Digital Glossary

Generally speaking A/B Testing means If you want to improve your marketing efforts, A/B testing may come in handy. This is the process of comparing two variations of the same variable to find out which one performs best.

This type of testing is used in

• Email Marketing (changes in the subject line or copy),
• Ads (Running and comparing two variations of an ad at the same time to measure performance to identify the most effective version),
• Measures two social media posts against each other to see which performs best
• Calls-To-Action (changes in color and wording), and landing pages (changes in content).
  An example of A/B testing would be to see which tasted better on a sandwich: American cheese or cheddar cheese!

It's also known as "split test", The most common way of using A/B tests is to only change one element of the post between the two versions so that you know any difference in performance is because of that change.

In website terms, 'above the fold' is the type of content that a website visitor sees before scrolling down on a specific page It's useful being aware of this type of content when you are creating landing pages for inbound marketing. A call-to-action that first pops up after a lot of scrolling may decrease the efficiency of your campaigns. It's all of the information that is viewable on a web page prior to scrolling.

marketing activity that moves customers to the next stage; in performance marketing, growth marketing, demand generation and sales, this typically means a short-term sales cycle

A Google platform that allows websites to earn money by publishing Google network ads on their website.

Agile is a method of working quickly that is designed to adapt to rapid changes. Teams are often small and work in short sprints without lengthy processes or blockers to slow them down.

A process or set of rules that computers follow to perform a task. In digital marketing, algorithm usually refers the the sets of processes Google uses to order and rank websites in search results. The SEO industry gives various Google algorithms their own nicknames like Penguin (which analyzes the quality of links pointing to a website) and Panda (which assesses the quality of the content on a website). The main ranking algorithm is SEO is referred to as “The core algorithm”.

in digital marketing, the algorithm usually refers to the procedure that search engines go through, process and use to rank websites in Search Engine Results. while in social media it means the set of rules a social network uses to automatically decide which posts come first in your feed. For example, if Facebook decides that it wants to prioritize posts with lots of comments (as it did with recent algorithm changes), it adjusts the rules of its feed algorithm to push those posts up.

Comprises the information gathering, analysis, and reporting process. Data is derived from all online touchpoints (i.e. a website, direct, organic, and paid channels), analyzed for insights and trends, and then delivered for strategic implementation.

A Google platform that allows webmasters to collect statistics and data about website visitors. Google Analytics (sometimes abbreviated as GA) allows webmasters to see where web traffic comes from and how visitors behave once on the site.

Analytics is essentially the discovery and visualization of important patterns in data. In the context of marketing 101 terms, it is looking at the data of one’s metrics (website visitor reports, social, PPC, etc.), noticing trends within that data, and then creating insights that can be utilized when making marketing decisions. Popular analytics services include Google Analytics, Hubspot, Mixpanel, Kapost, and Kissmetrics among many others.

In a social media context, analytics is the process of following metrics on your social media performance and using that data to improve your strategy. For instance, watching your engagement rate over time to see if your posts are becoming more or less compelling to your followers is one way of using social analytics.

A branch of digital marketing focused on strategies and techniques designed to improve visibility of apps in the app store. This can include optimizing the apps meta data with targeted keywords, enhancing app creatives, and more.

the integration of digital information with the user’s existing environment to enhance it. An example of this is the Pokémon Go app, where your avatar is overlaid on a real-world map and content.

Models of how conversion credit is applied to ads or campaigns based on the ways users interact with ads.

It's a method of assigning full or partial value of an action to various touchpoints along the customer journey. There are several different types of attribution models that marketers use such as first-touch, last-touch, time-decay, , position based and multi-touch attribution models.

A group of people you target your ads to. Your audience on social media is the group of people you’re able to reach with your content. This includes all your followers plus anyone who sees or interacts with your posts in their feed. Growing your social media audience is one of the best ways to spread brand awareness.

Using computer programs to perform tasks that are repetitive, that would normally be completed by a human. Email programs can use automation to send email messages to people based on certain triggers (new customers, did or did not open the last email, etc). Marketers also use automation to nurture leads by sending relevant content to previous visitors of a website, in an attempt to get the visitor back to convert into a sale.

ATL is used when the focus is on mass media promotion to reach a large audience. ATL includes media such as radio, TV, print media such as newspaper and magazines, and billboards. All promotional messages are untargeted, meaning they do not focus on a specific target group.

refers to a stage of the buyer process funnel. In this stage, leads and about the make the transition into becoming new customers. The customer has determined what their problem is, has looked for a solution, and are very close to buying your product. Some typical steps at this bottom of the funnel stage include a conversation with a sales representative, a demo, or a consultation, depending on what type of product your company has created.

Bottom of the funnel is the last stage in the buying process when your prospects are close to becoming new customers. Messages at this stage usually include a product offer, a product demo, a free consultation, etc.

Brainstorming is a tool for creative ideation and solutions. Brainstorm sessions follow a variety of different techniques, but the key is to gather many ideas and find the best within those.

An upper-funnel social media objective that is used to serve impressions as efficiently as possible.

Brand awareness is the level of familiarity consumers have with your brand. It’s often considered one of the main goals of social media marketing. It’s also one of the objectives you can select for your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns in Ads Manager. Brand awareness can be measured through impressions or reach, or more accurately through ad recall lift (an estimation of how many users would remember your brand after seeing the ad).

measures impact of ads on your brand by taking a baseline of your brand’s perception (via a control group), and then testing the brand impact of your ads against key brand metrics

is an idealistic representation of what kind of customer your business is looking for. This representation is usually created from market research and data about your current customers. Accurately determining your buyer personas will allow your business to allocate resources accordingly and appropriately.

the process a lead goes through in order to go from awareness to decision. A new lead has to pass through three stages—Awareness, Consideration, and Decision—in order to be ready to be sold.

BTL is directed to reach a small, targeted audience. BTL includes marketing activities such as brochures, direct mail, flyers, sponsorships and email campaigns. Activities are more focused and they are directed towards specific groups of customers. They are highly targeted, with advertisements being created keeping in mind the demographic and psychographic characteristics of particular customer segments. The communication is highly personalized and the objective is to gain conversions.

B2B is used to describe a company that sells to other companies not to consumers directly. Some examples of B2B companies include IBM and J.P Morgan.

Uused to describe a company that sells products or services directly to consumers. Some B2C examples include Adidas, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Is serving tailored advertising to audiences by utilizing their previous web browsing behavior in order to drive more engagement.

content related to your brand that's created by someone who's not an official representative of your business. It could be a social media update, a review, a video, a podcast, or a number of any other types. This includes subject experts, consumers themselves, or freelancers. Utilizing UGC content on your site/digital channels will allow you to produce more content in a shorter amount of time. Be sure to create some sort of incentive for users, and you create a winning situation for everyone involved.

The part of an advertising message/phrase that encourages a user to take an action. (i.e. “sign-up”, “buy now”, “call now”, “subscribe”, “learn more”, and “install now”)

Regarding to website, a call-to-action, in the context of the empowered marketer, refers to any link/text that encourages site visitors to visit your landing page and engage in an action like filling out a form to get a premium offer such as a free ebook, white paper, etc.

Every successful business blog post needs some sort of call-to-action to help convert readers into leads. An example of a call-to-action would be the banner image on this very page!