Understanding key social media marketing terms is essential for effectively navigating various platforms. Here are some of the top terms and their meanings on 4 main social media platforms:
- Instagram Handle: Your Instagram handle, or username, is your unique identifier on the platform, beginning with the “@” symbol. It allows users to find and tag you in posts, stories, and comments, playing a crucial role in building your online identity and facilitating connections.
- Bio: Your Instagram bio is a brief yet impactful introduction located below your profile picture. It allows you to share key information, link to a website, and convey your style or personality, making it a crucial first impression for potential followers.
- Followers: Followers are users who subscribe to your Instagram updates, see your posts in their feed and interact with your content through likes, comments, or shares. They form your Instagram community, showing interest in the content you produce. Increasing followers is a strong metric to monitor in a social media marketing strategy.
- Following: The “Following” count indicates the number of users you follow on Instagram. These accounts populate your feed with their posts, allowing you to curate the content you see and engage with on the platform.
- Feed: Your Instagram feed is the central hub of your experience, displaying a continuous stream of photos and videos from users you follow. Scrolling through your feed keeps you updated and engaged with the latest content from your connections.
- Posts: Posts are the core of your Instagram profile, consisting of photos and videos you share. You can enhance posts with captions, hashtags, and location tags to increase engagement and visibility, ranging from personal moments to promotional content. Quality content on posts is key when delivering a successful social media marketing strategy.
- Caption: A caption is a text accompanying your photo or video posts, providing context, sharing stories, or engaging your audience. Captions enhance the visual content, adding depth and allowing personal connection with your followers.
- Hashtags: Hashtags are keywords preceded by the “#” symbol, used to categorise and discover content on Instagram. By adding relevant hashtags to your posts, you increase their visibility to users interested in specific topics, enhancing discoverability.
- Explore Page: The Explore Page suggests posts, accounts, and content based on your interactions, followed accounts, and engagement. It’s a valuable tool for discovering new and diverse content on Instagram.
- Like: The heart-shaped “Like” icon allows users to express appreciation for a post. Liking a post notifies the user who shared it and may save the post to your “Liked” tab for easy reference. Likes are also an important metric to monitor in a social media marketing strategy.
- Stories: Instagram Stories are temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours. Users can share photos and videos with interactive elements like stickers, music, and polls, offering a casual and spontaneous way to share content.
- Instagram Broadcast Channel: Instagram broadcast channels let creators send direct messages to their followers in a one-to-many format. This feature is available to Creator accounts and allows for group chats with followers without responses.
- Reels: Instagram Reels allows users to create and share short, entertaining videos set to music. Similar to TikTok, Reels is a platform for creative expression and viral content. Reels are a great trendy way of delivering content in a successful social media marketing strategy.
- IGTV: IGTV, or Instagram TV, was a separate app for long-form video content. Now integrated into Instagram, long videos appear alongside Reels in the Reels section, distinguishing them from short-duration Reels.
- Highlight: Highlights organise and feature your Stories on your profile, allowing them to remain accessible beyond 24 hours. They create a curated collection of content representing your brand or interests.
- Instagram Live: Instagram Live enables users to broadcast live video streams in real time, allowing direct interaction, comments, and viewer engagement during the live broadcast.
- Shadowban: A shadowban restricts the visibility of your posts without your knowledge, often due to guideline violations, suspicious activities, or prohibited practices to increase reach.
- Caption Hashtags: Including hashtags in your captions is a popular strategy to enhance post discoverability. Relevant hashtags help your content reach a broader audience interested in those topics.
- Instagram Notes: Instagram Notes are brief status updates with text and emojis, displayed above your profile photo in the Chats or Messages section. They last for 24 hours or until updated or removed.
- Instagram Shop: Instagram Shop allows users to discover and purchase products directly through the app. Businesses can set up digital storefronts, making it easy for users to shop for products they find on the platform. Implementing this into your social media marketing strategy is a great way to offer your products or services to a wider audience.
- Insights: Instagram Insights provides data and analytics tools for businesses and creators, offering valuable information about your audience, post-performance, and key metrics to refine your strategy. This is valuable to monitor in your social media marketing strategy.
- IG Stories Highlights: IG Stories Highlights are archived Stories pinned to your profile for permanent access. Organise Highlights by theme to showcase the best of your previous Stories.
- Influencer: An influencer is an Instagram user with a significant following in a specific niche. They can impact their audience’s opinions and behaviours, making them valuable for brands aiming to reach a broader audience.
- Insta-preneur: An Insta-preneur uses Instagram as their primary platform for business, earning money, or building a brand. Many entrepreneurs succeed by leveraging Instagram’s tools and features to connect with their target audience.
- B2B Marketing: The strategy of attracting and retaining business customers within the business-to-business sector.
- Boolean Search: A search method using Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT to create more precise and specific search queries.
- Connection Requests: Invitations sent by users to other users to connect and expand their LinkedIn network. Linking with more connections that are relevant to your business is an important aspect and would be beneficial to include in your social media marketing strategy.
- Degree of Connection: The level of connection you share with another LinkedIn user, indicating how closely you are connected.
- Lead Generation: The process of identifying and cultivating potential customers or clients.
- LinkedIn Automation: Utilising software to perform repetitive tasks on LinkedIn, such as sending connection requests and messages.
- LinkedIn Groups: Communities where users can connect with others who share similar interests, roles, industries, or goals.
- LinkedIn Headline: The text that appears below your name and above your profile picture, summarising your professional identity.
