a piece of content — such as a post, ad, or video — is displayed on a user's screen. Impressions indicate the reach or exposure of the content to the audience, reflecting how many times it has been seen by users as it appears in their feed or timeline.
Inbound marketing
The use of social media platforms to attract, engage, and convert potential customers or clients. Inbound marketing focuses on creating valuable content and experiences that naturally attract individuals to a brand, rather than interrupting them with traditional advertising methods.
Influencer
An individual who has established credibility, authority, and a following on one or more social media platforms. Influencers are typically experts in their niche or industry and have the ability to sway the opinions, behaviors, and purchasing decisions of their followers due to their perceived expertise, authenticity, and influence.
Influencer Marketing
A strategic approach in which brands collaborate with social media influencers to promote their products, services, or campaigns to a targeted audience. This marketing strategy leverages the credibility, authority, and reach of influencers to create authentic and engaging content that resonates with their followers.
Influencer Marketing Management
The strategic planning, coordination, execution, and optimization of influencer marketing campaigns on social media platforms. This process includes identifying suitable influencers, establishing partnerships, contracting, overseeing content creation, managing relationships, and measuring campaign performance to effectively achieve marketing objectives.
Insights
The data, analytics, and metrics that provide valuable information about the performance and effectiveness of social media marketing efforts. These insights offer deeper understanding and actionable intelligence about audience behavior, engagement, and interactions on social media platforms.
A popular social media platform primarily focused on visual content sharing, including photos and videos. Launched in 2010 and acquired by Facebook in 2012, Instagram has grown into one of the most widely-used social networks globally, with millions of active users. Instagram offers a visually engaging and interactive platform for individuals, businesses, and creators to connect, share content, discover new interests, and build communities around shared passions and interests.
J
Janky
When an app adds new functionality that doesn’t work well, causing headaches and annoyance to community managers trying to get their work done.
K
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
The specific metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness, performance, and success of social media marketing efforts. These indicators help businesses and marketers measure their progress toward achieving their social media objectives and goals. Common indicators include: Engagement Rate, Reach, Click-Through Rate, Conversion Rate, Brand Mentions, Audience Growth, Social Media Share of Voice (SOV), Return on Investment (ROI), Website Visitors.
L
Leads
Potential customers or clients who have shown interest in your product or service through engagement with your social media content. B2B leads are typically individuals at businesses who have provided some level of contact information or engaged in a way that indicates they might be interested in a deeper relationship or transaction. B2C leads are likely customers who’ve engaged with the brand and provided contact info.
Like
A form of engagement or interaction with a piece of content, such as a post, photo, video, or comment. When a user clicks the "like" button on social media platforms, it indicates that they appreciate, support, or agree with the content and want to express their positive sentiment towards it.
A professional networking platform designed for individuals and businesses to connect, build relationships, and engage in career development and related activities. Now owned by Microsoft, LinkedIn launched in 2003 and has become the largest professional networking platform globally, with millions of users spanning various industries, job roles, and career stages.
Link in bio
A phrase commonly used on social media platforms to direct followers to a clickable link included in a user's profile or bio section. Many social media platforms (such as Instagram and Twitter) have limitations on where users can include clickable links within their posts. As a workaround, users often refer to the link in their profile bio as a way to direct their audience to external websites, content, or resources. This serves as a simple yet effective way for users to drive traffic, engagement, and conversions from their social media profiles to external websites or online resources.
Linktree
A tool used on social media platforms — primarily Instagram — to optimize the use of the single clickable link allowed in a user's bio. It allows users to create a landing page with multiple links that followers can choose from, rather than being limited to just one link in the profile bio. Linktree is a convenient and user-friendly solution for maximizing the use of the single clickable link allowed in a social media bio, providing users with the ability to direct their followers to multiple destinations from a centralized landing page. It's particularly useful for businesses, influencers, and content creators who want to promote products, services, or content on social media platforms.
