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Digital Marketing Glossary

Marketing strategies are constantly changing and evolving. In order to keep your company competitive in today’s market, you must stay ahead of the curve.

At Blue Onion Media, we know your main concern is the business at hand, and our main concern is helping your business grow. Being able to understand what your advertising agency is talking about is a critical component to building a client-agency relationship that is both successful and mutually beneficial. That’s why we have prepared this Digital Marketing Glossary – to help you understand the digital marketing jargon that we all too often use.

If you want to truly leverage the power of the internet and see what it can do for your company’s bottom line, it is not enough to simply know what these words mean. You have to know how to apply the concepts behind them in the context of a marketplace that is becoming more and more fragmented, every day.

That’s where we come in. We understand your business AND today’s fluid and complex digital marketing and advertising landscape. This unique combination of know-how allows us to advise your company on how best to leverage the digital space to increase brand awareness, engagement, leads and ultimately – quality accounts.

If you are ready to see what Blue Onion Media can do for you and your practice, please give us a call at 303.597.9661.

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Media Glossary

Broadcast Media Terms
General Media Terms
Internet Media Terms
Out-of-Home Terms
Print Media Terms

  Broadcast Media Terms:

Adjacency
an advertising pod positioned next to a particular TV or radio program. Also called commercial break positions.

 

Affidavit
a statement, usually notarized, accompanying station invoices which confirms that the commercial actually ran at the time stated on the invoice.

 

Affiliate
a station associated with a network by contract to broadcast the network’s programs.

 

Air Date
the first broadcast of a commercial; also refers to the exact date of a particular TV or radio program.

 

Availability (“avails”)
unsold units of time available for broadcasters to sell to advertisers. Also refers to a station’s submission of programs and rating estimates for advertising planning and buying.

 

Average Quarter-Hour Rating
the audience estimate reported by Nielsen and Arbitron for television and radio. It provides the average number of persons or households who watched/listened for at least 5 minutes of the 15-minute segment being reported.

 

Bonus Spot
additional TV or radio spot provided to an advertiser at no charge to raise the overall audience delivery of the schedule.

 

Break Position
a broadcast commercial aired between two programs instead of in the middle of one program.

 

Broadcast Calendar
an industry-accepted calendar used mainly for accounting and billing purposes. Weeks run Monday-Sunday, and each month is four or five weeks long.

 

Cable TV
TV programming that is delivered by coaxial cable rather than over the air for the purposes of improved reception and delivery of additional program choices beyond the local stations.

 

Clearance
a station’s agreement to carry a particular program.

 

Cut-In
a commercial inserted by the local station that covers the commercial airing at the same time on the network at the advertiser’s request. Useful for testing different copy in a limited geography.

 

Daypart
one of the time segments into which the day is divided by broadcast media, determined by type of programming and who provides it (network or local).

 

Designated Market Area (DMA)
Nielsen’s term for geographical areas made up of exclusive counties based on which home market stations receive the predominant share of viewing.

 

Diary
an instrument for measuring viewing, listening or reading of media vehicles kept by people in a sample.

 

Drive Time
the dayparts used in radio to signify primary listening being done in cars. Generally considered to be Monday-Friday 6- 10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. HUT-(Households Using Television) – a broadcast research term indicating the percent of homes with sets on during a specific time period.

 

HUT
HUT-(Households Using Television) – a broadcast research term indicating the percent of homes with sets on during a specific time period.

 

ID
station identification of its call letters and location, channel or frequency. Also refers to any commercial message less than ten seconds long.

 

Infomercial
a long (more than two minutes) commercial providing extensive product/service description and sales information.

 

Log
chronological record of a station’s program and commercial exact air times.

 

Network
two or more stations joined by a line to broadcast the same program from a few original studios simultaneously.

 

Network Affiliate
a television or radio station that designates a portion of its air time for network programs.

 

O & O Station
a station owned and operated by a network.

