A
action-based marketing
Marketing by sharing content freely, developing a strong social authority whereby people seek you out, rather than you pushing your products to them; sometimes called pull-based marketing.
affiliate marketing
Being an outside salesperson by promoting something from another company or website and receiving some sort of commission or percentage in return.
aggregator
System or service that combines data or items with similar characteristics, such as all blog posts from one particular person or all tweets with the word Japan in them.
amplification
The likelihood that your content will be acted upon.
Answers
On LinkedIn, an interface where you can ask or answer questions to gain expert status in a category.
app
Abbreviation for application, a program that works with another online program (such as a Twitter app used with Facebook to automatically tweet Facebook posts).
B
B2B (business to business)
Monetary transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer.
B2C (business to consumer)
Monetary transactions between a business and an end user (consumer).
beta
Preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product.
C
channel page
A YouTube page that is viewable by the general public (unless you have hidden it) and contains your user profile information, your videos, a list of your favorite videos (if you choose to show it) and your playlists (again, if you choose to show it).
Channels
The name of the interface that other people see when they go to your YouTube username address. This is where all the videos you’ve uploaded are listed. You can design how your channel looks with background images, colors, different fonts, and modules you can hide or make public.
check-in
A customer’s announcement through a geolocation app or website that she has arrived at a place of business or other venue.
check-in deal
An incentive offered to customers who announce their arrival at a business with a geolocation service.
claim
To establish ownership of your business’s listing on a geolocation service.
closed-captioning (or subtitles)
Onscreen text designed for the hearing-impaired.
cloud
Simply, the Internet. More specifically, when you save or host things online and not on a local server or hard drive.
connections
People on LinkedIn who can see each other’s posts (a structure similar to Facebook’s friends).
CPE (cost per engagement)
Like Google AdWords except you pay when users retweet, reply to, favorites, or click on the tweet that’s created using Twitter’s Promoted Tweets system.
custom landing page
On Facebook, the default space someone sees before they have liked your Page. You can designate any link (Wall, Info, Events, Photos, or a custom page) to be your default landing page.
D
dashboard
In social media marketing analytics, an online tool that helps you measure your success and adjust your tactics.
E
editorial calendar
Advance planning and organizing of pertinent topics for blog posts and posts on your social media accounts for your business.
embed code
Code that imports into a post or website page all of the data in a video, as opposed to linking to the video, so it plays on the site directly.
F
fan gate
A custom tab created using a third-party app for your Facebook Page that shows one thing to nonfans and another thing to those who click the Like button; also called a Like/Reveal.
flagging
Reporting to YouTube that a video or comment is inappropriate or violates YouTube’s rules.
follow
To request notification of a person’s activity on a site.
followers
On Twitter, people who want to see your tweets are followers; the tweets you want to see are from people you’re following.
friends
Mutually connected people on Facebook and YouTube.
G
gamification
The process by which services take advantage of our basic human nature to engage in play, to get us to do normally boring or uncomfortable tasks like taking surveys, going to websites, and buying products and services.
geolocation
The identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected device; can include country, city, postal or zip code, latitude, longitude, and time zone.
geolocation marketing
Marketing deals that are presented to you through a mobile device based on where you are, according to your GPS.
GPS (Global Positioning System)
A technology that pinpoints a person’s or object’s geographical location.
Groups
On LinkedIn, people who congregate around a subject, activity, or event. For example, there are groups for conferences like TED and nonprofit organizations like Slow Food. There are groups around software programs like Microsoft PowerPoint and every imaginable company on the planet.
H
hashtag
When you place the # symbol, called a hashtag, in front of a word in a tweet, it automatically becomes a link to search results for all tweets containing that word. It was created by Twitter users, not by the designer of Twitter.
I
image hosting
An image hosting service allows individuals to upload images to an Internet website. The image host stores the image on its server and shows the individual different types of code to allow others to view that image. The image is basically in the cloud and not hosted on the person’s individual computer at home.
InMail
LinkedIn’s premium messaging service, which members can use to reach anyone on LinkedIn, no introduction or contact info required. Normally in LinkedIn, you need to be introduced to someone outside your 1st-level connections.
K
keyword
Words and phrases that are good descriptors of your business or product; also, terms your customers are using to search for your business products and services online.
keyword prominence
Putting main keywords inside the first two paragraphs of your content.
keyword proximity
The distance between keywords.
