Ever heard of a “hashtag” but still aren’t totally sure how it would be used? Or maybe you’d like to use “crowdsourcing” but aren’t sure what that would involve. Here are 11 common social media terms you keep hearing about, defined!
Avatar
The photo or graphic that appears before a social media post. Like the personal name or handle of a social media user, this can be seen as a personal logo or branding statement.
Content Curator
A new role in social media that involves sifting through social media content, organizing the content into subject areas that are relevant to a business and customers and eliminating irrelevant content.
Crowdsourcing
Turning to a brand’s online community to complete a task, rather than using internal resources or a vendor, allowing the company to tap into the potential knowledge of tens of thousands people, rather than a select few. An example would be a contest to create a company's next TV commercial or tagline.
Engagement
The level of connection and involvement your users have with your social media. This is difficult to measure as users become engaged with a brand on many different levels, but usually it is measured through number of click throughs, reposts and shares.
Hashtag (#)
A word or phrase preceded by the number sign (#), which makes it searchable on certain social networks, including Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram. Using hashtags on social media makes it easier to find related content and potentially associate with related brands.
Internet Meme
A pop culture-based concept or slogan that spreads across the social media world through an image, hashtag, video or website link that is shared from person to person. The meme could be repeated in different ways as each person resends it using their social media accounts.
RSS Feed
A web feed of partial, summarized or full content published elsewhere on the Internet. Thus, those subscribing to a RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) can access a large body of online content without searching each individual site. An RSS reader is required to read the feed and subscribe to content.
Scaling
A process of expanding social media efforts, using multiple platforms, and repurposing content across various networks to reach a wider audience. Scalable content can be tweaked for each social network but doesn’t need to be rebuilt from scratch, resulting in cost savings.
Trending
Refers to topics that rank the highest in terms of mentions and shares across social media platforms at the current moment.
URL Shortener
An online service that shortens regular URLs. This is especially helpful for sharing the link through social media platforms such as X that have a character limit. These services may also provide tracking and analytics for each URL.
Vanity URL
A custom URL that likely includes the name of a specific campaign or product, (for example www.campaignslogan.com). A vanity URL can be chosen while registering a domain and is much more shareable and easier to use in marketing materials than a standard URL that may be assigned.