 

O.T.O.
one time only, usually referring to a TV or radio special program.

 

Overnights
audience data provided by Nielsen or Arbitron to metered market clients the day after the broadcast.

 

Pay Per View
a type of Pay TV where viewers are charged each time they watch the special event or movie being broadcast.

 

Pay TV
a TV system providing programs that are available only to the households who subscribe, usually transmitted via coaxial cable or telephone lines. Also called “premium channels” on cable, such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Disney Channel, etc.

 

Persons Using Radio (PUR)
the percent of the area’s population listening to the radio at a specific time.

 

Piggyback
back-to-back scheduling of two or more brand commercials of one advertiser in-network or spot positions.

 

Pilot
a sample of a proposed television series.

 

Pre-emption
the substitution of one advertiser’s local TV commercial by another advertiser paying a higher price for the spot, or by a different program of interest.

 

PVT/PUT (Persons Viewing or Using Television)
the percent of individuals viewing all television stations during a specific time period, indicating total viewing to TV in general, not to a specific program or station.

 

Roadblocking
a scheduling technique where a brand’s commercial airs at approximately the same time on all three networks or on all stations in a given market.

 

R.O.S. (Run Of Schedule or Run Of Station)
a broadcast schedule, similar to R.O.P. where specific programs and air times have not been requested by the advertiser.

 

Simulcast
broadcast of the same program at the same time on both AM and FM radio stations. Can also refer to a radio station simultaneously broadcasting the audio portion of a TV program.

 

Spill-In
the amount of programming viewed within a market area to stations that are licensed to an adjacent market.

 

Spill-Out
the amount of viewing to local stations outside the home market area.

 

Strip
a program scheduled at the same time each day, typically Monday-Friday.

 

Superstation
an independent station whose signal is transmitted to many markets via a satellite.

 

Sweeps
the four 4-week periods when all TV markets are measured by Nielsen and Arbitron for station viewing and demographic information. Sweep months are February, May, July and November.

 

Syndicated Program
a program bought by a station or advertiser from an independent organization, not a network.

 

TAP (Total Audience Plan)
a radio schedule consisting of equal distribution of commercials across all major dayparts.

 

Turnover
the ratio of a cumulative audience to the average audience for a given period of time. Indicates how loyal a given audience may be for specific stations or programs.

 

Upfront
a term indicating that an advertiser has purchased advertising for the coming broadcast year in an early buying season, typically for the benefit of lower rates and CPM guarantees.

  General Media Terms:

Advertising Impressions
the audience delivery of media vehicles, programs or schedules. Usually expressed as thousands (000).

 

Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)
a non-profit organization of advertisers, agencies and the media for promoting advertising effectiveness through objective research.

 

Advertising Weight
the level of advertising support over a period of time, expressed in gross rating points, impressions, target audience reached, etc.

 

Aided Recall
a research technique where the respondent is given aid to help remember all or parts of advertising.

 

As It Falls
a testing method whereby the media test market receives the same media weight, purchased locally, as it would receive from a national theoretical plan.

 

Average Frequency
the number of times the average person or household is exposed to an advertising schedule. It is always derived from Gross Rating Points and Reach.

 

Barter
a term used to indicate that advertising was paid for by the advertiser using goods and services rather than cash.

 

BDI (Brand Development Index)
a measure of the strength of a brand’s sales in a particular geographic area indexed to the national sales average.

 

CDI (Category Development Index)
a measurement of a brand’s sales potential using sales of all brands within a category in a specific market indexed to the national sales average.

 

Clutter
the term given to the proliferation of advertising messages aimed at consumers. In TV, it refers to all nonprogram minutes, such as commercials, station promotions, billboards, public service announcements, etc.

 

Cost Per Rating Point (Cost Per Point, CPP, Cost Per GRP)
the cost to reach one percent of the universe, households or individuals, in a given market or geographic area.

 

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
the cost to reach 1,000 units of audience, households or individuals, for advertising. Used as a measure of efficiency among media and media schedules.

