Social Media Marketing Glossary: The Terms You Will Hear, Explained Plainly

Social media marketing has a lot of jargon, and agencies sometimes use it to sound clever. This glossary explains the terms you will meet in reports, proposals and calls in simple words, with a note on why each one matters. If a term you have heard is missing, ask us and we will add it.

Numbers that show attention

Reach

Reach is the number of different people who saw your content. If one person watches a reel three times, they count once. It is the best measure of how wide your content travelled.

Impressions

Impressions count every time your content was shown, including repeat views by the same person. Impressions are always equal to or higher than reach. A big impressions number with a small reach means the same few people keep seeing you.

Non-follower reach

This is the share of reach that came from people who do not follow you. It tells you whether your content is finding new audiences. One healthcare reel from our client list reached 106,563 people, and 99.2% were non-followers.

Views

Views count how many times a video started playing. They are easy to inflate and less meaningful than watch time or saves.

Watch time and retention

Watch time is how long people watch. Retention is the share of a video people stay for. If most viewers leave after two seconds, the hook is not working.

Numbers that show interest

Engagement rate

Engagement rate shows the share of people who did something with your content: liked, commented, saved, shared or sent it. A small, active page with a high rate is healthier than a large, quiet one. Our eight published case studies show rates from 5.6% to 8.2%, which you can see on the case studies page.

Saves

A save means someone bookmarked your post to come back to later. It is a quiet but strong sign that the content was useful.

Sends (shares)

A send means someone shared your post with a friend, usually in a private message. Many people consider sends the strongest signal that content is worth showing to more people.

Profile visits

The number of people who tapped through to your profile. It shows how many viewers became curious enough to look further.

Link clicks

How many people tapped the link in your bio, story or ad. A number worth watching if your goal is traffic.

Numbers that show business results

Lead

A lead is a person who has shown interest and given you a way to contact them, through a form, a message or a call.

Leads captured

The total number of leads in a given period. On our case studies page, this figure ranges from 140+ to 310+ per account.

Cost per lead (CPL)

How much you spend, on average, to get one lead. Worth tracking, but a cheap lead that never buys is not cheap. Look at lead quality too.

Conversion rate

The share of people who take the action you wanted, such as filling in a form, out of everyone who saw the page or ad.

Click-through rate (CTR)

The share of people who clicked after seeing an ad or a search result. A higher CTR means your headline and image did their job.

Cost per click (CPC)

The average amount you pay for each click on an ad.

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

How much revenue you earn for each rupee spent on ads. Useful for brands that sell online and can trace sales to ads.

Content terms

Hook

The first one or two seconds of a video, or the first line of a post, designed to make someone stop scrolling. Most reels live or die on the hook.

Reel

A short vertical video on Instagram. Reels are the main way strangers discover accounts. See how we make them on our reel production page.

Carousel

A post made of several swipeable images or slides. Good for teaching, comparisons and step-by-step guides, and they tend to get saved.

Stories

Short posts that disappear after 24 hours unless saved to highlights. Mostly seen by existing followers.

Content pillar

A theme you return to again and again, such as myths, behind the scenes, tips or customer stories. Three or four pillars keep a page focused.

Content calendar

A plan showing what will be posted, where and when, usually a month ahead.

Brand voice

How your brand sounds in writing and on camera: formal or friendly, playful or serious. A written voice guide keeps replies and captions consistent.

User-generated content (UGC)

Content made by customers, such as photos, videos or reviews, that you share with permission.

Advertising terms

Organic reach

Reach you earn without paying. Built through content people want to watch, save and share.

Paid reach

Reach you buy through ads. It helps content travel to people who do not follow you yet.

Meta Ads Manager

The tool used to create and manage ads on Facebook and Instagram. Our Meta ads for lead generation page explains how we use it.

Lead form ad

An ad that opens a form inside the app, so people can enquire without leaving Instagram or Facebook.

Click-to-WhatsApp ad

An ad that opens a WhatsApp chat with your business when tapped. Popular in India because many customers prefer to ask first.

Retargeting

Showing ads to people who already watched your video, visited your page or messaged you. These are warm audiences and often cost less to convert.

Lookalike audience

A group of people who share traits with your existing customers or leads, which the platform builds for you.

A/B testing

Showing two versions of an ad or post to see which performs better. Change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.

Systems and reporting

Funnel

The path from first noticing you to buying: awareness, interest, enquiry, sale. Each stage needs different content.

Lead conversion system

The process that turns an enquiry into a conversation and then a customer, including instant acknowledgement and human follow-up. It is one of our seven services.

Live dashboard

A report you can open any day that shows current numbers, instead of waiting for a monthly PDF. Ours covers reach, saves, sends, profile visits and enquiries.

UTM link

A link with tags added to it, so you can see in analytics which post or ad sent each visitor.

Community management

Daily work of replying to comments and messages and keeping conversations healthy. See our community management service.

Search and discovery terms

Algorithm

The set of rules a platform uses to decide what to show each person. Nobody outside the platform knows it fully, so focus on what people do with your content: watch, save, send and reply.

Hashtag

A word or phrase with a hash sign that groups posts by topic. Useful for context, but a few relevant ones work better than thirty random ones.

Keywords in captions and bio

Words people actually search for, placed naturally in your name, bio and captions so the platform understands what you offer and where.

Alt text

A short written description of an image, which helps screen readers and gives the platform more context.

Explore and Reels feed

The areas of Instagram where people see content from accounts they do not follow. Getting into them is how a small account reaches strangers.

Social proof

Anything that shows other people trust you: customer comments, reviews, results, client names and real numbers. It shortens the time a new visitor needs to decide.

Collaboration post

A post shared between two accounts so it shows on both profiles. It is a simple way to reach another brand's audience when the fit is real.

Want these explained for your own account?

Our strategy and audit puts your numbers next to these definitions, so you know what good looks like. You can also read the complete guide to social media marketing in India or the FAQ page.