Social Media Advertising Glossary


Do you know the difference between a CPA and a Cost Per Result? What about a sponsored post and a boosted post? Find out by using the below feature to search through our Social Media Advertising Glossary.

The glossary is being updated all the time. If you think there is anything missing, please get in touch to let us know at justin@theonlineadvertisingguide.com

Please note: The below contains

  • terms related to Social Media Advertising
  • acronyms of Social Media Advertising terms
  • abbreviations of Social Media Advertising terms
  • synonyms of Social Media Advertising terms

If you’re looking for something specific, we recommend you use the search box.

 

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  • 3

  • Commonly used for analytics and conversion tracking, these are cookies that are not created by...   Learn More >
  • a

  • Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a highly-tailored marketing strategy that targets a specific...   Learn More >
  • Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a highly-tailored marketing strategy that targets a specific...   Learn More >
  • In online advertising, an acquisition means a purchase. It is most commonly used as the A in CPA...   Learn More >
  • What is an Ad Agency? An Ad Agency is a company that handles other companies marketing work,...   Learn More >
  • An Ad Campaign refers to a set ads which are designed to run together.
  • What is an Ad Impression? An ad impression is one successful ad call - one ad loading on a...   Learn More >
  • An Ad Platform is a generic term meaning the product a company uses to serve advertising....   Learn More >
  • An ad pricing model is the way in which an advertiser pays for advertising, such as on a CPM,...   Learn More >
  • A feature on Facebook Ads which allows the Facebook Pixel to scan webpages it is on to glean...   Learn More >
  • To advertise is the process of drawing attention to a something (such as a product, service or...   Learn More >
  • An advertiser is a person or company who pays for any form of advertising.
  • AVOD stands for Advertising-Based Video on Demand (I don't know why the B disappeared). It...   Learn More >
  • Before you can work out how much money your site will make, you have to understand the different...   Learn More >
  • Facebook's Aggregated Event Measurement Protocol is a change to how conversions are measured by...   Learn More >
  • Facebook's Aggregated Event Measurement Protocol is a change to how conversions are measured by...   Learn More >
  • The rate at which an individual post is shared on social media. This is calculated by taking the...   Learn More >
  • The measurable statistics of a website or an ad campaign (such as impressions). Typically...   Learn More >
  • A provider of website analytics such as Google Analytics.
  • An API is a way to connect two programs together. In digital marketing, APIs are often used to...   Learn More >
  • App is an abbreviation of Application and is generally used to refer to applications on mobile...   Learn More >
  • The rate at which an individual post is liked on social media. This is calculated by taking...   Learn More >
  • App is an abbreviation of Application and is generally used to refer to applications on mobile...   Learn More >
  • An API is a way to connect two programs together. In digital marketing, APIs are often used to...   Learn More >
  • A way of expressing the relative measurements of a rectangle, often used for video or display...   Learn More >
  • An auction in digital marketing refers to the process of how an advertising platform decides...   Learn More >
  • Facebook’s extended ad network of websites where it runs adverts. Similar to the Google Display...   Learn More >
  • AVOD stands for Advertising-Based Video on Demand (I don't know why the B disappeared). It...   Learn More >
  • b

  • A list of (usually permanently) banned people or things. For example, users who break rules...   Learn More >
  • Brand Advertising is when advertisers pay to improve the value of their brand. This can be...   Learn More >
  • A Brand Campaign is an Ad Campaign where the focus is increasing the value of a brand. For...   Learn More >
  • A Brand Spend is an advertising campaign designed to increase the value of a brand (as opposed...   Learn More >
  • 'Broad' is a colloquial way of describing a method of running social media ads where little (if...   Learn More >
  • Splitting your advertising budget into "flights" (or periods of time) in order to maximise its...   Learn More >
  • An attitude of aggressive confidence. Used in digital marketing to describe someone focusing...   Learn More >
  • c