 

Coverage Area
the specific geography where a media vehicle has its coverage. In broadcast, coverage usually describes the area to which the station’s signal extends. In print, coverage usually means the circulation area.

 

Cume (Cumulative Audience)
another way of expressing reach. The total number of different people or households exposed to advertising at least once during the media schedule.

 

Direct Response Advertising
any advertising message that calls for a prompt response to purchase a product or request more information.

 

Duplication
the number or percent of the target audience in one media vehicle also exposed to another vehicle.

 

Efficiency
the ratio of cost to size of audience used to compare media vehicles, plans or schedules.

 

Exclusivity
an agreement whereby a media vehicle agrees to run no advertising directly competitive to the advertiser purchasing the media vehicle or program.

 

First Refusal
the opportunity for an advertiser to extend sponsorship rights of a program or vehicle before it is offered to another advertiser.

 

Fixed Position
an advertising position which remains fixed over time, such as the inside cover of a magazine.

 

Flighting
a technique for extending advertising dollars using periods of media activity interspersed with periods of inactivity.

 

Flow Chart
a calendar which dimensionalizes media activity over time, usually a year.

 

FY
an abbreviation for Fiscal Year.

 

Gross Impressions
the combined audiences of several media vehicles or several announcements within a vehicle, leaving in the duplication among the audiences.

 

Gross Rating Points (GRP’s)
the sum of individual ratings in a media plan.

 

Guarantee
a commitment to the advertiser by a medium that should audience delivery fall short of what was estimated, the advertiser will receive bonus advertising to meet the expected CPM or GRP’s.

 

Heavy-up
an increase in advertising activity for a limited period of time.

 

Hiatus
a scheduled period of inactivity between advertising flights.

 

Little America (or Little U.S.)
refers to the method of media testing where a national campaign might be tested first in markets that are most similar demographically to the total country.

 

LNA (Leading National Advertisers)
a syndicated research source reporting advertisers’ spending in media: network and spot TV, network radio, magazines, newspaper supplements and outdoor.

 

Mail-Order Advertising
type of advertising in which the complete sales transaction takes place through the mail.

 

Makegood
comparable unit of advertising offered at no charge when the original spot or ad did not run or ran incorrectly.

 

Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI, now GfK MRI)
a syndicated research source measuring print and broadcast media audiences and product/brand usage profiles.

 

Net Cost
advertising rates which do not include advertising agency commission and/or include discounts.

 

Penetration
the degree to which a medium or vehicle has coverage in a specific area. Can also refer to the effectiveness of advertising’s impact on consumers.

 

Per Inquiry (P.I.)
agreement between a media owner and an advertiser where the advertiser pays the owner for advertising on the basis of the number of inquiries or completed sales from the advertising.

 

Psychographic
describes consumers on the basis of some psychological traits, characteristics or lifestyle.

 

Quintile
the division of the audience or sample into five equal groups ranging from heaviest to lightest amount of exposure to any medium.

 

Rate Card
a statement by a medium showing advertising costs, issue dates, program names, closing dates, requirements, cancellation dates, etc.

 

Rating
an estimate of the size of an audience expressed as one percent of the total population.

 

Reach
the unduplicated percent of a potential audience exposed to advertising one or more times during a given period.

 

Roll Out
an advertising technique where advertising is expanded to cover more and more markets as distribution/product sales are also expanded.

 

Share
the percent of an audience tuned to a particular program at a given time.

 

Share of Voice (SOV)
a brand’s percent of the total advertising weight in its product category.

 

Short Rate
the cost difference between the discounted contract rate and the higher rate actually earned by an advertiser if he fails to fulfill the contracted amount of advertising.

 

Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB)
a syndicated source of print and broadcast audience measurement, as well as product usage data.

 

Sponsorship
purchase of all or part of a TV program or all pages of a magazine.

