The 65 Social Media Terms & Definitions to Know in 2022

Anyone familiar with using one of the many popular Social Media platforms would understand the range of special terms involved. These platforms often have a language of their own. There are way too many acronyms for the layman to master. 

If you are involved with Digital Marketing or handling Social Media pages for expanding brand presence, it is imperative to have a good know-how of these collections of terms. This knowledge will help you engage and communicate with the crowd in a smoother fashion.

The fluency and ease of conveying the right message will also improve once you get a command over the Social Media specific terminologies. Keeping this requirement in mind, we have consolidated around 65 such terms and their definitions in this blog. 

So, let’s cut right to the chase.

Glossary of Social Media Terms

We will go through each term in alphabetical order.

1. A/B Testing

This term compares the performance of two Social Media posts with one another. It is also known as Split Testing. The process involved altering one of the post elements (Header/Image/Conclusion etc.) and analyzing what impact it had on the performance.

2. Ads Manager

If you want to market and sell your product/service through platforms like Facebook or Instagram, Ads Manager is the tool to use. It helps you create, run, and analyze your ads with options to select a budget and optimize your audience as needed.

3. Algorithm

Just like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) decides the rank of your website on the web browser, Social Media algorithms are the set of rules whose outcomes decide which post comes on top in your news feed.

4. Analytics

Your performance on Social Media is dependent on certain performance metrics. Studying these metrics and using the insights to improve your Social Media strategy is what is meant by the process of Analytics.

5. Application Programming Interface (API)

The components or building blocks needed by coders to develop a program are referred to as API. Major Social Media platforms have their own set of APIs through which programmers can interface their programs with these platforms. 

6. Audience

It is a pretty straightforward term. You post your content on Social Media for a group of people. Then, this group is referred to as your audience. It could be anyone who sees your content or interacts in the form of likes, comments, shares, and so on.

7. Avatar

Your Social Media Avatar is the way you want people to know you as on the particular platform. The profile picture with your username or a corporate logo are examples of avatars.

8. Average Response Time (ART)

The average time taken by a Social Media page to respond to the queries/complaints raised on a platform is called the ART. Anytime under 60 minutes can be considered a good response time, as per Social Media surveys. 

9. Business-to-Business (B2B)

B2B firms are those that leverage Social Media to sell products or services to other businesses. They can be a consulting firm or an enterprise software development company, for instance. 

10. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Any business that sells its products/services directly to the consumer segment is termed B2C. They create a community on Social Media based on their target preferences

11. Bio

The Bio is a short description on your Social Media profile page that tells your audience who you are. This term is used in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. While on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn, the same section is called the Summary.

12. Block

If you want to restrict or prevent another user from checking out your profile and posts on Social Media, you perform the Block operation for that particular user.

13. Brand Advocate

Any customer who supports your brand positively on Social Media is termed as a Brand Advocate. They do this in the form of positive reviews, appreciative comments, or word-of-mouth marketing.

14. Brand Awareness

It is one of the key objectives of Social Media marketing. It is an indication/parameter of how well your target audience knows about your brand and offerings. 

15. Business Manager

Business Manager is a Facebook tool that helps organizations manage their business pages, Facebook Ads, and marketing team members.

16. Caption

A short description that is accompanied by a photo or video is termed a caption. In recent years, Hashtags have become a crucial part of captions. We will discuss this later in this blog.

17. Chatbot

You can automate your business’ customer interactions via this Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool. Chatbots can be easily implemented through Social Messaging Apps like Facebook Messenger or Slack. Apart from answering queries, Chatbots can also help schedule meetings and ensure quick problem resolutions.

18. Clickbait

This technique manipulates users to click on a link repeatedly by withholding the requested information from the user. Some Social Media platforms like Facebook discourage this and lower the reach of such posts.

19. Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

CTR is the percentage of people that see your post by clicking it. The definition of “Click” and “Seeing the post” varies across different platforms.

20. Comments

A user is said to post a comment when they reply to your Social Media post. It is one of the ways of interacting with other users.

21. Conversion Rate

The percentage of users who view your posts and perform the intended action is called your Conversion Rate. The action could be purchasing a product, downloading an attachment, liking your post, etc.

22. Cost Per Click (CPC)

This parameter is an indication of the amount you are paying per click of your ad on average. If you are trying to boost the traffic towards your Social Media page, a low CPC is desirable. In the case of a high CPC, you end up paying higher for the same amount of engagement.

 23. Crisis Management

Things are not always rosy on Social Media. How you handle bad reviews, negative comments, or interactions that put your brand’s reputation at stake is called Crisis Management.

24.Cross Channel

Each Social Media platform is a channel of engagement. When you embark on a marketing campaign across multiple platforms, it is referred to as a Cross Channel approach.

25.Crowdsourcing

The approach of leveraging a large group of people to create ideas, content, or services through Social Media platforms is Crowdsourcing. A good example would be inviting your followers to share your post.

26. Dark Post

A post aimed to appear only on the target audience’s news feeds and not on the other’s ones is termed as a dark post.

27. Direct Message (DM)

A private message sent directly to a specific user’s inbox is termed a DM. It is an alternate form of interacting with posts via comments, but more personal in nature.

28. Disappearing Content

Stories or Status posts remove themselves automatically after a fixed time. Such posts are referred to as Disappearing Content. They can be a good form of user engagement as it creates the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) effect.