  • Call To Action (or CTA) refers to sentences which direct a user to do something (such as "Buy...   Learn More >
  • Also known as Title Case. Camel Case Means Capitalising Every Word In a Sentence. This is used...   Learn More >
  • Campaign Budget Optimization is a feature on Facebook Ads where you set the budget at campaign...   Learn More >
  • CAPI is short for Conversion API. It is a cookie-less way to directly send conversion data to...   Learn More >
  • Campaign Budget Optimization is a feature on Facebook Ads where you set the budget at campaign...   Learn More >
  • What is a Click? When it comes to online advertising, a click refers to a user clicking on an...   Learn More >
  • Last updated May 2023 What does CTR mean? CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the...   Learn More >
  • When one brand tries to link itself intrinsically in the minds of the user with another, often...   Learn More >
  • What is a Conversion? Conversion is the generic term used for an action or acquisition...   Learn More >
  • A conversion pixel is a 3rd party piece of code placed on a website that allows an advertiser or...   Learn More >
  • The Conversion Rate (CR) of a campaign is the number of conversions achieved per click. It is...   Learn More >
  • In online advertising, a converted user is someone who has seen or clicked on an ad and...   Learn More >
  • A policy that explains which cookies are dropped by a website, and what they are being used for....   Learn More >
  • On Facebook Ads, a Core Audience is one that is defined by using Facebooks data on their...   Learn More >
  • Cost is a catch-all term in online advertising that refers to budget or payment. It is used...   Learn More >
  • What does CPA mean? The CPA price is the amount that gets paid when an ad leads to a sale (or...   Learn More >
  • What does CPC mean? The Cost Per Click price is the amount paid every time a user clicks on an...   Learn More >
  • What does CPE mean? CPE stands for Cost Per Engagement. The CPE price is the price that gets...   Learn More >
  • Cost Per Land is a type of advertising rate. It is basically the same as Cost Per Click. It...   Learn More >
  • What does CPL mean? The CPL price means that every time the advertiser gets a lead (a potential...   Learn More >
  • Facebooks version of CPA, which also includes any goal of a campaign. By making it a...   Learn More >
  • What does CPM mean? CPM is an ad pricing model used to buy advertising space, most commonly for...   Learn More >
  • What does CPA mean? The CPA price is the amount that gets paid when an ad leads to a sale (or...   Learn More >
  • What does CPC mean? The Cost Per Click price is the amount paid every time a user clicks on an...   Learn More >
  • What does CPE mean? CPE stands for Cost Per Engagement. The CPE price is the price that gets...   Learn More >
  • What does CPL mean? The CPL price means that every time the advertiser gets a lead (a potential...   Learn More >
  • What does CPM mean? CPM is an ad pricing model used to buy advertising space, most commonly for...   Learn More >
  • The Conversion Rate (CR) of a campaign is the number of conversions achieved per click. It is...   Learn More >
  • A Creative Agency is a company that creates advertising on behalf of other companies. They...   Learn More >
  • A way of measuring when someone visits a website on one device, but then only completes a...   Learn More >
  • Call To Action (or CTA) refers to sentences which direct a user to do something (such as "Buy...   Learn More >
  • Last updated May 2023 What does CTR mean? CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. It is the...   Learn More >
  • d

  • A post on social media that is not published to your feed or timeline, but is used as an ad....   Learn More >
  • Dayparting refers to optimising by the hour of the day (splitting a day into parts).
  • The specific tangible results of a project. In marketing, deliverables can mean things like...   Learn More >
  • Demographics are factors such as age, race, gender, sex, location which are often used to break...   Learn More >
  • Demographic Segmentation refers to splitting up an audience by their demographics. This is...   Learn More >
  • Device targeting is the process of making ads deliver on a specific type of computer - be it...   Learn More >
  • Discrepancy Definition Discrepancy means an unexpected (or unexplainable) difference between...   Learn More >
  • A phrase referring to the idea of Dog Food makers should test their own dog food (presumably on...   Learn More >
  • Downweight is a term used when optimising ads. It means reducing the appearance of an ad on...   Learn More >
  • e

