Buzzwords, De-Buzzed: 30 Social Content Marketing Terms To Know (And What They Mean For Your Brand)

An industry full of content creators is bound to come up with a few new ideas. By this point, you’ve probably been asked to “monetize shareable content” or “start ideating a viral campaign.” Like alphabet soup, all the CTRs, CTAs, ROIs, and KPIs tumble together, giving even the most astute advertisers a case of FOMO.

To help, we’ve pulled together a glossary of 30 keywords every modern-day marketer needs to know.

1. Advertainment

    The fusion of advertising and entertainment takes a playful approach to marketing. In an era of increased media fragmentation, advertainment packages brand messaging inside content that audiences actively seek and enjoy. Examples include product placement in popular TV shows and movies or branded vignettes that may appear across any digital platforms. As network manager Olivier Katz told NBC News, “The idea is not about promoting a product specifically, but connecting with consumers on an emotional level.”

    2. Buzz

      When people are talking about a brand, that’s buzz. Buzz marketing is the practice of amplifying that word-of-mouth exposure. The technique aims to inspire spontaneous, even viral interaction among consumer – often by teasing product launches, sharing behind-the-scenes content, hosting hashtag contests and giveaways, and connecting with niche influencers.

      3. Clickbait

        “You won’t believe what happened next.” Sensational headlines like these are designed to entice users into clicking links that often have little to do with the “bait”. Clickbait can be a quick way to drive traffic to a website, but the technique often creates more problems than it’s worth.

        4. Conversions

          The term conversion typically refers to the process of a prospect becoming a customer or a user taking a desired action. Depending on your brand’s goals, that action may be buying a product, downloading a resource, or filling out a contact form.

          5. CTA

            A call to action immediately follows a marketing message and describes the next step a brand wants its audience to take. Effective CTAs should be clear and often have a direct link to sales or sign-up.

            Related Read: “Get More Engagement with ‘Call to Actions’”

            6. CTR

              The click-through rate is a metric that’s been around almost since the beginning of online marketing. The mathematical formula involves dividing the number of ad clicks by the number of impressions (how many times the ad was viewed). It’s helpful for gauging the effectiveness of advertising and e-mail campaigns.

              7. Earned Media

                Earned media is free media. Examples include mentions in news articles, television interviews, or user-generated content shared online.  Earned media gives your brand third-party credibility and enables you to reach a wider audience, so it is worth cultivating.

                8. Engagement

                  Engagement is the marketer’s word for interactions. Engagement is typically quantified as reactions (such as a post “like”), comments, shares, retweets, and replies. And thus we say, content that inspires action is engaging content.

                  9. Feed

                    Not just something for hungry bellies, a feed is a stream of web content that’s updated on a regular basis. On most social media networks, the feed functions as a homepage for users, showing the most recent posts, comments, and ads.

                    10. FOMO

                      The Fear of Missing Out is a feeling people get when seeing posts about events, products, and opportunities others are enjoying. Researchers point to a cultural desire to be relevant, and since this psychological trigger can spur audiences to take action, FOMO appeals are becoming more prevalent in marketing.

                      11. Gamification

                        Gamification takes something that already exists (like a website, mobile app, or online forum) and adds elements of game play to increase user engagement and productivity. For example, you might encounter a progress bar when creating a new profile, eventually moving to 100% as certain actions are taken. Like a gold star on an grade school paper, this technique is valuable not because it is costly, but because of what it means to the recipient. As Forbes Magazine describes, “What makes gamification so effective is not the badges, tokens, or even the friendly competition, but it’s the way it taps into our psychological need for implicit rewards.”

                        12. Gen Z

                          Soon to hold more global buying power than their predecessors, Generation Z (born between 1995 – 2010) is the first demographic to have not experienced life without the Internet.

                          Related Read: “Five Secrets to Building a Gen Z Following”

                          13. Geotargeting

                            This term is used to describe the process of setting a virtual boundary around your target audience, and conducting location-based marketing efforts to the people who fall inside that area. 

                            14. Hashtags

                              Hashtags serve as an indexing system to make social media content more easily discoverable. By using the # symbol plus a specific keyword on posts, other users can easily find your content and explore the larger topic. The benefits don’t have to stop there, though. Check out these “8 Brilliant Ways to Use Hashtag Content.”

                              15. Impressions

                                Impressions measure how many times an ad or social media post has been viewed by users. Each network outlines unique parameters for the metric. On Facebook, for example, if a sponsored post appears in your feed on Monday, Tuesday, and later as a share from one of your friend’s, that will count as three impressions. This is much different than Reach, which describes how many people saw the ad.

                                16. KPI

                                  A key performance indicator measures an organization’s success in achieving objectives. KPIs particularly useful to marketing teams include social media follower count, impressions, mentions, cost-per-lead, click-through rates, and customer lifetime value. 

