Whether you’re new to social media marketing or are looking to get more involved on behalf of your business, it’s easy to get confused by all the jargon floating around. In this post we’ll try to break down some of the most common terms you’ll need to know to master marketing on social media.
Analytics
How do you know you’re getting your marketing right? With analytics, you can see exactly what’s working and what isn’t on your website and social media profiles. Some social media platforms have their own version e.g. Twitter analytics. Alternatively, you can use analytics on a scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Sprout to see how your brand is performing on social.
Click-through rate
This term refers to the number of visitors who click through to links in social media posts to a website. While not everyone who clicks through will end up as a customer, it’s an important metric to measure as it shows your social media is working (or not).
Conversion rate
A conversion rate is a key thing to look for when doing any kind of marketing push. A conversion rate is the rate at which people engage or view your marketing efforts e.g. social media posts or website content and ‘convert’ into paying customers.
You can also consider things like newsletter signups, video views or Twitter followers as conversions, but the most important measurement for any business is direct sales.
DMs
You may come across the term DM commonly on Twitter, it stands for Direct Message. They are private messages that you can send and receive from individuals and businesses on social media. Twitter has a DM function and Facebook has Messenger for private communications.
Engagement
This is the rate of people you get engaging and interacting with your posts, either in the form of joining the conversation, sharing your posts or clicking through to your website. Having your posts seen is important, but getting people to engage is what you should really be aiming for.
Geo-tagging
This is a feature most social media platforms have nowadays. It allows you to “check in” to a particular area or include location information on your posts.
This can be particularly useful for those looking to make an impression in the local area and to boost local SEO efforts.
Header image
A header image is the larger image at the top of your profile (not the profile picture). Some people use team photos, logos or a graphic showing details of your services or testimonials. For a business, it can help to strengthen brand image so it’s definitely worth choosing an image carefully and not relying on a stock image.
Handle
A handle on social media is your unique, public name. For example, ours is @TeamOrganicUK on Twitter. When engaging with others on social media, you’ll usually have to tag someone’s handle to get their attention.
Hashtag
A hashtag is a way to link up similar conversations with people you’re not necessarily connected with. If a big news event has happened, people on social media can talk about it and use a hashtag to link the conversations together. For example, people used #Emmys2018 to talk about the Emmy awards.
Hashtags can be used by individuals and businesses to promote their brands or ideas and to engage with others. If you click on the hashtag, you’ll get a feed of different people talking about the same thing. It’s a good way to find appropriate people and brands to follow and interact with.
Impressions
An impression is basically what happens when someone views your post or advert. You can see the number of impressions each post gets via analytics to get an idea of how far your brand is reaching people. From there, you can see how many people engage or click through to your post.
Influencer marketing
People like recommendations from those they trust. Recommendations from celebrities, in particular, is a big business.
Brands know that seeing someone influential with their product is going to lead to a boost in sales, but it usually comes with a hefty price tag. For example, Kim Kardashian can charge $250k for a single Instagram post about your brand.
While some influencers can charge these amounts, the cost usually correlates with the level of fame and can vary. Some may even do it for free but be aware of the potential costs of getting your products in the right hands.
News-jacking
This is the practice of capitalising on popular news stories. It can work but in a lot of cases, it’s very risky. For example, jumping on political news can alienate those who don’t share your beliefs. There are even worse examples out there of people piggybacking off natural disasters or terrorist attacks that are trending to try and boost their reach.
Anything you want to capitalise on, make sure you research the story and the potential effects of using it in your marketing strategy. Disasters and attacks are a no-go! Get it wrong and the online world will hound you.
Tagging
Tagging is a way for social media users to create a link back to the person the post relates to. For example, tagging someone in a photo or crediting a post you shared. It can be a good way to get noticed when sharing posts and hopefully they will return the favour, which will boost your reach with a different audience.
Trending
When you go on Twitter, you’ll see a list of trending topics on your left. This list is determined by an algorithm which looks at who you follow, what your interests are and your location. It identifies topics that are popular in the world as well as those that are relevant to you.
This originally started through Twitter but the trending topics feature was extended to other platforms like Facebook too. It can be a good way to catch up on the news and see what’s being talked about so you can jump on it and react (were appropriate).
Social media can be a great tool for your marketing strategy but it’s difficult to get right. If you need any help with managing social media accounts for your business, get in touch with Team Organic.
Any other terms you’re unsure about or think should be included in the list? Let us know in the comments!
