Glossary of Digital Marketing Terms

A/B testing

A method of testing where two versions of content with a single differing variable are compared to determine which yields better results

Accessibility

Considering the needs of people with disabilities when products, services, and facilities are built or modified, making them usable by people of all abilities

Ad auction

A process that determines the best ad to show to a person at a given point in time

Ad spend

How much a company spends directly on advertisements

Alt text

A brief, written description of an image with the primary purpose of assisting individuals who are visually impaired

Applause rate

The number of approval actions—such as likes, mentions, Retweets, or favorites—that a post receives relative to the total number of followers

Awareness stage

The first stage of the marketing funnel, when a marketer captures an audience's attention

Bid modification

Bidding a percentage more or less than a starting bid

Bidding strategy

The approach that tells how much a marketer will pay for each user action related to an ad

Blogging

Refers to self-published writing that lives online

Brand awareness

How familiar people are with a particular business or product

Brand awareness metrics

Metrics that measure the attention a brand received across all social media platforms during a reporting period

Brand identity

The combination of elements that inform how people perceive a brand

Brand position statement

Outlines exactly what a company does and for whom, and what makes it different from competitors

Brand voice

The distinct personality a brand takes on in its communications

Brand voice guidelines

Describe the way a brand should be presented in writing

Branded content

Any post that features a third-party product, brand, or sponsor

Call to action

An instruction that tells the customer what to do next

Chronological feed

A social media stream that displays the latest published content first

Closed captions

Subtitles that are overlaid on video and can be turned on and off by users

Color contrast ratios

Measures the luminescence (or brightness) of a lighter color against the luminescence of a darker color

Consideration stage

The second stage of the marketing funnel, when a marketer provides customer with more detailed information

Content buckets

Categories to group marketing content

Conversion stage

The third stage of the marketing funnel, when a marketer capitalizes on the interest people have already shown

Cookie

A small file stored on devices that tracks user behavior and analyzes traffic

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

The average cost of acquiring a potential customer

Cost per action (CPA)

The amount a marketer pays when someone completes a desired action

Cost per click (CPC)

The amount a marketer pays when someone clicks on their ad

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)

The amount a marketer pays for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives

Cost per view (CPV)

The amount a marketer pays when a viewer watches a video ad for a minimum amount of time or interacts with it, such as when they click a link embedded in the video

Creatives

Any content that can be promoted in a campaign, such as text, images, GIFs, or videos

Custom audiences

A platform feature that allows a marketer to create relevant remarketing campaigns to reach highly-specific groups of people by uploading email lists of existing customers and followers

Customer persona

Represents a group of similar people in a desirable audience

Demographic targeting

Delivering an ad based on user information, like age

Earned media

Any positive digital exposure generated through personal or public recommendations

Engagement

How an audience interacts with a brand on social media

Evergreen content

Content that will be relevant over a long period of time

Follower

Someone who opts in to receive updates from a business or brand on a social media platform

GIF

An animated image

Goal-based automated bidding

A bidding strategy where a marketer sets an ROAS or cost per action target to maximize the advertising goal at a certain efficiency

Hashing

A security method which turns the personal information in email lists into randomized code

Hashtag

A word or phrase preceded by the pound symbol that indicates that a piece of content relates to a specific topic or category

Impression

When a piece of content is displayed to a target audience

Influencer

A person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media

Influencer-generated content

Any post created by an influencer that promotes a brand's products and services

Influencer marketing

Involves a brand collaborating with an online influencer to market one of its products or services

Influencer marketing platform

Software that provides influencer discovery tools such as large searchable databases of potential influencers

Informative report

A report used to provide company leadership with a broad understanding of campaign performance, focusing on larger metrics like return on investment (ROI) and other key performance indicators (KPIs)

Insight report

A report that finds meaning in the data and aims to communicate that meaning at a high-level to stakeholders

Interest targeting

Delivering an ad based on user preferences

Internet troll

A person who intentionally antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, unnecessary, or offensive comments or other disruptive content

KPI (key performance indicator)

