Social Media Terms: A Comprehensive Glossary by Buffer
With clear definitions and helpful examples, Buffer’s social media terms glossary has everything you need to know to succeed on social. Need help scheduling your social posts?
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a
b
A social media bio is a short descriptive piece of text found at the top of a user’s social media profile.
c
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), is the total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing expenses, advertising, and other efforts.
A carousel post is a multi-content format used on various visual social media platforms to display images and videos consecutively.
A character counter is a tool or feature that helps users keep track of the number of characters in their social media posts to stay within platform-specific character limits.
Clickbait refers to an exaggerated or misleading headline, image, or piece of content designed to get users to click on a link and visit a specific webpage.
An online community refers to a group of individuals who come together on digital platforms to share common interests, values, or goals.
d
A DM (Direct Message) is a private form of communication between users on social media platforms.
e
An emoji is a small icon used to express an emotion, idea, or concept online, particularly on social media and messaging apps.
f
FYP, For You Page, is a personalized video feed that appears when users first open the TikTok app.
g
Google Business Profile is a free tool used to help manage and optimize the online presence for your business.
Generation Z, shortened to and popularly known as Gen Z, is the demographic group born between 1997 and 2012.
h
Hashtags are words preceded by the"#" symbol, used to categorize content by topic on all the major social media paltforms.
i
Instagram Story Highlights are collections of Stories you curate, located at the top of your Instagram profile.
l
A LinkedIn Showcase Page is a sub-page to your main LinkedIn Company Page.
A LinkedIn Company Page is your brand’s public profile on LinkedIn, designed to help your business establish and grow its presence on the platform.
A link in bio refers to the link found in a user's social media bio, directing followers to a separate website.
m
A meme is an image, video, or text that is humorous in nature and that spreads quickly across the internet.
n
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a metric used to gauge the overall quality of your customer experience and understand how customers feel about your business.
o
Organic marketing is a long-term approach that prioritizes non-paid marketing tactics.
p
A PFP (Profile Picture) is a photo that users upload to their social media profile to represent their identity on social media.
q
Social media quality control is the process of ensuring all your social media posts, comments, and messages align with your brand's quality standards.
r
s
Sentiment analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing information related to how people talk about your brand on social media and to determine the emotional tone behind that message.
SMART goals are one of the most popular frameworks for setting goals and objectives for businesses, with each letter within the acronym representing a word (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
Social media encompasses all the platforms and apps that allow people, creators, and businesses to communicate with one another, create online communities, exchange ideas, and share content.
A social media manager is a person responsible for creating, managing, and publishing content for a brand's social media accounts.
A sponsored post is any type of post that you spend money on to help you reach a wider audience.
t
TikTok Shop is an e-commerce feature that allows businesses and creators to create a storefront on TikTok and sell their products.
A TikTok challenge is a strategy for creators and brands to boost engagement by prompting followers to create videos that perform an action, like a dance move.
Twitter threads are a series of connected tweets that make it easier for users to tell a longer story.
Trending is when a specific topic, hashtag, or keyword becomes popular and receives more visibility and engagement than usual on a given social media platform, like Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram.
u
UGC (User-Generated Content) is any piece of content created by customers or fans to help a brand sell its product or service.
A URL Shortener is a tool that shortens up long, complicated links into short, polished links to make them easier to share on social media while still directing to the same page.
UX (User Experience) is a user's overall experience when interacting with a product or service, like a website or app.
v
A vlog, short for video blog, is a type of blog that consists of video content rather than written content.
Vanish mode is a feature that lets users send each other disappearing direct messages on Instagram and Messenger.
Going viral is when a piece of content spreads quickly across social media platforms, being shared by thousands or even millions of users in a very short time span.
x
X is Twitter’s rebranded identity, envisioned by Elon Musk as the new “everything app”
y
YouTube Studio is a tool within Youtube where users can manage and edit their videos and channels.
z
Zapier is a web automation tool used to connect web apps and services.