 

Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS)
monthly reports of publications’, TV and radio stations’ rate cards and supporting technical information arranged by state and market.

 

Starch
a research company providing print advertising readership information.

 

Vehicle
anything capable of exposing advertising to customers.

  Internet Media Terms:

GENERAL

Advertising
Calling attention to your specific products or services, generally through paid placements.

Agency
A business that handles different aspects of your advertising and marketing efforts.

Call to Action
A specific action or request that you hope a person will take, such as “Call For a Free Consultation.”

Content
Anything that can be consumed on the internet, such as pictures, videos, blog posts or links.

Content Marketing
Creating and distributing content to raise awareness about your company online.

Conversion
The successful completion of an action that is deemed valuable by your company, such as a completing a contact form on your website.

Conversion Pixel
A small invisible image that is used to track conversions on your website.

Duplicate Content
When content on your website exists in the same form on another website, duplicate content is a major SEO penalty.

Earned Media
Word of mouth mentions of your company, generated on a person to person basis.

Engagement
When social network users interact with a social media post, commonly in the form of a “like,””comment” or “share.”

Google
The most popular search engine, although it is not the only search engine.

Google Analytics
A Google tool used to measure data about your website’s performance.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
The standard code language of the internet that is used to define structure and layout of webpages.

Infographic
An image created to show data or tell a story in a visually appealing way.

Integrated Media
When multiple of the big three media types (paid, owned, and earned) overlap and work together in a marketing campaign.

Intent
What someone is looking for when they do a search in a search engine.

Internet Marketing
Helping people connect with and discover your company online.

Keyword
Any word or phrase.

Keyword List
A list containing multiple words and phrases that are relevant to a specific subject.

Keyword Planner
A Google tool used to research and compile keyword lists.

Listicle
An internet article in the form of a numbered list.

Local Listing
Business listings, contained on a variety of websites online, that include information about your company such as its name, address, phone number, and website.

Long-Tail Keyword
A highly specific keyword that contains four or more words.

Marketing
Creating awareness about your company’s services.

Mobile
A word commonly used to refer to smart phones and tablets.

Mobile App
Applications found on smartphones and tablets, such as games.

Mobile Optimized
When your company’s website is designed to work on all mobile devices.

Opt-In
When someone agrees to receive your company’s email marketing campaigns by giving you their e-mail address.

Outreach
The process of sharing your content with influencers online, in the hopes that they will then share it.

Owned Media
Everything your company has direct control over the messaging on, including: your website, your brochures, your call intake staff, and your social media channels.

Paid Links
Backlinks that are acquired by paying for them.

Paid Media
Using paid advertising to distribute your marketing messages.

Podcast
Recurring audio shows that are available for download on demand.

PPC (Pay Per Click)
Paid advertising where you pay for every click on your online advertisement.

Remarketing
Serving advertising messages to people who have already displayed an interest in your product or service.

Retina Display
A high resolution display found on new MacBooks and iPads.

Reverse Image Search
A special type of search, on Google, that starts with an image. The search engine then finds all of the webpages that contain that image across the internet.

Reviews
Online criticism or praise of your company. There are a number of different review sites across the web including Yelp, Facebook, Google Plus, and Yellowpages.

RWD (Responsive Web Design)
When a website is designed and developed to work and look good on any device, regardless of screen size.

Search
The act of looking for something on the internet.

Search Engine
Any website that has a “search” function. The most common are Google, Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The process of making your website show up in search results by making it search engine friendly.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page where search results are displayed after you type a search query into a search engine.

Server
A computer which sends data (generally in the form of a webpage) to your computer.

TL;DR (Too Long; Don’t Read)
The main point of a longer piece of content (such as a blog post).

UI (User Interface)
Where a user interacts with a computer. Your smartphone homescreen is an example of a user interface.

UX (User Experience)
The overall experience someone has when visiting your website (Was it easy to navigate? Could I find what I was looking for easily?)

White Paper
An online document that you usually have to provide an email address to receive.