- LinkedIn Marketing: Utilising LinkedIn for marketing activities, including advertising, lead generation, and content creation are all metrics you should include in your social media marketing efforts.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: A tool designed for sales professionals to connect with contacts, manage leads, and optimize their sales pipelines.
TikTok
- Algorithm: TikTok’s algorithm determines the content on your For You Page based on your interactions with videos (likes, comments, saves, shares, rewatching, etc.). While many speculate about factors that impact video performance, the exact workings of the algorithm remain unclear.
- Auto-Sync: This feature allows you to match your uploaded video clips to selected audio automatically.
- Captions: Adding captions to your videos enhances accessibility. TikTok’s auto-generated captions are fairly accurate, but reviewing and editing them before posting is recommended.
- Commercial Sounds: Business accounts may have limited access to popular songs due to copyright rules. TikTok offers a library of royalty-free commercial music, some of which trend, encouraging creativity.
- Completion Rate: This metric shows the percentage of your video that viewers watch. Higher completion rates improve your video’s performance in the algorithm, as it indicates viewer engagement.
- Creators: TikTok refers to its users as “creators,” emphasising the platform’s focus on original content creation. Anyone can be a creator by producing unique, short videos.
- Duet: A feature allowing you to react to another user’s video by playing your video alongside the original, useful for amplifying messages or creative responses.
- Effects: TikTok provides numerous effects that can be applied to parts or the entirety of your video. Effects are typically more dramatic compared to filters.
- Filters: TikTok offers a variety of filters, from fun ones like freckles or red hair to trending filters like “Shrek in the sky.” Using popular filters can be an engaging way to participate in trends.
- FYP: The For You Page (FYP) is TikTok’s homepage, displaying content tailored to your interests based on the platform’s algorithm.
- Hook: Many creators use hooks to grab attention at the start of their videos, often by making controversial or intriguing statements. Experimenting with hooks can help increase views.
- Live: TikTok’s live streaming feature allows real-time interaction with followers. Users must have at least 1,000 followers and be at least 16 years old to go live.
- Now: TikTok Now prompts users once a day to take a candid photo using both front and back-facing cameras within a limited time, aiming to promote authenticity.
- Original Sound: An original sound is created by a TikTok user, which others can use in their videos. Renaming your original sounds can help make them more memorable and identifiable.
- Pinned Video: You can pin a few videos to the top of your profile to showcase content you’re proud of or that best represents your profile. Pinned videos provide new visitors with a quick overview of your content style.
- Ratio: A high ratio of comments to likes indicates a controversial take or engagement with the content, suggesting a problematic or highly engaging video. It is important to observe these in your social media marketing strategy.
- Stitch: This feature allows you to combine a segment of another user’s video with your own. Often, creators use it to respond to prompts, which can lead to viral trends.
- Story: TikTok Stories, similar to Instagram and Snapchat Stories, are videos that disappear after 24 hours. They are more casual and not essential for marketing but are popular among individual users.
- Transitions: Used when combining multiple video clips, transitions make the switch between clips more visually engaging.
- Trending Audio: A trending audio is a popular sound clip on TikTok. Using trending audio early in its popularity can boost your video’s performance.
- View Time: The total duration your video has been watched since posting. This is an important metric to be monitoring in your social media marketing strategy.
- Voiceover: Voiceovers can be recorded directly in TikTok, replacing the original audio. They are useful for narrating projects, explaining activities, or adding commentary.
- Friend: People you connect with on Facebook to share content and updates. You can send and receive Friend requests, which can be accepted, declined, or ignored.
- Status Update: A feature that allows users to share their thoughts, whereabouts, or important information with friends. When updated, it appears on the user's Timeline and in their friends' news feeds.
- Like: Clicking the Like button on any status update shows your appreciation for the content. Your likes appear on your Timeline and you can also Like Facebook Pages. Likes are a significant metric to look into in your social media strategy.
- Comment: In addition to liking a post, you can add a comment to express your thoughts or feedback.
- Messages: Private communications similar to email. They appear in your Facebook Inbox and can include texts, chats, emails, and mobile messages from Friends.
- News Feed: A continually updated feed of status updates, showing the latest activities from your Friends and Pages you follow, displayed on your Profile home page.
- Profile: Your complete personal story on Facebook, including your Profile picture, biography, personal information, and more. It can be public or private and serves as your personal "real estate" on the platform.
- Timeline: Displays all your updates and activities in reverse chronological order.
- Chat: Allows you to send and receive instant messages with Friends without leaving Facebook.
- Event: A feature to organise events, gather RSVPs, and respond to event invitations.
- Group: Created by any Facebook member, Groups provide a space for smaller communities to discuss specific topics. Groups can be public or private, and you join to participate and receive updates.
- Page: A dedicated space for brands, businesses, organisations, and entertainers on Facebook.
- Tags: Allows you to tag a Friend in photos and posts you publish.
- Cover Picture: The large horizontal photo at the top of your Timeline.
- Profile Picture: The small photo displayed in the lower left corner of your Profile.
All these different social media terms are important to understand when creating or adjusting your social media marketing strategy and monitor to ensure your efforts are working well for your business and driving traffic to you. Social media experts have the experience and the right tools to look into what is effective and what to improve on. The team at Big Bear Creative are social media marketing specialists who can transform your social media presence to drive traffic to you and increase your audience. Contact us toay to get your social media marketing strategy in focus for a positive change.
