Social media glossary
Plain-English definitions of the social media terms small businesses run into: engagement rate, reach, content pillars, cross-posting and more, each with an example.
- AI social media manager
- An AI social media manager is software that plans, writes, designs and schedules social media posts for a business, so a person reviews and approves the work instead of making every post by hand.
- Banned hashtags
- Banned hashtags are hashtags a platform hides or limits, usually because they were used for spam or content that breaks its rules, so posts using them get less reach.
- Best time to post
- The best time to post is when the people you want to reach are most likely to be online and scrolling, which differs by audience, platform and time zone.
- Brand voice
- Brand voice is the consistent personality in how a business writes and speaks, such as warm and casual or precise and formal, across all its posts and messages.
- Call to action (CTA)
- A call to action is the part of a post that tells people the next step to take, such as book now, comment below, or tap the link in bio.
- Carousel post
- A carousel post is a single post with several images or videos that people swipe through, available on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
- Character limit
- A character limit is the maximum number of characters a platform allows in a post, caption, bio or comment; text over the limit is cut off or can't be posted.
- Content calendar
- A content calendar is a schedule of what you will post, on which platform, and when, usually planned a week or a month ahead.
- Content pillars
- Content pillars are the three to five recurring topics a brand posts about, such as tips, behind the scenes, customer stories and offers.
- Content repurposing
- Content repurposing is turning one piece of content into several others, such as a blog post into a carousel, a short video and a quote graphic.
- Cross-posting
- Cross-posting is publishing the same piece of content to more than one social media platform, ideally adjusted to fit each platform's format and audience.
- Engagement rate
- Engagement rate is the share of people who interacted with a post (likes, comments, shares, saves or clicks), usually calculated as total engagements divided by reach or by followers, times 100.
- Evergreen content
- Evergreen content is content that stays useful long after it's posted, such as how-to tips, FAQs and guides, as opposed to news or time-limited offers.
- First comment
- A first comment is a comment the account owner adds to its own post right after publishing, often to hold hashtags, a link or extra details without crowding the caption.
- Hashtag
- A hashtag is a word or phrase after a # symbol, such as #coffeelover, that groups posts on the same topic so people can find them by searching or following the tag.
- Impressions
- Impressions are the total number of times a post was shown on screen, including repeat views by the same person.
- Posting frequency
- Posting frequency is how often an account publishes, for example three times a week on Instagram or once a day on X.
- Reach
- Reach is the number of unique people who saw a post or account at least once in a given period.
- Social media audit
- A social media audit is a review of all a business's social accounts to check what's working, what isn't, and what to change: profiles, posting habits, results and consistency.
- Social media scheduler
- A social media scheduler is a tool that publishes posts to your social accounts at a date and time you choose, so you can prepare posts in advance instead of posting live.
- User-generated content (UGC)
- User-generated content is content created by customers rather than the brand, such as photos, reviews and videos of them using a product, which the brand may share with permission.