Companies and individuals that sell products or services can benefit from social media marketing in a number of ways. It allows them to reach new customers, often at lower cost than traditional media such as print and radio; enables them to build better customer relationships by engaging users directly over social platforms; and improves their search engine optimization (SEO) by increasing social activity on their website.
Marketing through social media channels has its own set of special terms and unique jargon. Knowing these social media marketing terms will help you communicate more clearly with an online community manager or social media consultant if you hire one to handle your business’s social accounts:
Advertising
A form of social promotion where brands create social media profiles and post sponsored social messages for the purpose of increasing brand awareness. This also includes social endorsements from social media influencers who have a large following on social platforms.
Community Management
Responsible for a social account’s community development, engagement, and management. Community managers generally monitor social networks for mentions of their client’s brands or business name to ensure that their company is seen positively online.
Crowdsourcing
The practice of encouraging user-generated content by posting regular social media asks or challenges where users can contribute with images or videos in response to a particular question or prompt (“Show us your best breakfast!”).
Embeds
Also referred to as social media widgets, social media embeds are social sharing buttons that can be placed on website pages or blog posts that allow visitors to share the content on social platforms.
Hashtag
A social media tag used within a social post to identify an online conversation on social platforms about specific subjects. For example, there are numerous hashtags surrounding major social events such as the Super Bowl (#superbowl) and World Cup (#worldcup).
Influencer Marketing
The process of identifying key influencers in your industry who have influence over potential customers, and developing relationships with these individuals in order to get them to promote your brand. This also includes social endorsements from social media influencers who have a large following on social platforms.
SEO
The process of increasing the quantity and quality of visitors to your website by using social media marketing, such as Google+. This is done through practices like social sharing, social bookmarking, and social mentions.
Social Ad Campaigns
A form of social promotion where businesses create their own social ad campaigns with paid advertising on social networks (i.e., Facebook and Twitter).
Social CRM
Also known as social customer relationship management (CRM), this is the process of managing conversations between company representatives and potential or current customers over social channels. This also includes social engagement and social relationship development.
Social Engagement
The process of a social media consultant or social community manager responding to mentions, comments, and questions from users on social platforms in a timely manner. It is important to monitor social channels for social engagements at all times in order to maintain positive brand awareness.
Social Influencer Marketing
Similar to influencer marketing, where social influencers are identified and approached by businesses to promote their brands. However, this practice emphasizes the use of social media influencers who have a large following on social platforms as opposed to grassroots social media promotion from individuals with little-to-no following on social channels.
Social Mentions
The process of social media management through social listening – where social media consultants continuously search social channels for any mentions of their client’s brands or business name to ensure that these companies are seen positively online.
Social Promotions
An efficient way for social media consultants and community managers to develop relationships with influencers by asking them to participate in social promotions, such as social hashtag campaigns (i.e., #socialmediareview) or contests (i.e., #ineedaphonecharger). These types of social promotions help promote the brand awareness of participating influencers while also generating content for social accounts. 14: Social Relationship Development: The practice of social media consultants and social community managers forming relationships with social influencers by providing them with social promotion opportunities, engaging in social engagement, and/or inviting them to exclusive social events. This ensures that social influencers will feel valued for their social contributions and be more likely to promote a brand’s products or services.
Social Sharing
The process of encouraging customers, fans, and followers on social channels to share the company’s content (i.e., blog posts and social updates). Social shares allow brands to create viral content that reaches broader audiences, while also generating organic traffic back to website pages or landing pages through social links embedded within each post.
Social Listening
A social media strategy that involves social media consultants and social community managers using social analytics tools to monitor social conversations about their client’s brands or business names. This enables them to identify popular social posts, trending topics, industry problems, and social influencers within different industries.
Social Listing
The process of social media consultants finding the best platforms for promotion by creating social listings (i.e., blog round-ups) on company websites or social channels.
Social Mentioning
The practice of searching for keywords related to a brand or business name on social channels so that social mentions can be monitored at all times in order to maintain positive brand awareness. Mentions can be positive social mentions (i.e., social posts that mention a company in a positive light), or negative social mentions (i.e., social posts that mention a company in a negative light).
Social Media
The platforms and tools used to create and share social content with target audiences for marketing purposes, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, Google+, Tumblr – and more!
Social Media Ads
An efficient way for social media consultants and community managers to promote their client’s brands on social media channels by purchasing targeted ads through social advertising networks like AdWords and Facebook Ads. These types of social ads allow businesses to promote social posts across a variety of social channels based on interests, demographics, and location. This is very different from social organic marketing in which social media consultants create social content with the hope that it goes viral through social sharing.
Social Media Analytics
Tools used by social media consultants to measure the success of their social media marketing efforts by identifying how many people are engaging with each post (i.e., Facebook Insights), how many customers are converted into sales after interacting with social ads (i.e., Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool), and more!
Social Media Campaing
The social media marketing strategy in which social media consultants create social content to promote a client’s social accounts, increase social engagement, and social ranking within different social channels. Social campaigns are primarily used by influencers who want to grow their social audiences for personal or professional reasons.
Social Media Consultant
An individual who uses previous experience with social media to advise companies on how they can improve their social presence (i.e., Facebook Page Likes). Consultants may be hired full-time or as an outside contractor depending on the needs of each company.
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