Live Stream
Real-time broadcasting of video content over social media platforms, allowing users to watch and engage with the content as it happens. Live streaming enables individuals, businesses, and organizations to share live events, presentations, performances, interviews, tutorials, and other types of content with their audience in a dynamic and interactive manner.
Lookalike Audience
A group of users who share similar characteristics, behaviors, and interests to an existing audience or customer base in the context of social media advertising. Social media platforms use advanced algorithms and data analysis techniques to identify and create lookalike audiences based on the attributes of a source audience provided by the advertiser. This is a powerful targeting feature on social media that enables advertisers to reach new and relevant audiences who share characteristics with their existing customer base.
M
Macro Influencer
An influencer with a large following — typically ranging from tens of thousands to millions of followers — across one or more social media platforms. Macro influencers have established themselves as authoritative figures or personalities within their niche or industry and wield significant influence over their audience due to their reach, credibility, and engagement levels.
Marketing Funnel
A conceptual framework used to visualize the stages that potential customers go through as they move from being aware of a brand or product to making a purchase or taking a desired action on social media platforms. It outlines the journey that users take through various stages of engagement and interaction with a brand's social media content, from initial discovery to conversion.
Mega Influencer
An individual who possesses an exceptionally large and diverse following across multiple social media platforms, typically numbering in the millions. These influencers wield significant influence and reach due to their immense popularity and engagement levels within their respective niches or industries.
Meme
All of your forms of digital content belong to us. Typically consisting of an image, video, or piece of text that spreads rapidly and becomes widely shared and recognized within online communities. Memes are characterized by their humor, wit, or relatability and often convey cultural references, inside jokes, or shared experiences that resonate with a broad audience.
Mention
Tagging or referencing another user's username or profile handle in a post, comment, or reply. When a user mentions another user in their social media content, it creates a hyperlink to that user's profile and notifies them of the mention — typically through a notification or alert.
Messenger
A messaging app developed by Meta (aka Facebook). It is a standalone app that allows users to send and receive messages, make voice and video calls, and share multimedia content with their contacts. Messenger integrates with Facebook, enabling users to chat with their Facebook friends directly within the app. Not to be confused with WhatsApp, which is also a messaging app owned by Meta, where you can do all of that stuff too.
Messaging
A platform or application integrated within a social media platform, allowing users to send private messages, chat with friends, and engage in one-on-one or group conversations. Messaging platforms offer features such as text messaging, voice calls, video calls, file sharing, stickers, emojis, and more, facilitating real-time communication and interaction between users.
Meta Platforms Inc.
Formerly known as Facebook Inc., Meta is a technology conglomerate started by that one dude Mark Zuckerberg that owns and operates several major social media platforms and technologies, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, and probably more we don’t even know about yet. The company rebranded as Meta in October 2021 to emphasize its focus on building the "metaverse," a collective virtual shared space created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual reality. Still waiting to see how that works out for them.
Metaverse
A virtual shared space that merges elements of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the internet. In the metaverse users can interact with each other and digital environments in real-time, blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds. It's often described as a collective virtual universe that encompasses multiple interconnected virtual worlds, online communities, and immersive experiences. They say the visionary author Neal Stephenson captured the idea in the novel “Snow Crash,” but William Gibson’s mind-bending “Neuromancer” really got that conversation going. (In our humble opinion.)
Metric
A quantifiable measure used to track and evaluate the performance, effectiveness, and impact of social media activities, campaigns, and content. Metrics provide valuable insights into social media performance, such as audience engagement, reach, impressions, interactions, conversions, and return on investment (ROI).
Micro Influencer
An individual who has a smaller but highly engaged and niche-specific following on social media platforms. Unlike macro influencers — who can have up to millions of followers — micro-influencers typically have a following ranging from a few thousand to a hundred thousand followers, often within a specific niche or community.
Monitoring
The process of actively observing, tracking, and analyzing social media channels to gather insights, assess performance, and manage online reputation. It involves keeping a close eye on conversations, mentions, trends, and interactions related to a brand, product, service, or industry across social media platforms.