L
laser-targeting
Targeting your ad to a very small group of people on Facebook, such as targeting 35-year-old women who live in Kansas City with an ad that shows up only in the ad section of each target’s News Feed on her birthday.
Lists
On Twitter, a tool for organizing the people you’re following into groups.
live streaming
Broadcasting live video over the Internet, either publically or privately; not to be confused with Livesteam.com or the Livestream app on Facebook.
Livestream
A Facebook app that creates a live video stream that people can view as it happens – in this case, right there on your Facebook Page.
location-based marketing
E-mail marketing to customers based on cities and regions they choose to receive deals and specials from.
M
mayor
In Foursquare, the person with the most check-ins at a location.
mention
A method of calling attention to a specific person on Twitter by using her @username anywhere in the tweet; the tweet shows up in her Mentions column if she uses HootSuite and on her Mentions tab on Twitter.
P
push-based marketing
Traditional marketing pushed out to find an audience, as opposed to attracting an audience by word-of mouth or social media skills that entice a tech-savvy audience.
R
reply
A method of replying to someone on Twitter by using her @username; the tweet shows up in her Mentions column if she uses HootSuite and her Mentions tab on Twitter.
repurpose
To reuse customer feedback collected through your social media venues in other types of marketing materials.
retweeting
Reposting a tweet that goes out to your followers. It is a form of sharing, reposting, or forwarding. Use with your branding in mind. Share things that will increase your social authority, not take away from it!
reveal code
Programming code that you use on a Facebook custom page that shows one thing (such as a promotion) before a person becomes a fan of your Page and something else (such as your Wall) after he clicks Like.
ROI (return on investment)
The amount of money (gained or lost) from an investment of money.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
Technology that automatically detects when content on one site is updated and through a subscriber system pulls it into a reader. Popular readers are Google Reader, Feedly, and others.
S
search operators
Commands that combine keywords to broaden or narrow a search. Including the word AND narrows a search by requiring that both terms are present in the results. Including OR broadens a search by incorporating synonyms or alternate terms. NOT narrows a search by excluding terms. For example, doctors or nurses would retrieve everything that mentions doctors in addition to everything that mentions nurses.
SEO (search engine optimization)
The use of various techniques to improve a website’s ranking in the search engines and thereby potentially attract more visitors.
social authority
The online, social world equivalent of expert status in the offline world; what you develop with your social accounts through time.
social media platforms
Self-contained social membership communities online.
social press release
An announcement that uses social platforms to inform the world of new products, services, and so on, using blogs to tell your story; shorter, smarter and geekier than a traditional press release.
social ROI
A measurement of the return on investment in your social media marketing efforts.
store
On Facebook, an e-commerce interface that allows people to buy without leaving the Facebook environment.
storefront
On Facebook, an interface that catalogs your products but directs customers to your own e-commerce site for purchase.
T
tags
Keywords or terms that help describe an item and increase the possibility of it showing up in a search on those keywords.
third-party clients
Computer or Internet programs or apps that help you manage a social account; for example, HootSuite.
transcription
The text of the words spoken during a video, with a timestamp saved as text connected with the video.
Trip
In Gowalla, a curated list of businesses to visit in any area.
true reach
The size of your engaged audience; based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages.
tweeps
People who follow you on Twitter.
tweet
A 140-character post on Twitter; a message that can contain links to photos, videos, documents, slideshows, blog posts, news articles, products and more residing on a website or blog.
Twitter chat
A defined moment in time when people congregate around a particular tag or hashtag for a forum-like interactive chat using Q & A or free-form conversation.
U
unique (retweeters, mentioners)
If someone retweets you more than once, they’re counted only once; your unique numbers are the number of people who do this activity.
unlocking
Making a special or deal available to use.
V
video page
A YouTube page for a single video that is off your channel, includes all the ways to share and comment below it, and contains a thumbnail list of related videos from you and other people in a column on the right side of the page.
viral
On YouTube, a term used to describe video that becomes popular very quickly on the Internet by word of mouth (through e-mail, posts linking to it, and so on) for humorous, political, or marketing purposes in very large numbers very quickly, or through time, or in cycles.
VSEO (video search engine optimization)
The use of descriptive tags and descriptions in YouTube’s uploading system to enhance the ranking of a video in searches.
MISC
1st-level connection
On LinkedIn, anyone you are directly connected to; you requested the connection and they responded with a yes (or vice versa).
2nd-level connection
On LinkedIn, the people who are connected to the people you’re connected to.