                                  17. Micro-Influencer

                                    If there’s one thing we know about micro-influencers, it’s that they have major influence. These are enthusiastic fans or topic specialists that marketers partner with to help build a real connection between a brand and its target audience.  Since peer recommendations are trusted by 92% of consumers, this strategy packs a punch!

                                    Related Read: “When Friends Promote Brands”

                                    18. Millennial

                                      Though there are 90 million millennials roaming the planet, there remains an air of mystery about them. Born during the tech revolution (1981 – 1996), these digital-savvy shoppers have largely thrown traditional advertising out the window in favor of authentic, integrated marketing.

                                      Related Read: “Ten Secrets of Marketing to Millennials”

                                      19. Monetize

                                        To monetize is to turn a non-revenue-generating item into something that generates profit. On YouTube, it’s common to see advertisements displayed on video content; that’s one example of monetization. Hashtag contests are another. When fan’s submit UGC, brands not only experience an uptick in followers and awareness, but also an increase in sales. That’s because shoppers trust non-branded photos and reviews overwhelmingly. UGC is a highly influential part of the decision-making process, and it costs virtually nothing.

                                        Related Read: “Why Ecommerce and UGC is the Future of Marketing”

                                        20. Netiquette

                                          Short for Internet etiquette, Netiquette is an unspoken code of conduct. The general idea is to display common courtesy, avoid all-caps, check your facts, don’t be a troll, and generally apply the same standards online as you would in public.

                                          21. Omnichannel

                                            Omnichannel marketing offers consumers a seamless experience, wherever they are. This kind of highly-personalized, unified marketing covers all fronts: social media, brick and mortar location, mobile, web, and more.

                                            Related Read: “9 Explosive Examples of Omni-Channel Marketing in 2018”

                                            22. Organic Content

                                              “Organic” carries connotations of healthy, natural growth – attractive both in vegetables and marketing. Building exposure organically does not involve paid tools like social media ads. Rather, you’ll want to create a stream of high-quality, relevant content consumers need and want. Successful campaigns do take time, but as value grows and engagement rises, your customers will begin supplying you with organic content of their own. This generally comes in the form of unsolicited testimonials, reviews, and recommendations posted online.

                                              Related Read: “How to Not Fail Content Strategy in 5 Easy Steps”

                                              23. Reach

                                                Reach is a social media metric that describes the number of users who have seen your content. It differs from Impressions, in that Reach only counts the number of unique individuals who have viewed the post – not how many times they have seen it. 

                                                24. Real-Time

                                                  Real-time marketing recognizes that the digital world never turns off. When brands react quickly to news, questions, and trends, audiences stay engaged.  Like the viral Oreo tweet posted during the 2013 SuperBowl blackout, unexpected moments often create richer interactions than the most calculated marketing campaigns.

                                                  25. ROI

                                                    ROI is a mathematical formula to measure performance. ROI = (return – investment) / investment. Since it can be difficult to measure social media marketing results in dollars, it may be helpful to assign different values to returns like shares and likes.

                                                    26. Shareable Content

                                                      Shareable content is material that users want to show others. On social media, content that is useful, emotional, or inspiring is more likely to gain widespread attention. When viewer reactions are strong enough, this content may even go viral.

                                                      27. Smart Content

                                                        Smart content is dynamic, changing based on the interests or past behavior of the viewer. Using data points like the user’s buyer persona, on-site browsing history, device settings, and advertisements that drew the user to the website, smart content uses modules to create a more personalized display of information.

                                                        28. Social Selling

                                                          Social selling is a technique that focuses more on building relationships and delivering relevant content, than overtly pushing sales. This often takes place on social media networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

                                                          29. UGC

                                                            User generated content is fan-created content that promotes a brand. UGC comes in many forms. It may be Instagram photos, YouTube videos, a Pinterest board, hashtagged tweet, social posts, blogs, or testimonials. Since this peer-to-peer content is highly influential – far more than brand-generated content – marketers increasingly incorporate UGC across the brand’s digital properties, in advertising campaigns, e-commerce sites, live events, and even print materials.

                                                            30. Viral

                                                              Marketers dream of going viral – a term that describes what happens when extremely popular content spreads quickly across the Internet. Like a rolling snowball, reach expands as followers share the content to their friends, who in turn share it to their followers, and so on. Unfortunately, creating viral content is a lot like winning the lottery; there’s no real strategy, but everyone hopes they’ll get lucky someday!

                                                              For more ideas on how to promote shared enthusiasm around an idea, product, or community, check out our solutions gallery. Then, kick off your own success story with a free 7-day trial of TwineSocial. Let us know how we can help!

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