Glossary
Social Media Glossary
Social media has its own vocabulary, and half of it gets thrown around in meetings without everyone quite agreeing on what it means. This glossary covers the terms you'll actually run into — the metrics your platform dashboards report, the behaviors your audience exhibits, and the jargon your agency or team uses day to day.
A/B Testing
Publishing two variations of a post to see which performs better.
Example: Testing the same photo but with two different headlines.
Fun fact: Google once A/B tested 41 different shades of blue for its links.
Algorithm
The automated rules platforms use to decide who sees your content.
Example: TikTok showing your video to more people because the first 10 watched it twice.
Fun fact: The word "algorithm" comes from a 9th-century Persian mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi.
Analytics
Raw data showing how well your content is performing.
Example: Checking your dashboard to see your audience is 60% female.
Fun fact: Companies using data-driven marketing are 6x more likely to be profitable.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of viewers who clicked the link in your post.
Example: 100 people saw the post, 5 clicked the link = 5% CTR.
Fun fact: The average CTR for a social media ad is actually only about 0.9%.
Community Management
Building relationships by replying to comments and DMs.
Example: Replying "Thanks for the support!" to a fan's comment.
Fun fact: 71% of consumers who get a quick brand response on social are more likely to recommend them.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of users who take a specific desired action.
Example: Out of 1,000 profile visitors, 50 signed up for Sharey.
Fun fact: Video content can increase conversion rates by up to 80%.
Cross-Posting
Publishing the same content across multiple social channels.
Example: Posting a Sharey video to both LinkedIn and Twitter.
Fun fact: Tailoring the caption slightly for each platform increases engagement by 20%.
Dark Social
Content shared privately via DMs, WhatsApp, or Slack.
Example: A user sending your post to their work Slack channel.
Fun fact: Nearly 84% of all outbound sharing happens on Dark Social.
DMs (Direct Messages)
Private messages sent between users on a platform.
Example: A customer messaging your brand page for help.
Fun fact: Over 1 billion messages are exchanged between people and businesses on Meta apps every week.
Engagement Rate
Interactions (likes/comments) relative to reach or follower count.
Example: Getting 10 likes on a post seen by 100 people (10% rate).
Fun fact: Micro-influencers generally have much higher engagement rates than celebrities.
Feed
The main scrollable interface where content is displayed.
Example: Scrolling through LinkedIn and seeing a colleague's post.
Fun fact: The "infinite scroll" was invented in 2006 by Aza Raskin, who later regretted it due to its addictiveness.
Follower Growth Rate
How quickly your audience expands over time.
Example: Gaining 500 followers this month vs 100 last month.
Fun fact: A steady growth rate is favored by algorithms over sudden, suspicious spikes.
Geotagging
Adding a specific location tag to your post.
Example: Tagging "Sharey HQ, Cologne" on a team photo.
Fun fact: Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement.
Hashtag
A word/phrase with a # used to categorize content.
Example: Adding #FutureOfWork to your latest LinkedIn post.
Fun fact: The first hashtag was used on Twitter in 2007 by Chris Messina.
Impressions
Total number of times a post is displayed on a screen.
Example: Your video popping up on a user's feed 5 different times.
Fun fact: One user can generate multiple impressions if they see a post more than once.
Metrics
Specific data points tracked to measure success.
Example: Tracking shares, saves, and profile visits.
Fun fact: Saves are currently considered the most valuable metric by the Instagram algorithm.
Native Video
Video uploaded directly to the platform, not via a link.
Example: Uploading an MP4 to LinkedIn instead of a YouTube link.
Fun fact: Native videos get 10x more shares than linked videos on most platforms.
Organic Reach
The number of unique people who see your post for free.
Example: A post going viral without spending a dime on ads.
Fun fact: Organic reach on Facebook brand pages has dropped below 5% in recent years.
Reach
Total number of unique users who saw your content.
Example: 500 unique accounts viewed your Instagram Reel.
Fun fact: Reach is always equal to or lower than Impressions.
Return on Investment (ROI)
What you gain compared to the time/money spent.
Example: Making $1,000 from a post that cost $100 to produce.
Fun fact: Email and user-generated content consistently boast the highest marketing ROI.
Sentiment Analysis
Evaluating the emotional tone of the comments.
Example: Seeing that 90% of comments use words like "love" or "great".
Fun fact: AI is now used to instantly scan thousands of comments to determine public mood.
Shadowban
When a platform secretly hides a user's content.
Example: Using banned hashtags and suddenly getting zero views.
Fun fact: Platforms rarely admit to shadowbanning, but they call it "content demotion."
Share of Voice (SOV)
How much your brand is discussed vs. competitors.
Example: Sharey being mentioned in 40% of all posts about "Team Content."
Fun fact: SOV was originally a PR term used for newspaper mentions in the 1950s.
Social Listening
Monitoring the web for brand mentions and keywords.
Example: Tracking the word "Sharey" across Twitter and Reddit.
Fun fact: Brands that use social listening report a much faster crisis-response time.
Social Proof
The assumption that popular things are good/correct.
Example: Trusting a brand more because they have 50k followers.
Fun fact: The concept of Social Proof was popularized by psychologist Robert Cialdini in 1984.
Tagging / Mentioning
Linking another user's profile in your post.
Example: Writing "Great work by @JaneDoe today!"
Fun fact: Tagging relevant accounts can increase a post's reach by up to 50%.
Thread
A connected series of text posts.
Example: A 5-part Twitter story about how Sharey was founded.
Fun fact: Threads keep users on the platform longer, which algorithms heavily reward.
Troll
A user who intentionally posts inflammatory comments.
Example: Someone commenting "this is stupid" on a helpful tutorial.
Fun fact: The term comes from the fishing technique of "trolling," dragging bait through water.
Virality
Rapid, exponential sharing of a piece of content.
Example: A team blooper reel hitting 1 million views in a day.
Fun fact: Emotions that trigger virality most are awe, anger, and anxiety.
Ready to turn moments into content, automatically?
sharey guides your team, partners, and customers on what to capture, then drafts and schedules on-brand posts from the raw uploads.
Or book a demo to see it in action.
Related reading
Content Strategy Glossary
From content pillars to the creator economy: a plain-English glossary of the content strategy terms marketers use every day, with real examples.
Photography Glossary
Aperture, bokeh, golden hour, rule of thirds: a plain-English photography glossary for marketers who need to brief or judge a shot, not become a photographer.
Videography Glossary
B-roll, jump cuts, frame rate, safe zones: a plain-English videography glossary for marketers who brief, shoot, or review social video.
Sharey & AI Content Glossary
AI prompts, brand guardrails, capture briefs, zero-edit publishing: a plain-English glossary of the AI-guided content creation terms behind sharey.