  • A metric on Facebook Ads which uses surveys to see whether people remember seeing an ad within...   Learn More >
  • eCommerce refers to buying or selling goods or services online, as well as online transactions....   Learn More >
  • An online sale. A subset of conversion in general, which don't have to be sales or money related...   Learn More >
  • The conversion rate of online sales (as opposed to other types of conversions).
  • A standard set of small images that can be added to messages and posts that is used to express...   Learn More >
  • An Engagement is any sort of interaction with content. For example on a video it would...   Learn More >
  • Engagement Rate (or ER) is the percentage of people who saw a piece of content or ad and engaged...   Learn More >
  • The way in which Firefox blocks all third-party cookies automatically, making analytics and...   Learn More >
  • Engagement Rate (or ER) is the percentage of people who saw a piece of content or ad and engaged...   Learn More >
  • A metric on Facebook Ads which uses surveys to see whether people remember seeing an ad within...   Learn More >
  • The way in which Firefox blocks all third-party cookies automatically, making analytics and...   Learn More >
  • f

  • A social networking site, where users can post updates in their timeline which include text,...   Learn More >
  • The free Facebook advertising course run by Facebook. It is very comprehensive.
  • Facebook Boost is a system where you pay Facebook to show organic posts to more people, with no...   Learn More >
  • Facebook's built-in social media management tool for Facebook and Instagram. It can be used to...   Learn More >
  • The messaging system that is built into Facebook, which is broken out into a separate app on...   Learn More >
  • "Facebook Total Value" is Meta Ads version of Quality Score for Google Ads. This is Meta's way...   Learn More >
  • Facebook’s extended ad network of websites where it runs adverts. Similar to the Google Display...   Learn More >
  • A social networking site, where users can post updates in their timeline which include text,...   Learn More >
  • What is a Frequency Cap? A frequency cap is a limit to the number of times each user sees an...   Learn More >
  • An acronym that stands for Fear Of Missing Out, which refers to the idea that people always...   Learn More >
  • A social media term meaning either the list of updates you have posted or the list of updates...   Learn More >
  • First Time Impression Ratio is a metric used by Facebook for the ratio of the number of ad...   Learn More >
  • An old tradition on Twitter where people would suggest interesting accounts to follow (these...   Learn More >
  • An acronym that stands for Fear Of Missing Out, which refers to the idea that people always...   Learn More >
  • A service that has a basic version that is free to use, but for which a premium version of the...   Learn More >
  • In online advertising, frequency refers to how often an ad appears to a single user in a...   Learn More >
  • What is a Frequency Cap? A frequency cap is a limit to the number of times each user sees an...   Learn More >
  • g

  • Google Analytics is one of the most commonly used providers of web statistics. It's free and...   Learn More >
  • In Digital Marketing, Geo-Targeting means aiming content (an ad, webpage etc) at a particular...   Learn More >
  • Google Analytics is one of the most commonly used providers of web statistics. It's free and...   Learn More >
  • Google Tag Manager is an efficient way of dynamically managing tagging on a website from Google....   Learn More >
  • The mechanism that makes a startup grow in a sustainable fashion. This can often mean a...   Learn More >
  • Google Tag Manager is an efficient way of dynamically managing tagging on a website from Google....   Learn More >
  • h

  • A hashtag is this symbol #. It is used on social media to categorize posts so that other users...   Learn More >
  • A social network based around group video chats.
  • i