Yahoo
A search engine, similar to Google.

Yext
One of the most well known data aggregators.

Event Tracking
Code on webpages that allows Google Analytics to track and measure events on webpages, such as clicks or downloads.

Goal Tracking
Code on webpages that allows Google Analytics to track when certain tasks are completed, such as a download.

Tracking Token
A string of code at the end of a URL which allows analytics software to record information about where a person came from.

Trackline
A trackable and recordable phone number, useful for measuring calls from landing pages.

Sender Domain
If you receive an email from info@yourcompany.com, yourcompany.com is the sender domain.

SPAM
Unwanted or unsolicited e-mail marketing messages.

Spam Trigger Word
Words used by SPAM filters to determine if an email is or is not SPAM.

Subject Line
A sentence describing the content of an email.

Text to Code Ratio
The ratio between text and HTML code in an email.

Unsubscribe
When someone permanently removes themselves from your email database.

Adwords 
Google’s paid search platform where advertisers can bid for positioning on a SERP. These advertisements are placed based upon keywords.

Banner Ad
Paid image advertisements that appear on webpages.

Display Ad
Paid image advertisements that appear on webpages.

Intelligent Display
Using data and consumer behavior to generate and serve a custom advertisement to a specific person.

METRICS

Abuse Rate
The percentage of people who receive your e-mail marketing campaign and mark it as “SPAM.”

Average Time on Page
How long the average visitor stayed on a specific page of your website, for a given period of time.

Bounce Rate
The percentage of people that leave your website after viewing only one page.

Conversion Rate
The percentage of people who completed a specific, trackable action.

CPA
cost per action

CPC (Cost Per Click)
The cost you pay for one click on your online advertisement.

CPM (Cost Per 1000 Impressions)
The cost you pay to deliver 1,000 impressions of an advertisement.

CRM
customer relationship management

CTR (Click Through Rate)
The percentage of people who clicked on your online advertisement when they saw it.

Domain Authority
A metric used to describe how authoritative your website is – the higher, the better.

Engagement Rate
The percentage of people who interacted with a social post after they saw it.

Exit Rate
The percentage of people who left your website from a specific page.

Impression
One view of your advertisement.

Klout
A metric used to gauge influence on social networks.

Open
The number of times your e-mail marketing campaign was opened.

Open Rate
The percentage of people who opened your e-mail marketing campaign.

Page Authority
An estimated metric used to determine how well a given website is likely to rank in search engine results.

Page Load Speed
The time it takes for a given webpage to fully load.

Pages Per Visit
The average number of pages people visit on your website.

Quality Score
One of the metrics used by Google to determine the position a paid search advertisement shows in.

Search Volume
The estimated number of times a given keyword is searched for in a given period of time.

Session
The actions a user takes on your website, within a defined time frame.

Unique Click
The number of different people who clicked a specific link.

Unique Click Rate
The percentage of individual people who opened your e-mail marketing campaign and clicked a link inside of it.

Unique Open
The number of different people who opened your email marketing campaign.

 

WEBSITE

Blog
A regularly updated section of a website.

Click to Call
Links that, when clicked on a mobile device, call a phone number.

CMS (Content Management System) 
A general term used to describe websites that can have content added to them easily – WordPress is a common CMS.

Contact Form
A series of fields that a user fills out on your website to contact your company.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)
A coding document that controls how elements look on a website, more commonly referred to as a “stylesheet.”

DNS (Domain Name System)
An internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses.

Domain Name
For the website, www.yourcompany.com, the “domain name” is yourcompany.”

Finger Friendly Links
Links and images that are designed to be easily clickable on a mobile device.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
The standard code language of the internet that is used to define the structure and layout of webpages.

Hyperlink
A clickable element on a website that takes you to a different webpage.

Internal Link
A clickable element on a website that takes you to a different webpage on the same website.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address)
A unique string of numbers that identifies each device connecting to the internet. The IP Address is your website’s home address.

