The social media glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the terms you keep seeing. No jargon about jargon.
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A/B testing
A/B testing is a method for comparing two versions of a post or campaign to see…
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Account takeover
Account takeover is when one person temporarily controls a brand's social media account to post content…
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Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a strategy where you earn a commission by promoting another company's product and…
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Alt text
Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers read aloud and…
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Attribution
Attribution is how you figure out which posts, channels, or campaigns actually led to a result…
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Audience insights
Audience insights are the data points that describe who follows you and engages with your content,…
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Boosted post
A boosted post is an existing organic post you pay to show to more people, using…
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Bounce rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without clicking,…
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Brand ambassador
Brand ambassador is a person who promotes a brand over the long term, usually because they…
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Brand awareness
Brand awareness is how well people recognize and remember your brand, and connect it to what…
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Brand voice
Brand voice is the consistent personality and tone your brand uses in everything it writes, from…
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Call to action
A call to action (CTA) is a line of text that tells your audience exactly what…
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Caption
A caption is the written text that goes with a social media post, sitting under or…
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Carousel
A carousel is a single social media post that holds multiple images or videos people swipe…
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Carousel post
A carousel post is a single social media post that holds multiple images or videos, which…
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Click-through rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a link out of everyone who…
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Comment
A comment is a text reply someone leaves on a social media post, where they respond…
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Community management
Community management is the practice of building and nurturing relationships with your audience by actively responding…
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Competitor analysis
Competitor analysis is the practice of studying rival brands' social media content, posting habits, and audience…
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Completion rate
Completion rate is the percentage of viewers who watch a video or Story all the way…
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Content audit
A content audit is a systematic review of all your existing social media content to see…
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Content calendar
A content calendar is a schedule that maps out what you will post, where, and when…
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Content pillar
A content pillar is a recurring theme or topic category that your social media posts are…
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Content strategy
Content strategy is your plan for what to post, why, and where, so your content consistently…
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Conversion rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a desired action out of those who…
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CPC
CPC, or cost per click, is the amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad.…
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CPM
CPM is the cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions of an ad, where "M" is…
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Crisis management
Crisis management is the plan and process a brand uses to respond when something goes wrong…
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Cross-posting
Cross-posting is the practice of publishing the same or similar content across multiple social media platforms,…
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Demographics
Demographics are the measurable traits of your audience, like age, gender, location, and language, that show…
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Direct message
A direct message (DM) is a private, one-to-one message sent between users on a social platform,…
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Duet
A Duet is a TikTok video format that plays your new clip side by side with…
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Dwell time
Dwell time is the amount of time someone spends looking at or interacting with a single…
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Engagement bait
Engagement bait is content that pressures people to like, comment, share, or tag others mainly to…
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Engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percentage of people who interact with a post out of those who…
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Evergreen content
Evergreen content is social media content that stays relevant and useful long after you post it,…
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Explore page
An Explore page is a feed of recommended content a platform shows you based on your…
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Feed
A feed is the main scrollable stream of posts on a social platform. It refers both…
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Follower
A follower is a person who subscribes to your account so your posts show up in…
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Follower growth rate
Follower growth rate is the percentage increase or decrease in your follower count over a set…
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FOMO
FOMO (fear of missing out) is the anxiety that something exciting or valuable is happening without…
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For You Page
The For You Page is the algorithmic feed that shows each user a personalized stream of…
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Geotag
A geotag is a piece of location data attached to a social media post, photo, or…
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GIF
A GIF is a looping, soundless animated image made of a short sequence of frames that…
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Hashtag
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the # symbol that groups a post…
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Hashtag challenge
A hashtag challenge is a social media campaign that invites people to create their own posts…
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Hook
A hook is the first line or few seconds of a post that grabs attention and…
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Impressions
Impressions are the total number of times a post was shown on screen, counting repeat views…
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Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a strategy where brands pay or partner with people who have a trusted,…
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Infographic
An infographic is a visual that combines data, text, and graphics to explain a topic or…
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KPI
