Social media provides a direct line of communication between entrepreneurs and their audiences. For new and established business owners alike, that line can be used in a multitude of ways to better their business, especially for those who recognise the true potential of a strong social media presence
Copper Square’s social media glossary gives definitions of common terms that our clients constantly ask. Even if you are a veteran on social media, this is a handy resource for Entrepreneurs to keep bookmarked for the next marketing meeting.
The Copper Square guide to the ultimate social media glossary
Algorithm: A set of formulas developed for a computer to perform a certain function.
Analytics: Data that helps you track the performance of your social media content. Analytical data could include page views, time on page, clickthrough rate, and engagement rate. You can track this yourself or through a third-party app.
Avatar: A computer-generated digital image or username to represent someone online.
Bio: A bio on social media refers to a short bit of explainer text that explains who the user is.
Block: Not allowing a user to contact, follow, or see your content.
Boosted post: A type of advertisement where you can pay to show your post to other users who are not following you.
Call to action: An instruction to encourage a reader to take action to entice urgency and increase engagement.
Caption: The written copy you create for a post.
Comment: A message that someone else refers to directly on a post. A form of engagement.
Content: Anything that is published or produced for the online world that is directed towards an end-user. This could be a blog, podcast, e-mail or social media post.
Conversion rate: A percentage of people who completed an intended action (i.e. filling out a form, following a social account, etc.)
Cost per click (CPC): In an ad campaign, a metric for how much each click a user takes costs the brand. A low CPC means more traffic at a lower price, and a high CPC means paying for a lot of traffic.
DM: A direct message between you and another user that is private.
Emoji: Cartoon images that are used to express an emotion or image.
Engagement rate: A metric used to describe how many people interact with your content i.e. likes, shares and comments.
Evergreen: Content that is produced that can be used over and over again at any time of year, holding its value over time.
Feed: The stream of content that you subscribe to and see from other users on your social media account. This is controlled by an algorithm.
Followers: Accounts or users that have subscribed or “followed” your account or content on social media. They will continue to see your content in their feed.
#FYP (For You Page): A hashtag that TikTok users place in their videos to prioritise their content on other users’ “Your Page” feed.
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF): A file format that displays animated images and static images.
Geotag: The directional coordinates that can be attached to a piece of content online. For example, Instagram users often use geotagging to highlight the location in which their photo was taken
Handle: Your username on social media with a @ in front. For example @coppersqaureni
Hashtag: Defined by the # symbol, a way of categorising posts on social media on the same subject or trending topic. Clicking on a hashtag in a search reveals all posts that include that tag.
Impressions: A metric that counts the number of times an ad or post is displayed on a user’s feeds, even if it’s more than once.
Keyword: A specific word or set of words to make a phrase connect a topic to a post.
Link in bio: Selected social media platforms such as Instagram don’t allow for a direct link in posts or captions to allow the user to click on them. The term “link in bio” refers to the URL link the account owner placed in the profile account that users can click to direct the user to the specific content.
Live: Going “Live” means you are streaming online in real-time.
Mention: To refer or tag other user accounts by using the @ symbol followed by the username.
Pay per click (PPC): The type of advertising where a brand pays each time a user clicks on an ad. The amount that is paid for each click in a PPC campaign is the cost per click CPC.
Profile: Your individual or business account that people view when they find your business on social media. Your profile is the information that you upload to the platform including your photo, description, location, contact info etc.
Reach: A metric that tells you how many users have seen your post.
Reels: Short video clips up to 60 seconds with music, filters, text and transitions. Instagram Reels can also be compared to TikTok videos.
Remix: A user can take another user’s Instagram video and add to it or react to the original video. This is known as a Duet on TikTok.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): The practice of maximising organic reach and visibility of a webpage or social media accounts through search ranking results.
Share: Reposting a post another person or business made to your social media page.
Sponsored posts: Social media posts are advertisements where an influencer or celebrity highlights a brand or product that they have been paid to promote.
Stories: Video content that disappears after 24 hours on Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook.
Tag: A link back to the person or business is shown in the photo to allow others to view that profile.
Thread: A string of messages of users Tweeting back and forth to each other publicly.
Trending: Topics or hashtags that are becoming popular by users posting about them on the platform. The Trending page is where you can find this information.
Unfollow: The action to unsubscribe from a social media account so it no longer appears in a user’s home feed.
User-generated content (UGC): Content created by consumers.
Viral: The term “to go viral” simply means that your content has received a larger number of views, shares and engagement over a short time frame across the internet.
If your business operates across several social media platforms and you are struggling to keep up with weekly updates, then the chances of you coming across a term that you don’t understand is extremely common.
If you have questions about how to use social media to grow your business, Copper Square is happy to discuss how to align your social media strategy and business goals.
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