N
Nano Influencer
An individual with a small but highly engaged following on social media platforms. Unlike macro or micro influencers, nano influencers typically have a smaller following, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand followers — but they often have a strong influence within their niche or community.
Native Advertising
Sponsored content that seamlessly blends in with the native format, style, and user experience of the social media platform where it is displayed. Unlike traditional display ads — which are often visually distinct and interruptive — native ads are designed to match the look, feel, and context of the surrounding organic content, making them less intrusive and more engaging for users.
News feed
A constantly updating stream or timeline of content that users see when they log into their social media accounts. It serves as the primary interface for users to consume, interact with, and engage with content shared by their friends, followers, pages, groups, and other users within the social media platform. (See doomscrolling.)
Notification
Alerts or messages that users receive to inform them about specific activities, events, or interactions related to their social media accounts. These notifications are designed to keep users informed, engaged, and connected with their social network in real-time.
O
Objectives
A specific goal or target that an individual, business, or organization aims to achieve through their social media efforts. Objectives in social media typically align with broader marketing or business objectives and can vary depending on the organization's goals, target audience, and industry.
Omnichannel Marketing
Involves creating a seamless and integrated experience for users across social media platforms and other channels. It aims to provide a cohesive brand experience, regardless of the platform or device a user interacts with.
Organic Reach
The number of people who see your content through unpaid distribution on a social media platform. Essentially, it represents the audience you reach without having to pay for advertising or promotions. Which is generally just about zero (or 1.5% to be more precise).
Organic Search
The process by which users discover content or profiles on social media platforms through unpaid or natural methods, similar to how organic search works on search engines like Google.
P
Paid Search
An advertising method where businesses or individuals pay to have their ads displayed prominently within social media platforms' search results. This advertising model enables advertisers to target specific keywords or phrases relevant to their products, services, or target audience, increasing their visibility and reach on social media.
Paid Social
The practice of advertising on social media platforms by paying to display promotional content to a targeted audience. Unlike organic social media marketing — where content is shared without monetary investment — paid social involves allocating budget to boost visibility, reach, engagement, clicks, and conversions for specific posts, ads, or campaigns. You gotta have it to drive the metrics that matter.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
An advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on one of their ads displayed on a social media platform. In this model, advertisers bid on the placement of their ads and specify the maximum amount they are willing to pay for each click.
Pin
A visual bookmark or image saved to a user's board on Pinterest.
A social media platform and visual discovery engine that allows users to discover, save, and share images, videos, and other content from around the web. Launched in 2010, Pinterest has grown into a popular platform for users to find inspiration, ideas, and information on a wide range of topics. The platform revolves around the concept of users creating and sharing collections of images and videos known as "pins" on themed boards.
Pinned Post
A specific post that a user or page owner chooses to prominently display at the top of their profile. Unlike regular posts that appear chronologically based on when they were published, pinned posts remain fixed in position to ensure that they are one of the first things visitors see when they visit the profile or page.
Platform
An online service, website, or application that enables users to create, share, and interact with content, as well as connect with other users or communities. Social media platforms provide a digital space for individuals, businesses, organizations, and communities to communicate, collaborate, and engage with each other in various ways.
Ponder
The hems and haws behind the strategy. Or a way to buy time and think things through, rather than spout out something that could be inaccurate or underbaked. “Let me ponder that” is a solid way to instill some breathing room.
Post
A piece of content that a user shares on a social media platform. Posts can take various forms including text, images, videos, links, polls, and more, and are typically published to the user's profile or feed for their followers or connections to see.
Promote
The action of boosting the visibility and reach of a specific post or piece of content on a social media platform through paid advertising or promotion.
Q
Quality Score (Ad)
A metric used by platforms to assess the overall quality and relevance of an ad to its target audience. While the terminology and specific calculations may vary between platforms, the underlying concept is consistent: Ads with higher Quality Scores are deemed more relevant and valuable to users, and as a result they tend to perform better and receive more favorable treatment within the advertising platform.