  • Apple's way of allowing advertisers to transmit data to third parties of users who opt-in.
  • Apple's way of allowing advertisers to transmit data to third parties of users who opt-in.
  • Instagram is a free photo and video sharing social network, created in 2010 and acquired in 2012...   Learn More >
  • What does Impression mean? Impression means when something (usually content, an ad or post) is...   Learn More >
  • Infinite Scroll refers to a feature on websites where a user can continue scrolling down a page...   Learn More >
  • An IO is an Insertion Order which in online advertising is the contract that provides the...   Learn More >
  • Instagram is a free photo and video sharing social network, created in 2010 and acquired in 2012...   Learn More >
  • Broadcasting live onto Instagram, with your video appearing live in your feed.
  • A way that users can curate a group of their own Instagram posts. These stories are only...   Learn More >
  • An IO is an Insertion Order which in online advertising is the contract that provides the...   Learn More >
  • An operating system from Apple which included many updates around privacy. For digital...   Learn More >
  • j

  • jpg is the file extension abbreviation of a JPEG image file. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic...   Learn More >
  • jpg is the file extension abbreviation of a JPEG image file. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic...   Learn More >
  • k

  • Kik Messenger is an instant messaging platform that is sometimes referred to as a social network.
  • An acronym standing for Keep It Simple Stupid. KISS is a sort of pseudo-ethos that advocates for...   Learn More >
  • In Digital Marketing, K-Weight refers to the size of an ad or piece of content in kB...   Learn More >
  • l

  • Often referred to as LALs, a lookalike audience is a targetable audience that Facebook generates...   Learn More >
  • The page where a person enters a website (ie the page they "land on"). In online advertising,...   Learn More >
  • Sometimes referred to as Last Touch, this is the most common type of attribution for conversions...   Learn More >
  • A potential customer, or a way to get in touch with a potential customer (eg email address,...   Learn More >
  • Lead generation (or Lead Gen) is the gathering of potential customers' contact information and...   Learn More >
  • Originally contributed by Eun Rockwell. Last updated May 2023. LinkedIn is a social network...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value - CLTV or CLV) is an attempt at predicting the amount...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value or CLTV) is an attempt at predicting the amount of...   Learn More >
  • A "Like" is a social media term, meaning when a user clicks a button to show they like or...   Learn More >
  • Originally contributed by Eun Rockwell. Last updated May 2023. LinkedIn is a social network...   Learn More >
  • Often referred to as LALs, a lookalike audience is a targetable audience that Facebook generates...   Learn More >
  • Low hanging fruit is an expression that means the easiest things to do. For example, the low...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value - CLTV or CLV) is an attempt at predicting the amount...   Learn More >
  • LTV (often called Customer Lifetime Value or CLTV) is an attempt at predicting the amount of...   Learn More >
  • m

  • Metrics are measurable statistics that are used in digital marketing to improve performance such...   Learn More >
  • Sometimes referred to as multi-channel attribution, this is a way of attributing conversions...   Learn More >
  • n

  • Native Ads are ads that are intended not to look like ads. For example, they could be an...   Learn More >
  • When a reply to a comment is slightly indented or hidden under the comment it is replying to (so...   Learn More >
  • A specific or specialised interest or section of the population. Websites are often spoken about...   Learn More >
  • A video where an influencer promotes a bunch of different brands at once. This type of...   Learn More >
  • Non-Organic Traffic means traffic that has been paid for. This would include users on a site who...   Learn More >
  • o

  • An acronym for Operating System. It can be useful to target different ads to different operating...   Learn More >
  • What does optimising mean? Optimising means making changes to improve performance. It is a...   Learn More >
  • An acronym for Operating System. It can be useful to target different ads to different operating...   Learn More >
  • Outbound marketing means marketing activities where you go out and try and find customers. For...   Learn More >
  • p