29. Ebook

Short for Electronic Book, it is usually a PDF or an EPUB file that can be read on smart devices or computers.

30. Engagement

Any form of interaction with your posts/brand on Social Media is termed as an engagement. It could be a like, comment, share, etc.

31. Evergreen Content

Any content on Social Media that remains valuable with time is Evergreen. It does not lose value even after months or years of getting posted due to a large fan base for that particular content.

32. Feed

This is one of the most common Social Media terms used in recent times. It is nothing but the stream of content that gets populated on your homepage. 

33. Filter

The Filter is a photo editing effect that is applied to images before posting on Social Media.  

34. Follower

Any Social Media user who has subscribed to view your posts in their feeds can be termed as a Follower. 

35. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

This is a tactic used by Social Media Marketers to persuade people to purchase/react to the desired action by making the availability of the offer limited in time. 

36. Geotargeting

Positioning the delivery of your Social Media Ad based on the location of the target audience is called Geotargeting. Tools like Facebook Ads Manager allow you to filter people based on region, cities, address, etc. Advertisers can use this feature to target audiences only in a particular geographic region.

37. Hashtag

A Hashtag (#) is a method by which you can club your content with others that use the same subject or trend. For example, Social Media posts supporting the ecosystem can be linked together using a #nature Hashtag.

38. Impressions

The number of times your Social Media post has been shown in the user’s feed is the Impression of your post. If the same user watches your post multiple times, it adds to your Impression.

39. Inbox

An inbox is a screen/window where you can organize, view, and reply to chats.

40. Influencer

A Social Media user with a significant number of users who can raise awareness on an issue or promote products/services, and so on.

41. Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

KPIs are metrics that indicate your progress towards a particular business goal on Social Media.

42. Like

It is a form of Social Media engagement where you express your appreciation towards a post.

43. Live Stream

A video shown in real-time from a Social Media profile is a Live Stream.

44. Meme

Funny bits of text, image, or video that gain instant popularity on Social Media can be termed as a Meme. They can be a good way of getting quick reach if used correctly.

Read More:- How To Use Memes: A Guide For Marketers

45. Mention

When you tag a user in a post on Social Media, it is called a Mention.

46. Native Advertising

This is a way of showcasing premium or paid content to Social Media users as if it is organic. Promoted Facebook ads are a perfect example of Native Ads.

47. Newsjacking

Bombing or hopping current events with your Social Media content to gain quick exposure is meant by Newsjacking.

48. Notification

This is a message or an alert indicating a new Social Media activity on your smart device.

49. Organic Reach

The number of unique users that view your content on Social Media without the usage of paid promotion.

50. Pay Per Click (PPC)

This is an advertising model on Social Media where you pay the advertiser each time any random user clicks on your post.

51. Post

Any form of Social Media content like a story, image, video, audio, etc., is a post once you upload it on a particular platform.

52. Promote

A method of gaining a wider audience for your Social Media content by means of payment to the advertiser is a Promotion.

53. Reach

The total number of Social Media users exposed to your content is the reach of your post. However, this metric does not indicate if they have viewed the same or not.

54. Reaction

In Social Media platforms like Facebook, apart from liking, you can also respond to a post using other options like “Haha”, “Wow”, “Sad”, etc. These emotional replies are referred to as Reactions.

55. Retargeting

Targeting your Social Media ads to audiences who have interacted with your posts before is known as Retargeting. An e-Commerce marketer may show the same ad to a user who did not complete the purchase the last time.

56. Selfie

A self-portrait picture taken using the front camera of your smartphone is termed a Selfie.

57. Sentiment Analysis

This is an analytics technique used to study customer feedback or sentiment towards a particular product, service, content, etc. The sentiment can be positive, negative, or neutral.

58. Social Media Management (SMM)

The process of managing Social Media accounts, engaging the audience, and analyzing the business outcomes of this operation is broadly called SMM.

59. Stories

They are status posts/updates that disappear after 24 hours.

60. Targeting

The way you select the audience for your particular Social Media Ad is referred to as targeting. Your content must be relevant to the target audience to make it effective.

61. Traffic

The number of users who visit a particular Social Media profile/page is defined as Traffic. Marketers try to increase the traffic as much as possible using their engagement activities on a particular platform.

62. Troll

Any provocative content posted on Social Media is meant to make the wider audience happy at the expense of a particular person/group/entity.

63. Unfollow

When you unsubscribe from a user’s content on your feed, you Unfollow them.

64. Verified

You are a verified user on Social Media when you have proven your identity and gained a large number of followers. A checkmark across your username indicates it.

65. Viral

Any content that gains quick and exponential spread across a Social Media platform is said to have gone Viral. It usually happens when people enjoy that particular content and share it with their Social Media community members.

This is the best possible outcome on Social Media, where you get a maximum audience without paying for promotions.

Wrapping It Up

Having the know-how of these Social Media specific terms can give you an edge when it comes to using these platforms for personal or business use. Use these contextually to gain maximum fluidity in communication related to Social Media.

For a Marketer leveraging these platforms for growing their business online, the correct usage of these terms can be a game-changer!

We hope this list proved useful to you. In case we missed out on any key Social Media terms, let us know in the comment section below.