R
Reach
The total number of unique users who have seen a particular post, advertisement, or piece of content. It represents the potential audience that has been exposed to the content within a specific timeframe.
Reaction
A user's response or feedback to a post, comment, or piece of content on a platform. Reactions typically involve expressing emotions or sentiments in various forms including likes, dislikes, loves, laughs, wows, sad faces, angry faces, and more, depending on the options provided by the platform.
Real-time Marketing:
The practice of creating and distributing marketing content or campaigns in response to current events, trends, or conversations happening in real-time on social media platforms. It involves leveraging the immediacy and dynamic nature of social media to engage with audiences in the moment and capitalize on timely opportunities for brand visibility and relevance.
Reels
A feature on Instagram and Facebook that allows users to create and share short, engaging videos set to music or audio clips. Launched in August 2020, Reels is designed to offer a platform for users to express their creativity, entertain their followers, and discover new content in a format similar to that of TikTok.
Regram
A term used on Instagram to refer to the action of reposting or sharing someone else's post on one's own Instagram account. Unlike other social media platforms that may have built-in features for reposting content — such as retweeting on Twitter/X or sharing on Facebook — Instagram does not have a native repost feature. As a result, users have developed methods for regramming content such as taking a screenshot of the original post and then reposting it with credit to the original creator in the caption.
Retweet
A feature on Twitter/X that allows users to repost or share another user's tweet with their own followers. When a user retweets a post, the original tweet is shared on their own Twitter timeline in a way that gives credit to the original author. Retweeting is a fundamental aspect of Twitter/X's functionality and plays a significant role in disseminating information, sparking conversations, and amplifying content across the platform.
Repin
A term used on Pinterest to describe the action of saving or sharing someone else's pin to one's own board. It's similar to the concept of retweeting on Twitter/X or sharing on Facebook, but specific to the Pinterest platform.
Repost
A term used across social media platforms to describe the action of sharing someone else's content (such as a post, photo, video, or article) on one's own profile or feed. It involves resharing existing content created by another user, with or without modifications, to reach a broader audience or engage with one's own followers.
Retargeting
A digital advertising strategy used on social media platforms and other websites to target users who have previously interacted with a brand or visited its website. The goal of retargeting is to re-engage these users and encourage them to take further action such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or completing a conversion goal.
Return on Investment (ROI)
The measure of the profitability or effectiveness of a social media marketing campaign or initiative relative to the investment made into it. It assesses the financial return generated from the resources, time, and money allocated to social media marketing efforts.
Rich Pin
An enhanced type of pin on Pinterest that provides additional information directly on the pin itself, making it more useful and engaging for users. Rich pins display metadata pulled from the linked website, providing context, details, and real-time updates about the content featured in the pin.
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Scheduling
The process of planning and arranging content to be published on social media platforms at specific times and dates in the future. Instead of posting content in real-time, scheduling allows users to create a content calendar and pre-schedule posts in advance to ensure a consistent and timely presence on social media without the need for manual intervention.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Optimizing social media profiles, content, and activities to improve their visibility, ranking, and performance in search engine results pages (SERPs) within social media platforms and external search engines.
Search engine results page (SERP)
The page displayed by search engines like Google in response to a user query — on social media, it can refer to the results page that users see when they search for specific topics, hashtags, or accounts within the social media platform itself. On platforms like Twitter/X, Instagram, and LinkedIn, users can search for content, hashtags, or accounts, and the SERP for social media displays relevant results, including posts, profiles, hashtags, and trending topics, based on the user's query. These results are often ranked based on relevance, engagement, and other factors determined by the platform's algorithms.
Selfie
A self-portrait photograph taken by oneself, typically with a smartphone or digital camera, often shared on social media platforms. Selfies have become a popular form of self-expression and communication on social media, allowing users to capture and share moments from their daily lives, experiences, and activities. Best done away from cliffs, the sides of buildings, or unstable boulders.