  • Paid Media refers to any advertising you have to pay for. This includes PPC or Display Ads,...   Learn More >
  • A post on social media (or on a blog) that was motivated by money. This can mean allowing...   Learn More >
  • Traffic which comes to a website from advertising on social networks. This term usually only...   Learn More >
  • TikTok Ads that run on TikToks Audience Network (websites that partner with TikTok and run their...   Learn More >
  • The ad platform on Pinterest. It's pretty good.
  • A pixel is what makes up the images displayed on your computer. They are minute dots of colour,...   Learn More >
  • Placement is a generic term meaning some combination of an ad and the place it is served. It can...   Learn More >
  • A platform is a generic term that means a computer/server which does something. An Ad Platform...   Learn More >
  • Post is a generic term for anything you put on social media or a blog. It can also be used as a...   Learn More >
  • A Post-Click Conversion, or PC Conversion is when a user converts after a click. This click can...   Learn More >
  • The Post Click Window, or PC Window, is the amount of time after a user has clicked on an ad and...   Learn More >
  • A Post-Impression Conversion or PI Conversion is when a user buys a product after seeing an...   Learn More >
  • The Post Impression Window, or PI Window, is the amount of time after a user has viewed an ad...   Learn More >
  • A set of features on Facebook Ads focussed on automation. The idea is that by using all of these...   Learn More >
  • q

  • A quarter is a three month reporting period (as in a quarter of the year). There are four...   Learn More >
  • Founded in 2009, Quora is a social network based around knowledge. Users of the site may post...   Learn More >
  • r

  • Reach is a metric (most commonly used in social media) referring to the number of users who saw...   Learn More >
  • Launched in 2005, Reddit is one of the top ten largest social networks in the world. Reddit is...   Learn More >
  • Someone who uses the website Reddit (as a registered user).
  • Instagram's version of reposting or sharing.
  • Ads which are shown people who have taken some action before. For example visitors to a webpage...   Learn More >
  • What is ROAS? Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) is a metric used in online advertising to calculate how...   Learn More >
  • What is an ROI? ROI stands for Return on Investment and means the amount of money you get back...   Learn More >
  • An acronym standing for Request For Proposal. This is what is put out when an organisation is...   Learn More >
  • What is ROAS? Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) is a metric used in online advertising to calculate how...   Learn More >
  • What is an ROI? ROI stands for Return on Investment and means the amount of money you get back...   Learn More >
  • RoN is short for Run of Network, and means when a set of ads are booked with an Advertising...   Learn More >
  • RoN is short for Run of Network, and means when a set of ads are booked with an Advertising...   Learn More >
  • s

  • Segmentation can take place in any form of digital marketing, and simply involves breaking...   Learn More >
  • A feeling of opinion on something. Sentiment analysis is often used wherever there are comments...   Learn More >
  • Sharing is a term mostly used in social media that is a softer way to talk about posting...   Learn More >
  • Skippable in online advertising refers to ads (usually video ads) that do not have to be watched...   Learn More >
  • Social Media refers to websites entirely made up of user-generated content, in which users can...   Learn More >
  • Social Media Marketing (or SMM) is the blanket term for any type of marketing using social...   Learn More >
  • The central concept is Snapchat is that messages shared are only temporary. All messages delete...   Learn More >
  • A place on Snapchat where users of the platform can save snaps for later. Memories are only...   Learn More >
  • The process of monitoring social channels for people talking about your brand or things related...   Learn More >
  • Social Media refers to websites entirely made up of user-generated content, in which users can...   Learn More >
  • Social Media Marketing (or SMM) is the blanket term for any type of marketing using social...   Learn More >
  • What is a Social Media Scheduler? A Social Media Scheduler is a tool used to plan social...   Learn More >
  • A way of expressing that people like/agree with an action, often by using usage stats. For...   Learn More >
  • Short for Social, Local, Mobile, SoLoMo is a marketing mindset that seeks to integrate three...   Learn More >
  • SP stands for Sponsored Post and means a social media post has been paid for by an advertiser....   Learn More >
  • A way of boosting organic posts on TikTok. It differs from TikTok Promote (or Facebook Boost) in...   Learn More >
  • A way of testing whether one thing is better than another. For example, you could split test two...   Learn More >
  • SP stands for Sponsored Post and means a social media post has been paid for by an advertiser....   Learn More >
  • A blockchain based social network that pays users for their content using the STEEM cryptocurrency.
  • Marketing that collects and uses a surprising amount of data to target people. A terrifying and...   Learn More >
  • An acronym standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. SWOT is used to start...   Learn More >
  • t