Landing Page
The first webpage a user is sent to when they arrive at your website from clicking on an online advertisement or a search result.

Microsite
A small website, containing a few pages, focused around a highly specific subject.

Plugin
Addons that are used to add functionality to a website – commonly used in WordPress websites.

RSS Feed (Rich Site Summary Feed)
A content format that is used to alert the internet when new content is published on a website.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
A standard security technology that creates an encrypted (secure) connection between two computers across the internet.

Subdomain
In the example www.products.yourcompany.com, “products” is the subdomain.

URL (Universal Resource Locator)
The full web address of an individual web page.

Vanity URL
A custom URL, generally branded for marketing purposes, that is easier to remember.

Webpage 
Any single page on the internet – websites are composed of many different webpages.

WordPress
The most common content management system used to build websites that are easily updateable.

SEO

200 Response Code
A web server code sent to browsers when content loads correctly.

“3,7,10 Pack”
Slang for the local map listings that show up on a Google search result. 3, 7, 10 refer to the number of local listings within that section.

301 Redirect
This line of code tells both search engines and web browsers that a page has permanently moved from one location to another.

302 Redirect
Similar to the 301 redirect, the a 302 redirect tells search engines and web browsers that a page has been temporarily moved from one location to another.

403 Response Code
A web server code sent to browsers when access is denied. Usually seen when something is published, then quickly removed but not deleted.

404 Response Code
A web server code stating that a page has been moved or no longer exists, also known as a “page not found” error.

500 Response Code
The 500 series of response codes are used when there is an error with a website’s server.

Alt Tag 
Coding on images that contains a description of the image.

C Blocks
If an IP address is your website’s home address, then the “C Block” is your website’s neighborhood on the internet.

Canonical
This coding tag is used to tell the search engines to prefer one version of a webpage over another. Most commonly seen on news articles spanning multiple pages.

Crawl
The process of a webcrawler going through and indexing all of the pages on your website.

Crawl Error
A webcrawler cannot access a specific page or element for any given reason. The most common crawl error is the “404 page not found” server response code.

Disavow Tool
A tool used in Google Webmaster Tools to disavow backlinks that are negatively impacting a site’s rankings. This tool is typically used when 1) the search engines change what is considered a good link or 2) a website has received a manual penalty in Google Webmaster Tools.

Editorial Links
Backlinks that are earned from incredible content or user experience. They are not built or bought, but given by someone impressed with something on your website.

EMD (Exact Match Domain)
A domain name that exactly matches the keywords you type in to a search engine.

Guest Blog
A blog that accepts and publishes work from outside sources.

Hummingbird
A Google algorithm update designed to help the Google search engine understand the context of webpages.

Index
All of the webpages that are contained within a search engine’s database.

Keyword Density
How many times a keyword appears on a page, in relation to how many words are on the page.

Manual Penalty
When your website is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Manual penalties can mean your website will disappear from the search engine results if the problem is not addressed.

Meta Description
This is a meta tag that generates the description of a webpage found on a SERP.

Meta Tag
A generic term for certain HTML elements in the head section of a web page.

Micro Data
Web code designed to give search engines context about specific elements on a web page.

Page Rank
One of Google’s algorithms used to rank web pages in its search results.

Panda
Panda is a section of Google’s search algorithm that promotes well written / authoritative content over poorly written content.

Penguin
Penguin is another section of Google’s search algorithm that focuses on promoting webpages with high quality backlinks, while penalizing sites with low-quality or spammy backlinks.

Ranking Factors 
A generic term used for various on and off page elements that effect a website’s ranking in organic searches.

Response Codes
A set of codes used to define certain errors when a web browser requests information from a web server.

Robots Meta Tag
An html tag found in the head section of a website that tells a search engine whether or not to include the web page in its index.

Robots.txt
A set of instructions that tells webcrawlers which pages to include in the search engine index.