Share
The action of reposting or distributing someone else's content on one's own social media profile or feed, allowing it to be seen by a wider audience. Sharing enables users to amplify content they find interesting, informative, or entertaining, and to engage with their followers by curating and distributing content from other users or sources.
Shadowban
The restriction of a user's visibility or reach on a platform without notifying them directly. It involves limiting the distribution of a user's content, suppressing their posts from appearing in search results, hashtags, or public feeds, and reducing their overall engagement and visibility within the platform's community.
Social Listening
The process of monitoring and analyzing online conversations, mentions, and discussions across social media platforms to gain insights into audience sentiment, preferences, trends, and perceptions. It involves tracking brand mentions, keywords, hashtags, and relevant topics in real-time to understand what users are saying about a brand, industry, or specific topics of interest.
Social Media Analytics
The process of collecting, measuring, analyzing, and interpreting data from social media platforms to track and evaluate the performance of social media marketing efforts. It involves gathering quantitative and qualitative data about audience engagement, content performance, and overall social media presence to inform decision-making, optimize strategies, and achieve business objectives.
Social media campaign
coordinated marketing effort designed to achieve specific objectives or goals using social media platforms. It involves planning, executing, and managing a series of activities, content, and interactions across social media channels to engage with target audiences, raise brand awareness, drive traffic, increase sales, or achieve other business objectives.
Social media management
Creating, publishing, analyzing, and engaging with content on social media platforms to achieve specific business objectives. It involves overseeing an organization's presence on social media including managing profiles, accounts, and interactions with followers, as well as implementing strategies to build brand awareness, drive engagement, and achieve marketing goals.
Social media marketing
The use of social media platforms and channels to promote products, services, brands, or content and to engage with target audiences to achieve marketing goals and objectives. It involves leveraging various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and others to build brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, increase sales, and foster customer relationships.
Social media monitoring
Tracking and observing conversations, mentions, and discussions happening across social media platforms to gain insights into audience sentiment, perceptions, trends, and interactions related to a brand, product, service, industry, or topic of interest. It involves systematically monitoring social media channels for mentions of specific keywords, hashtags, brands, competitors, or topics and analyzing the data to understand how people are talking about and engaging with the subject matter.
Soft launch
Releasing or introducing a product, service, feature, or campaign to a limited audience or a select group of users on social media platforms before making it widely available to the public. It involves testing and gathering feedback from this smaller audience to identify and address any potential issues, refine strategies, and optimize the offering before a full-scale launch.
Spam
Unsolicited, irrelevant, or repetitive content that is posted or distributed on social media platforms with the intent to promote a product, service, website, or other content without providing value to the audience. Spam can take forms including posts, comments, messages, mentions, tags, or advertisements — and it often violates community guidelines, terms of service, or acceptable use policies of social media platforms. Also a delicious component of musubi!
Stories
A feature found on social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and WhatsApp, allowing users to share ephemeral content in the form of photos, videos, and text that disappear after a set period — typically 24 hours. Stories are displayed prominently at the top of users' feeds and provide a way for users to share casual, in-the-moment updates with their followers. They often include features such as stickers, filters, polls, and interactive elements to enhance engagement and creativity. Stories are popular for sharing behind-the-scenes moments, highlights from events, daily routines, or spontaneous updates, offering a more authentic and immediate way to connect with followers.
Streams
The continuous flow of content, updates, and activities that appear in users' feeds or timelines on social media platforms. Social media streams display a chronological or algorithmically curated collection of posts, photos, videos, and other content shared by users and accounts they follow. Streams may include content from friends, family, brands, news organizations, influencers, and other sources, presented in a linear or grid format. Users can scroll through the stream to view the latest updates, engage with content by liking, commenting, or sharing, and discover new content based on their interests and preferences. Social media streams are central to the user experience on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, providing a constantly evolving and personalized feed of content tailored to each user's preferences and activity. Also what the OG Ghostbusters weren’t supposed to cross and then did in order to save the world from Zuul and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
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Tag
Attaching a user's name, username, or account to a piece of content — typically in a post, photo, comment, or caption. Tags are used to notify or mention specific individuals or accounts, bringing their attention to the content or involving them in the conversation. Tags are often represented by the "@" symbol followed by the user's handle or username (e.g., @username). Also the itchy part of every t-shirt.