  • A secure messaging app that lets you set messages to delete themselves (like Snapchat)....   Learn More >
  • Cookies that are dropped onto a person's computer when visiting a website that are not from the...   Learn More >
  • A small picture (often auto-generated from a larger version of the picture) that goes alongside...   Learn More >
  • A high concept social network, where users can post 15 seconds videos with a song or audio clip...   Learn More >
  • The ad platform on TikTok. It can be found here.   Calculate the CPM of TikTok ad campaigns...   Learn More >
  • The network of sites that run TikTok ads on them (not including TikTok itself).
  • A way to pay to show posts on TikTok to more users. As with Facebook Boost, there are almost...   Learn More >
  • Influencers with over 100,000 followers can enrol in TikTok Pulse for an ad rev share of...   Learn More >
  • In digital marketing, ToFu means "Top of Funnel" and refers to the first real contact someone...   Learn More >
  • In digital marketing, ToFu means "Top of Funnel" and refers to the first real contact someone...   Learn More >
  • A type of TikTok ad which appears at the top of the "For You" page. This is TikToks version of...   Learn More >
  • A hyperlink that is designed to be easily trackable, often by adding UTM parameters, or else by...   Learn More >
  • Traffic in online advertising is a catch-all term for visitors to a site (the online equivalent...   Learn More >
  • Trafficking in online advertising is the process of uploading, troubleshooting, managing,...   Learn More >
  • An online travel company that features user-generated content (which is why it is sometimes...   Learn More >
  • The process of systematically testing for, finding and fixing problems (such as broken ads,...   Learn More >
  • Tumblr is a multimedia social network owned by Automattic (who bought it from Verizon). Founded...   Learn More >
  • A way to pay to boost posts on Tumblr to random users (with no ability to target ads...   Learn More >
  • A tweet is a post on Twitter. They are limited to 140 characters, with the intention being that...   Learn More >
  • What is Twitter? Twitter is a social media platform that is based around conversation topics...   Learn More >
  • Twitter Engagement Rate is the number of times a tweet was loaded into someone's feed, divided...   Learn More >
  • u

  • UGC (or User Generated Content) means any content generated by the users of a site as opposed to...   Learn More >
  • When an ad campaign does not fulfil the specified amount of impressions/clicks/conversions etc.
  • The web address of a website or webpage. For example, the address of this website is...   Learn More >
  • An acronym standing for Unique Selling Point. This is a concept based around how a...   Learn More >
  • If something is unoptimized, it has not had any efforts put in to improve its performance.
  • An Upweight in online advertising is a term to do with optimising ad campaigns. It means when a...   Learn More >
  • UTM parameters are 5 tracking parameters you can add to the end of a URL which can be read by...   Learn More >
  • The web address of a website or webpage. For example, the address of this website is...   Learn More >
  • UGC (or User Generated Content) means any content generated by the users of a site as opposed to...   Learn More >
  • An acronym standing for Unique Selling Point. This is a concept based around how a...   Learn More >
  • UTM parameters are 5 tracking parameters you can add to the end of a URL which can be read by...   Learn More >
  • v

  • What Does VfM Mean? If you are unable to track conversions for your ad campaign, there is a...   Learn More >
  • A VCG Auction is Meta Ad's own type of ad auction. The winning advertiser pays the amount bid by...   Learn More >
  • What Does VfM Mean? If you are unable to track conversions for your ad campaign, there is a...   Learn More >
  • A piece of content that is shared a lot by individuals (without payment) in a short period of...   Learn More >
  • w

  • A Chinese social media platform, that includes a payment platform. It is so popular than many...   Learn More >
  • y

  • A user of the website YouTube as a creator - by uploading/managing videos, creating videos, or...   Learn More >
  • z

  • A company with a set of tools which link different platforms to make them easier to use (for...   Learn More >

 

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