A measurement used to gauge how successful an organization is in its effort to reach a business or marketing goal

Lead

A potential customer who has interacted with a brand and shared personal information, like an email address

List-based remarketing

Uses lists of existing customers or visitors who have provided their email address and shows specific ads to them

Location targeting

Delivering an ad based on user location

Lookalike audience

People with similar demographics and behaviors who haven't yet been introduced to a brand

Loyalty stage

The fourth stage of the marketing funnel, when customers become repeat customers and brand advocates

Macro-influencers

Influencers with between 100,000 and 1 million followers

Manual bidding

Managing bids based on the criteria the marketer selects

Marketing funnel

A visual representation of the process through which people go from learning about a brand to becoming loyal customers

Maximum bid

The highest amount a marketer is willing to bid on a platform; also known as the ceiling

Mega-influencers

Influencers with 1 million or more followers

Meme

An amusing or interesting item—such as a captioned picture or video—that is spread widely online

Metric

A quantifiable measurement that is used to track and assess a business objective

Microblogging

Blogging on a smaller scale; Ideal for distributing short-form content quickly and frequently

Micro-influencers

Influencers with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers

Minimum bid

The lowest amount a marketer is allowed bid on a platform; also known as the floor

Monthly active users

Refers to the number of unique customers who visit a platform over a month-long span

Multivariate testing

A method of testing where two or more versions of content with several differing variables are compared to determine which combination yields better results

Nano-influencers

Influencers with 10,000 followers or fewer

Net Promoter Score

A metric that helps predict future customer engagement by asking customers: "How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend?"

Open captions

Subtitles that are embedded directly in video and can't be hidden or turned off by users

Operational report

A report that provides real-time updates and information on metrics like audience growth rates, impressions, click-through rates, and more

Organic social media

Any social media activity that does not require a paid promotion

Owned media

All the digital content a brand fully controls

Paid media

Any form of digital promotion a brand pays to put online

Paid social media

Displaying paid advertisements or sponsored marketing messages on social media platforms to target a specific audience

Pay-per-click advertising

A type of advertising where the marketer pays each time someone clicks on their ad

Pillars of social media marketing

The pillars that can help guide an effective social media marketing campaign: strategy, planning and publishing, listening and engagement, analytics and reporting, and paid social media

Pixel-based remarketing

A process that sends ads automatically to users after placing a cookie into their web browser that tracks the pages and products they view

Potential reach

A metric that measures how many people have potentially seen a post

Promoted post

A social media post that a marketer pays the platform to make more visible

Qualitative data

Information that describes qualities or characteristics

Quantitative data

Information that can be counted or compared on a numeric scale

Real-time marketing

A marketing approach that involves responding to current events, trends, or feedback in real or near-real time, almost always on social media

Referral

Refers to how someone was guided to a website

Remarketing

A strategy in which a marketer uses paid ads to target customers who have visited a website, app, or social media profile

Repurposing content

The process of recreating and republishing content in different formats

Rule of seven

A marketing concept that states a potential customer must see a message at least seven times before they're ready to take action

SMART

A goal-setting method that can help define and measure the success of the goals of a campaign; Stands for "specific," "measurable," "attainable," "relevant," and "time-bound"

Social listening

Refers to tracking and analyzing conversations and trends related to a brand

Social listening tool

Software that helps track mentions of a brand, relevant keywords, and direct feedback from multiple social media platforms in one place

Social media

Any digital tool that enables users to create and share content publically

Social media algorithm

A way of sorting posts in a user's feed based on relevancy rather than the order in which they are published

Social media analytics

The process of collecting data from social media platforms and analyzing that data to make business decisions

Social media calendar

A calendar of all social media posts

Social media engagement

Refers to the actions people take on social media, such as likes, favorites, comments, shares, Retweets, saves, clicks, hashtags, and mentions

Social media marketing

The process of creating content for different social media platforms in order to drive engagement and promote a business or product

Social media report

A document that presents relevant data and analysis about a brand's social media activities

Social media sentiment

The attitude and feelings people have about a brand on social media