Targeting
Identifying and selecting specific audience segments or demographics to whom social media content, advertisements, or campaigns will be directed. Social media platforms offer a range of targeting options that allow advertisers and marketers to tailor their messaging and content to reach the most relevant and receptive audience based on factors such as demographics, interests, behaviors, location, and more.
Target Audience
The group of individuals or users that a brand, organization, or marketer aims to reach, engage, and connect with through social media channels. The target audience is defined based on factors including demographics (age, gender, income, education), psychographics (interests, values, attitudes), behaviors (online activity, purchasing behavior, brand affinity), and geographic location.
Thought Leadership
The strategic positioning of individuals, organizations, or brands as authoritative and influential voices within their industry or niche by sharing valuable insights, expertise, and perspectives on relevant topics through social media platforms. Thought leadership on social media involves establishing credibility, building trust, and engaging with audiences by consistently delivering high-quality content, thought-provoking ideas, and innovative solutions that address industry challenges, trends, and developments.
Thread
A series of connected or related posts, comments, or replies that are linked together to form a cohesive conversation or discussion on a particular topic. Threads are commonly used on social media platforms such as Twitter/X, Reddit, and Facebook to organize and structure ongoing discussions, share updates, provide context, and engage with other users.
Threads
Not just the plural of “thread.” A Twitter-wannabe social media platform owned by Meta that focuses on text-based conversations, providing users with a space to share updates, engage in discussions, and follow topics of interest. Threads aim to offer a more conversational and community-focused experience compared to Instagram's primarily visual content.
TikTok
A social media platform known for its short-form video content, where users can create, share, and discover videos ranging from 15 seconds to 30 minutes in length. TikTok allows users to express their creativity, talent, and personality through a variety of video formats including lip-syncing, dancing, comedy sketches, challenges, tutorials, and more. The platform features a user-friendly interface with editing tools, filters, effects, and a vast library of soundtracks and music clips to enhance videos. TikTok's algorithm-driven feed provides users with a personalized and engaging experience that curates content based on their interests, preferences, and behavior.
Tone of voice
The style, personality, and manner in which a brand, organization, or individual communicates on social media platforms. It encompasses the language, vocabulary, attitude, and overall tone used in written or visual content shared on social media channels.
Trending
Topics, hashtags, or content that experience a sudden surge in popularity and widespread discussion among users on a particular platform. These trends often reflect current events, news stories, cultural phenomena, viral memes, or popular conversations that capture the attention of a large number of users and dominate their feeds or timelines. Social media platforms often feature trending sections or algorithms that highlight the most popular or widely discussed topics at any given moment, allowing users to stay informed about what's happening and join the conversation.
Troll
A person who intentionally provokes, disrupts, or antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, offensive, or inflammatory content with the aim of eliciting strong reactions or causing chaos. Dangerous but ultimately triumphed over by the Fellowship of the Ring during their passage through the Mines of Moria.
Tweet
A message or post shared on Twitter/X. Tweets are limited to 280 characters (previously 140 characters), encouraging users to share concise thoughts, updates, opinions, links, or multimedia content such as photos, videos, and GIFs.
Twitch
A live streaming platform primarily focused on gaming content, although it has expanded to include streams covering a wide range of topics including music, art, cooking, and more. Users, known as "streamers," broadcast live video content to their audience — who can watch, interact, and engage with the streamer in real-time through chat. Twitch offers features such as subscriptions, donations, emotes, and channel points to support streamers and enhance viewer engagement.
