Common Digital Media Terms and Definitions

The world of digital media and marketing can be fraught with an insane amount of acronyms and confusing terms. In addition to providing helpful guides like our SEO vs. SEM blog, we thought a list of common terms and their definitions would probably be helpful.

You’re welcome.

Average Session Duration – In web analytics, a top-level view of how long users are spending on your website.

Average Impression Share – See Impression Share.

Average Click Share – See Click Share.

Bounce Rate – In web analytics, the percentage of visitors who leave your site after only viewing a single page. 

Click Share – In search campaigns, the total clicks received divided by the total clicks any/all advertisers received in any given search auction. Measures ad performance against other advertisers.

Comment – On social media, a form of engagement in which a user replies to a post. Comments can offer praise, ask a question, express disagreement, and otherwise contribute to the online conversation about social content.

CPC – “Cost per click,” an important metric in click campaigns. The goal is to get as many users as possible to click our ads in order to drive traffic to a specific landing page. Calculated as Amount Spent ÷ Total Clicks Received.

CPM – “Cost per mille,” or better known as “cost per thousand impressions.” The importance of CPM in brand-awareness campaigns is not how many clicks we get but how many impressions/views of our ad. CPM is calculated as Amount Spent ÷ (Total Impressions Received ÷ 1,000).

CTR – “Click-through rate,” an important measure of effectiveness, expressed as a percentage. CTR provides insight into how many people who viewed our content chose to click through to read more, buy more or take some other action. Calculated as Total Clicks Received ÷ Total Impressions Earned.

Engagement – On social media, any form of interaction with your brand. Likes, comments and shares are all forms of engagement.

Frequency – The average number of times each user has seen your content. On most platforms, frequency caps are available to limit the number of impressions users see within any given period.

Impressions – The total number of times an advertisement (or other digital media content) is displayed on a user’s screen. Impressions are counted regardless of user action, with the assumption being that since the ad appeared, it is likely that the user saw it.

Impression Share – In search campaigns, the impressions received from a Search Network (like Google) divided by the estimated number of eligible impressions. Impression share can be increased (so ads show up for more searches) by increasing the media budget or making other campaign improvements.

KPI – “Key performance indicator,” a metric that is tracked over time to determine progress toward a valuable business goal or campaign objective.

Like – On social media, a form of engagement that allows users to express “liking” a post or other content. On Facebook, the Like button is a thumbs-up; on Instagram and Twitter, a Like is indicated by a heart. 

Link Clicks – On Facebook, the number of clicks on links within an ad (or post) to select destinations or experiences that are either on or off Facebook-owned properties.

New Users – In web analytics, people who visit your website for the first time in the selected date range.

Pageview – In web analytics, an instance of a page being loaded (or reloaded) in a browser.

Post Engagement – On social media, this includes all actions that people take involving your ads while they’re running. Post engagements can include actions such as reacting to, commenting on or sharing the ad; claiming an offer; viewing a photo or video; or clicking on a link.

PPC – “Pay-per-click,” a type of advertising platform in which costs are incurred each time a user clicks on an advertisement. Although PPC is the broad type of digital advertising platform, the term is used interchangeably with “SEM” (search engine marketing) across the industry, because SEM campaigns run exclusively on PPC platforms. It is important to note that digital display, native, or other types of digital campaigns can also run on PPC platforms.

Reach – The total number of unique people who have seen your content.

Reactions – On Facebook, a form of engagement. In addition to Likes, reactions include Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry. Each of these reactions is indicated by an emoji. Facebook users can access the reaction option by hovering over or holding the Like button.

Session – In web analytics, a single visit to a website consisting of one or more pageviews, along with events, ecommerce transactions and other interactions. The default session timeout is 30 minutes, which means that if a user is inactive on a website for more than 30 minutes, a new session will be reported if the user performs another interaction, e.g., viewing another page.

Unique Pageview – In web analytics, a single instance of a pageview by a single user, even if the page was viewed multiple times within a single session.

User – In web analytics, an individual person browsing a website (technically, a unique browser cookie). Each user can visit a website multiple times—for example, one user could create three sessions on a website, with each session containing multiple pageviews.

For more information or to learn more about how AcrobatAnt can help you with your social or digital media needs, give us a call.

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AcrobatAnt Marketing & Advertising
AcrobatAnt.com
1336 East 15th Street
Tulsa, OK 74120
918-938-7901