How well do you know your marketing lingo? Although you may think you’ve come across every term there is to know, it’s always helpful to brush up on your knowledge. Check out this list of terms media update has put together.

Grab yourself a cup a coffee, and let’s get going with the vocab lesson:

1. Advertainment
Blurring the line between content and advertising material creates ‘advertainment’. It’s a way to get your brand out there, whilst still keeping audiences entertained.

2. Clickbait
Sensationalist content designed to tempt users into clicking. Clickbait content usually comes in the form of outrageous headlines like ‘You won’t believe what happened next’. This is generally the type of content that marketers should avoid. Find out why people do fall for clickbait content here.

3. Content is king
This common catchphrase means that marketers need to be putting out good quality content in order to survive today’s digital marketing landscape. Bad content = bad ROI.

4. Gamification
Transforming ordinary tasks that people have to do into something fun that they do because they want to. For example, iCAPTCHA lets you prove that you’re not a robot whilst teaching you South Africa’s 11 official languages one word at a time.



5. Geofencing
A form of location-based marketing that lets you set a virtual boundary around a specific area to target people who fall inside that area.

6. Ideate
To think up an idea. For example, instead of saying “I’ll think up some ideas” you could say, “I’ll ideate on that”.

7. Impressions
A social media metric that measures the number of times your content has been seen. People can see multiple impressions of the same post. For example, if someone sees a page update in their newsfeed, and then sees the same update when a friend shares it, that would count as two impressions.

8. Macro-influencer
People with over 250 000 followers on a particular social media channel who produce content. Generally these are celebrities or well-known personalities.

9. Micro-influencer
People with under 100 000 followers on a particular social media channel who produce content and have a focussed passion, topic or niche market. Generally, these are ‘normal’ people who have some kind of established authority.

10. Millennials
People born between the 1980s and the 2000s. Most marketing discussions are focussed on how to work with them and how to appeal to them.

11. Nano-influencer
A new breed of influencer with only a few thousand followers on a particular social media channel, but within a well-defined sector.

12. Netiquette
The etiquette of the Internet. Basic good netiquette rules include not being a troll, not spamming people and only sharing content that is on-topic.

13. Organic content
Social media content that has no ad spending attached to it. Basically, a social media post that you create and post. The people who see the post are reached organically because they are already your audience, or they see it because it has been shared by other users.

14. Repurposing content
Finding new ways to recycle (and often upcycle) your existing content to be posted again. Repurposing can cut down on content production times and often help you reach a new audience. For example, if you put out a blog post on your website about digital nomads, you can then use that blog post as the content for a video about the same topic. That way, you’ll have the chance to reach two different types of people whilst only technically having to produce one brand new piece of content.

15. SoLoMo
Social, Local and Mobile. A new marketing approach that refers to giving consumers Internet search results that provide greater local precision than what is available via a PC (thanks to cell phone location services).

16. Sponsored posts
Social media posts that are backed by money to boost their reach. For example, if you create a Facebook post about your brand and then click ‘Boost Post’, you’ll be directed to a screen where you can choose how many people you want to reach and how much you’re willing to spend.

17. Unicorn
The holy grail of marketers –  ones who know how to write exceptional content, code in their sleep and can execute award-winning campaigns faster than making their next cup of coffee. (If you’re not a unicorn, here’s why that’s awesome)

18. User-generated content
A type of content that has been created and put out by unpaid contributors or fans. It can refer to pictures, videos, social posts or blogs where users promote a brand, rather than the brand posting the content itself.

19. Viral
Content that becomes extremely popular and is shared wildly across social media. Every marketer’s dream is to create a campaign that goes viral.

20. Wearables
Technology that you can wear on your person to improve your day-to-day activities. Google Glass, FitBit and Galaxy Gear are a few examples of smart wearables.

What other buzzwords have you come across? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Want to stay up to date with the latest news? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Whew! Now that you’re well-versed in your marketing lingo, why not check one of the biggest trends for the year: influencer marketing. You’ll find everything you need to know in our article, Five trends shaping influencer marketing in 2019.