It can be easy to be dazzled with big, fancy digital marketing terms and acronyms, but one thing we have learned along the way is that many marketers don’t know what they actually mean.

Often, people pretend to understand a term, but doing this can truly backfire!

This can create confusing and intimidating situations with vendors because you don’t want to miss out on something critical, but from a negotiation standpoint, you also don’t want the vendor to know your lack of knowledge.

Also, while some digital marketing terms can seem of great importance, in truth many of these words imply something much grander than what they actually are.

Take for instance “curated content.” This might bring to mind an image of a museum director, impeccably dressed, selecting the exact right piece for the new art exhibit with a discerning eye. Really, it is much simpler than that!

Here are some of the digital marketing acronyms and terms we’ve encountered that seem to carry the most confusion:

1. Curated content

As we mentioned, this might bring to mind selecting the perfect piece of content. And in part, that is what it means.

But in the digital marketing world, curated content more often refers to content created by a third-party that you might share on your company’s social media presences.

Let’s say that you are a financial services company. You might regularly read The Financial Post and see an article that you think your customers and LinkedIn followers would find interesting. So, you decide to share the link to the article – that’s curated content!

In essence, curated content can refer to any type of content – text, video, graphic, or otherwise – your brand shares that it hasn’t created itself.

2. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is another buzz word that can seem intimidating. You might picture an Instagram personality with millions of followers promoting your product or service.

The truth is that an influencer can be anyone else who talks about your brand or what you are selling. Ideally, it is someone with a bigger audience, or at least a different audience than yours, who people trust.

If you are a mortgage lender, for example, an “influencer” might be a real estate agent partner. If you sell hair care products, an influencer could be anyone from a popular beauty blogger, to your local downtown business association.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you don’t have a “sexy” or consumer-driven product, influencers are out of your reach. They aren’t – it’s just about thinking who else your target audience might be listening to or what else they might be interested in.

3. Rich text content

Rich text content can seem like one of those terms that only web developers or coders understand.

But when it comes to digital marketing, rich text content is actually much simpler – it is a text that includes other variables, such as links (to pages on your own website or others), graphics, and potentially charts or videos.

That’s it!

4. Conversion paths

A conversion path is simply the sequence of steps a visitor takes to become a customer.

Often, a marketer sets the conversion path they want the visitor to follow.

For instance, if someone comes to your website, signs up for your newsletter via a call to action button and landing page, and then becomes a customer after receiving your newsletters – that’s a conversion path!

This is a simplified example – they can be much more complex depending on the number of stages.

5. Conversion strategy

Similar to a conversion path, the conversion strategy is what you use to determine the path your customers take.

You might divide your conversion strategy by buyer’s journey stage, or by buyer persona.

6. Landing Page

A landing page is simply a page on your website where traffic is directed for a specific offer. For instance, if you were to publish an eBook, you might have a landing page where interested readers would go to enter their email to receive a copy of your eBook.

If you are running a Facebook ad, you could set up a landing page for traffic from the Facebook ad. This allows you to know exactly how many people have visited from a specific source and is a great way to measure results.

7. Usability

Usability refers to the layout of your website, app, or digital content. It is the measure of how easy it is to get around the content.

This usually refers to the design, but it can also be improved through your conversion strategy and path. If customers aren’t following your designed path, examine the usability.

8. At (@) Mention

An at (@) mention is how you tag people or brands on social media platforms. For instance, if you were publishing a blog post on Twitter and wanted to share it with a client, you could at (@) mention them by using their handle – @CompanyName.

9. Hashtag (#)

A hashtag is a way of showing your social media content to a wider audience. You can use hashtags to filter your content into conversations that others are having.

If you write a blog post about marketing to homebuyers for instance, you could look up hashtags that real estate agents are using.

Some platforms, like Twitter, also share trending hashtags that you can use to take part in active conversations in a timely manner.

10. DM vs. PM

A DM is a direct message and a PM (in digital marketing terms) is a private message. Both mean the same thing – it is when you encourage a prospect or message a prospect privately through social media instead of tagging them publicly or continuing the conversation in public comments.

While they both mean the same thing, DM is often less confusing than PM as PM can have multiple meanings – time (1 p.m., for example), short-form for Prime Minister, etc.

We hope this helps clear up any digital marketing term confusion you might have had! If there’s an acronym or phrase that still has you scratching your head, feel free to DM us (You know what that means now!) and we’ll break it down.

Or, you can contact us for buzzword-free, understandable digital marketing, and project management today by calling 647-880-9709 or visiting www.thepurposecompany.ca.