Twitter/X
Twitter/X is a microblogging and social networking platform where users can share short messages called "tweets" with their followers. Tweets are limited to 280 characters and can include text, photos, videos, GIFs, and links. Twitter/X is known for its real-time nature that allows users to share thoughts, news, updates, and opinions on a wide range of topics. Users can follow other accounts to see their tweets in their timeline, and they can engage with tweets by liking, retweeting, replying, or quoting them. Twitter/X also features hashtags, mentions, lists, and trending topics to facilitate discovery, conversation, and engagement among users. It’s also a cesspool of toxicity.
U
Unfollow
The act of stopping or discontinuing the subscription to another user's updates, posts, or content on social media platforms. When a user unfollows another user, they no longer see their updates in their news feed or timeline.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Unique web address or link that directs users to specific content or pages on social media platforms. URLs on social media can point to destinations including profiles, posts, videos, images, articles, events, or external websites. Social media URLs are often shortened using URL shortening services to conserve characters, improve readability, and track clicks.
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module)
Tags added to the end of URLs to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, including those on social media. These tags provide additional information to analytics platforms, allowing marketers to monitor and analyze traffic sources, campaign performance, and user behavior. UTM parameters typically include variables such as source, medium, campaign name, term (keyword), and content, providing valuable insights into which social media channels, campaigns, or posts drive the most traffic, conversions, or engagement.
User-generated content (UGC)
Any form of content — such as text, images, videos, reviews, or testimonials — created and shared by users rather than brands or organizations. UGC is voluntarily contributed by consumers, fans, followers, or community members and is often inspired by their experiences, interactions, or affinity with a brand or product. Brands leverage UGC on social media to engage with their audience, build trust, and amplify their message by reposting, sharing, or featuring user-created content on their official channels. UGC is valued for its authenticity, credibility, and ability to foster community and user engagement on social media platforms.
V
Verified
With the exception of Twitter/X, being "verified" on social media means that a user's account has been authenticated and confirmed as authentic by the platform itself. Typically denoted by a blue checkmark badge next to the user's name, verification is often reserved for accounts of public figures, celebrities, brands, or organizations to distinguish them from impostor accounts or fan pages. It can help users identify legitimate accounts and enhance credibility and trustworthiness, though with recent changes in allowing people to pay for verification, authenticity is in question.
Viral
Content that rapidly spreads across the internet, garnering a high volume of views, shares, likes, and engagement in a short period of time. Viral content often resonates with a wide audience and generates significant buzz and attention, leading to its rapid dissemination through social media platforms, email, messaging apps, and other digital channels.
Vlog
Short for video blog, a vlog is a form of online video content that documents a person's daily life, experiences, or interests. Vlogs typically feature a single person speaking directly to the camera, sharing their thoughts, opinions, and experiences on topics such as travel, fashion, lifestyle, beauty, fitness, gaming, or entertainment.
Visuals
Any type of graphical or multimedia content used on social media platforms to engage and communicate with audiences. Visuals can include images, photos, graphics, infographics, videos, GIFs, illustrations, and animations. Visual content is highly effective in capturing attention, conveying messages, and eliciting emotional responses from viewers.
W
Watch Time
Total amount of time users spend watching videos on social media platforms. It is a key metric used by platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to measure user engagement with video content. Watch time indicates the level of interest and attention users have towards videos and is often used by content creators, marketers, and platform algorithms to evaluate the performance and relevance of videos.
Webinar
An online seminar or presentation conducted over social media platforms, typically with the purpose of educating, informing, or engaging an audience on a specific topic or subject matter. Webinars on social media leverage the interactive features and wide reach of social media platforms to deliver live or pre-recorded presentations, workshops, or training sessions to participants who join the webinar remotely from their computers or mobile devices.
A messaging application — owned by Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook, Inc.) — that allows users to send text messages, voice messages, images, videos, documents, and other media files, as well as make voice and video calls over the internet. It operates as a cross-platform messaging service, available on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
X
X (the app formerly known as Twitter)
See Twitter. Or don’t. We don’t.
Y
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can upload, share, and watch videos on a wide range of topics. Launched in 2005, YouTube has grown to become one of the largest and most popular websites globally, attracting billions of users who consume billions of hours of video content every day.