Root Domain
For the webpage www.blueonionmedia.com/glossary, the root domain is blueonionmedia

Schema
A type of microdata used by search engines to understand the context and meaning behind certain elements on a webpage.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
The process of making your website show up in search results by making it search engine friendly.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page where search results are displayed after you type a search query into a search engine.

Sitemap 
A file containing all of the pages on your website which helps users or webcawlers find information on your website. There are two kinds of sitemaps: HTML (for people) and XML (for webcrawlers).

Subdomain
For the URL products.yourcompany.com, products is the subdomain. It is a folder contained within the root domain on a webserver.

TLD (Top Level Domain)
Another name for the domain name of a website.

Video Sitemap
Another type sitemap, but instead of generic pages, it’s used for the videos embedded on a site.

Webcrawler
A computer program used by a search engine to crawl a website.

Webmaster Tools
A program offered by both Bing & Google that report a wide range of website statistics including impressions, crawl errors, CTR and a myriad of other stats. These tools are used in conjunction with Google Analytics and other tracking programs.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Check-In
A social network feature that allows a person to “announce” their arrival at a certain place.

Comment
A written response left on a social media post.

Cover Photo
The large image located at the top of most social media profiles.

Engagement
When social network users interact with a social media post, commonly in the form of a “like”, “comment” or “share”.

Facebook
The largest social network. Facebook connects people with friends, family and  businesses and allows users to share images, videos and updates on a personalized profile.

Facebook Application
Web based programs, that live in “tabs” on a Facebook business page, that allow users to various things such as sign up for an email list.

Google+
Google’s version of Facebook. Google+ allows users to create and share content with friends, family, and businesses.

Hashtag
A hashtag is a word or an unspaced phrase prefixed with the hash character (or number sign), #, to form a label. It is a type of metadata tag.

Instagram
A mobile only social network where users can only share photos and videos.

Like
The Facebook function which allows users to show appreciation for someone’s social post or business page.

LinkedIn
The professional social network which allows users to connect with other professionals and showcase their work experience, talents and expertise.

Open Graph
Web code that determines what information (title, image, description, etc) is displayed when someone shares a link from your website onto a social network.

Pin
“Pin” can have multiple meanings depending on if it is being used as a noun or a verb. All of the individual posts on Pinterest are referred to as “pins.” When content is shared on Pinterest, that content has been “pinned.”

Pinterest
A social network where users create different collections of images around certain themes such as fashion, food and DIY projects.

Pinterest Board 
A collection of images about a specific theme on Pinterest.

Plus One
The Google+ equivalent of a Facebook “like.”

Profile Photo
A picture that appears with all of a users posts on a social network. Profile photos help to distinguish one social network user from another.

Re-gram
When an Instagram user shares another user’s image or video on Instagram.

Re-Pin
When a Pinterest user pins an image to one of their own boards that another user has already uploaded to Pinterest.

Retweet
When a user shares a Tweet from another user on Twitter.

Re-Vine
When a user shares another user’s video on Vine.

Social Media
Websites where users engage in conversations by generating and sharing content directly with other people.

Social Network
A website where you can create a profile, connect with people, and share content – such as Facebook or Twitter.

Social Platform 
A synonym of Social Network.

Social Post
A general term used to describe when a social network user shares content on a social network.

Social Profile
Individual pages on a social network, created and controlled by an individual or a company, where all of a user’s content can be found.

Social Share
When a social network user shares content on a social network.

Social Signal
Any engagement with a post on a social network – such as a like, comment, or share.

Trending
A word, phrase or topic that is tagged at a greater rate than other tags is said to be a “trending topic.”

Tweet
When a Twitter user posts something to Twitter.

Twitter 
A social network which allows users to post short messages in 140 characters or less.

Vimeo 
A video sharing site that functions similar to YouTube.

Vine
A video-only social network that allows users to videos that are, at most, 6 seconds long.

Viral
A term that describes content that is widely shared across multiple social platforms, to the point where it generates extremely high interest levels.

