Social media terms you should know to maximize your online efforts.
Social media is a moving target. Just as you learn one style or format or even a “best practice” the gurus change something or Google revamps its algorithm and everything you’d thought was a best practice, is now something you need to reconsider.
Here, though are some social media terms you should know and these will not change, even though the way you consider them or use them might!
- Hashtag. This is an item you use (hashtag = #) to be found on a trending topic, to search a topic, or to help with your company branding. For example: #socialmediatrends, #swimmingpooltips #businessbranding Use hashtags judiciously and don’t use hashtags that don’t make sense with your topic.
- Social media ROI — return on investment. You want to measure how well your social media efforts are working. To know that you need to determine what benefits you’re trying to reap: more customers? More followers? More sales? More eyes on the page? Knowing the metric will help you measure ROI.
- Followers. A follower is that person who literally follows you on your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn accounts. The terms may be different on each platform, but it is the same concept.
- Organic reach. This is the number of eyes that see your posts without your having to pay for an ad.
- A permalink. This is the URL that accompanies your blog posts. Your permalink is the link that you share with your followers and should contain your company’s keywords, if possible. For example: look at the URL for this post — our keywords include “social media” and that is in the URL of this post.
Remember, social media is a moving target and that’s why you need to be flexible in your company practices and need to be up on the trends. If you’re too busy concentrating on your core competencies for your business, you will want to work with a seasoned social media professional who can help keep your company and its social media practices at the cutting edge.