A KPI (key performance indicator) is a specific metric you track to measure whether you are…
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Lead generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting people who might buy from you and capturing their…
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Like
A like is a one-tap signal that someone approves of or enjoyed a post, usually shown…
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Link in bio
Link in bio is the single clickable link in a social media profile that points followers…
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Listicle
A listicle is an article or post built as a numbered or bulleted list, like "7…
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Live stream
A live stream is video broadcast in real time, so your audience watches and reacts as…
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Lookalike audience
A lookalike audience is a group of new people an ad platform finds because they share…
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Meme marketing
Meme marketing is the practice of using memes, popular and easily shareable images, videos, or formats,…
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Mention
A mention is any time someone references your brand, handle, or name in a social media…
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Micro-influencer
A micro-influencer is a creator with a small but engaged following, usually between 10,000 and 100,000…
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Mute
Mute is a setting that hides someone's posts or a keyword from your feed without unfollowing…
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Newsletter
A newsletter is an email or in-platform post sent on a regular schedule to a list…
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Organic reach
Organic reach is the number of unique people who see your content without you paying to…
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Pinned post
A pinned post is a post you lock to the top of your profile or feed…
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Podcast
A podcast is a series of audio (and sometimes video) episodes people stream or download, usually…
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Poll
A poll is an interactive post format that lets followers vote on a question by tapping…
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Posting frequency
Posting frequency is how often you publish content on a social media platform, usually measured per…
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Profile visits
Profile visits is the number of times people opened your profile page after seeing your posts,…
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Reach
Reach is the number of unique people who saw your content at least once. It counts…
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Reel
A Reel is a short, vertical video format built for full-screen mobile viewing, usually 15 to…
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Repost
A repost is when you share someone else's existing content, or your own past content, to…
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Retargeting
Retargeting is a strategy that shows ads to people who already interacted with your brand, like…
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ROAS
ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue you earn for every dollar you spend on…
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Save rate
Save rate is the percentage of people who save a post out of those who saw…
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Sentiment analysis
Sentiment analysis is a method that reads social media mentions and comments and labels them as…
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Shadow ban
A shadow ban is when a platform quietly limits how many people see your posts without…
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Share
A share is when someone reposts your content to their own feed, story, or messages so…
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Share of voice
Share of voice is the percentage of total online conversation about your market that mentions your…
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Short-form video
Short-form video is a vertical video clip, usually under 60 seconds, made to be watched quickly…
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Social commerce
Social commerce is buying and selling products directly inside social media apps, without leaving the platform…
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Social listening
Social listening is the practice of tracking online conversations about your brand, competitors, or industry to…
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Social media algorithm
A social media algorithm is the system a platform uses to decide which posts each person…
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Social media bio
A social media bio is the short description on your profile that tells people who you…
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Social media funnel
A social media funnel is the path people follow from first discovering your brand on social…
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Social media handle
A social media handle is the unique @username that identifies your account on a platform, like…
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Social media policy
A social media policy is a written set of rules that tells employees and team members…
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Social media story
A social media story is a vertical, full-screen post that disappears after a set time, usually…
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Social proof
Social proof is the tendency for people to copy the actions of others when deciding what…
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Social selling
Social selling is the practice of using social media to find, connect with, and build relationships…
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Stitch
Stitch is a TikTok feature that lets you clip up to 5 seconds of someone else's…
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Story highlight
A Story highlight is a saved collection of Stories pinned to a profile so they stay…
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Tagging
Tagging is the practice of mentioning another account in a post or photo so it gets…
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Testimonial
A testimonial is a quote or statement from a customer that describes their real experience with…
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Thumbnail
A thumbnail is the small preview image that represents a video or post before someone clicks…
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Trending audio
Trending audio is a sound, song, or voiceover clip that many creators are using at the…
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User-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created by your customers or fans rather than your brand,…
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Vanity metrics
Vanity metrics are numbers that look impressive but tell you little about real business results, like…
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Verified badge
A verified badge is a checkmark on a social media profile that signals the account is…
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Viral marketing
Viral marketing is a strategy that gets people to spread your message for you, by making…
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Voiceover
A voiceover is recorded narration added over a video, where you hear someone talking but do…
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Watch time
Watch time is the total amount of time people spend watching your video, added up across…
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Webinar
A webinar is a live online presentation or seminar that people register for and watch in…