Yelp
A review focused social network where users leave reviews about their experience at different businesses.

YouTube
The largest video sharing social network. YouTube is owned by Google, and is currently the second largest search engine.


  Out-of-Home Terms:

Billboard
an outdoor advertising display. Also, in broadcast, a short 5 or 10 second announcement indicating advertiser sponsorship of a program.

Facing
in outdoor, the number of billboards at a location facing in the same direction. In marketing, the number of units facing the shopper on a shelf in a grocery, drug, discount store, etc.

Poster Panel
the standard outdoor advertising display unit, usually 25′ x 12′.

Showing
a group of outdoor boards that provide a certain percent coverage of a market, usually purchased in increments of 25 (e.g. a #25 showing, a #50 showing, a #75 showing, a #100 showing).


  Print Media Terms:

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)
organization of publishers, advertising agencies and advertisers for verifying the circulation statements of member publications.

Advertising Checking Bureau (ACB)
a company that provides advertisers and agencies with newspaper tear sheets of ads that have run.

Agate Line

a unit of measurement for newspaper advertising which measures one column wide with 14 agate lines per inch.

Bleed
a term used for print advertising that extends all the way to the edge of the page with no margin. Many magazines charge a premium for the bleed, usually 15%.

Business Publication Audit of Circulation (BPA)
an organization for auditing the circulation of business (trade) publications.

Checkerboard
magazine advertising that uses diagonal quarter or half-page ads alternating with editorial.

Checking Copy
a copy of a publication sent to the advertiser and the agency as proof the ad ran as ordered.

Circulation
the total number of distributed copies of a publication at a specified time. Also, in broadcast, the total number of households within the station’s coverage area. In outdoor, the number of people passing the billboards who have an opportunity to see the advertising.

Closing Date
the date by which all advertising must be ordered from the specific media vehicle in order to secure the dates/times/positions requested.

Column Inch
a unit of newspaper space one column wide and one inch deep (14 agate lines).

Direct Mail Advertising
any printed material sent through the mail directly to prospective customers.

Double Truck
a newspaper ad unit that uses two facing full pages, including the gutter or fold.

Gutter
the blank space between margins of facing pages of a publication.

Insertion Order
written instructions from the advertiser or agency authorizing a publication to run a specific advertisement in a specific issue. Also specifies cost per ad and size of ad, as well as any request for special position in the publication.

Island Position
a print advertisement surrounded completely by editorial.

Line Rate
the cost per agate line for newspapers.

Magazine Supplement
the magazine section of a Sunday newspaper produced either locally or nationally.

Net Paid Circulation
a term used by ABC for the circulation of a publication for which at least 50% of the subscription or newsstand price has been paid.

PBW, P4C, P4CB
abbreviations for Page Black & White, Page Four Color, and Page Four Color Bleed.

Pass-along Audience
readers of magazines or newspapers who did not purchase the publication. Also called Secondary Audience.

Publishers Information Bureau (PIB)
a syndicated source of monthly reports on advertising activity in major consumer magazines, reported by product or service category.

Publisher’s Statement
a notarized statement from the publisher of total circulation, geographic distribution, method of getting subscriptions, etc.

Readers Per Copy
average number of readers for one copy of a newspaper or magazine.

Regional Edition
an edition of a national publication’s circulation that falls in a certain geographic area for which advertising may be purchased separately, usually at a cost premium.

Remnant Space
magazine space sold at reduced prices at the last minute when another advertiser’s materials do not arrive or to fill out regional editions.

Run Of Press or Run Of Paper (ROP)
a newspaper insertion for which an exact position is not requested but left to the newspaper’s discretion.

Split Run
scheduling two or more executions of an advertising message in alternate copies of a magazine’s circulation in a given issue.

Tabloid
a newspaper measuring about 5-6 columns wide by 200 lines deep, about 2/3 the size of a standard newspaper.