Every social media term, explained.

Publishing two versions of a post, ad or caption to similar audiences to see which one performs better, then using the winner going forward.

The set of rules a platform uses to decide which posts each person sees and in what order, based on signals like engagement, relevance and recency.

A written description attached to an image so screen readers can describe it to people with visual impairments. It can also help search and discovery.

The data that shows how your accounts and posts are doing: reach, engagement, follower growth, clicks and more. Setupe collects these across channels in one dashboard.

Application Programming Interface. A way for software to talk to other software, for example to schedule posts or pull analytics automatically without opening an app.

A review step where a client, manager or teammate must approve a post before it can be published. Common in agencies and larger brands.

The group of people who follow, see or engage with your content. Knowing who they are shapes what you post, when and where.

The profile picture that represents an account across a platform, usually a logo for brands and a headshot for individuals.

Business-to-business. Marketing aimed at other companies rather than consumers, often focused on LinkedIn and longer-form content.

Business-to-consumer. Marketing aimed directly at individual buyers, often on visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

A reference point, such as an industry average engagement rate, used to judge whether your own results are good, average or poor.

The days and hours when your audience is most active and most likely to engage. It differs by platform, industry and time zone.

The short description on a social profile that explains who you are, what you do and where to go next, often with a link.

An organic post that you pay to show to more people or a specific audience, without building a full ad campaign.

How familiar people are with your brand. On social it is usually measured through reach, impressions and mentions.

The consistent personality and tone a brand uses in its writing, from playful and casual to calm and expert.

Uploading and scheduling many posts at once, often from a spreadsheet or CSV, instead of creating them one by one.

A prompt that tells people what to do next, such as “Shop now”, “Comment below” or “Link in bio”.

The text that goes with a social post. It adds context, personality and a call to action, and often carries hashtags.

A single post that holds several images or videos people swipe through. Popular for tutorials, lists and step-by-step stories.

The rate at which followers or customers leave over a period of time. On social it usually shows up as unfollows.

The percentage of people who clicked a link after seeing your post or ad. Calculated as clicks divided by impressions.

A single post published jointly by two or more accounts so it shows on each profile and reaches all of their audiences.

Looking after the people around your brand: replying to comments and messages, moderating conversations and building relationships.

A schedule of what will be posted, where and when. It keeps teams organized and posting consistently. Setupe’s visual calendar is built for this.

The three to five core themes a brand posts about again and again, giving its feed structure and focus.

When someone takes the action you wanted, like signing up, buying or downloading, after interacting with your social content.

What you pay, on average, each time someone clicks your ad.

Cost per mille: what you pay for 1,000 impressions of an ad.

Someone who regularly makes content for an audience on social platforms, and may partner with brands.

Publishing the same content to several platforms. Works best when you adjust the format and copy to fit each network.

Sharing that happens in private channels like DMs, messaging apps and email, which analytics tools can’t easily track.

A private message sent between accounts on a social platform.

A TikTok feature for making a video that plays side by side with another creator’s video.

Exposure you didn’t pay for, such as shares, mentions, reviews and press coverage.

Placing a social post inside a website or blog so it shows there as it does on the platform.

Small icons used in captions and comments to add tone and emotion, or to break up text.

Any interaction with your content: likes, comments, shares, saves, clicks and replies.

Engagement divided by reach, impressions or followers, shown as a percentage. It shows how much your audience interacts compared to how many see your posts.

Content that stays useful and relevant for a long time, so you can reshare or recycle it.

Instagram’s discovery feed, which shows content from accounts you don’t follow based on your interests.

The main scrolling stream of posts a user sees when they open a social app.

Someone who subscribes to an account to see its posts in their feed.

How fast your follower count is growing over a period, shown as a percentage.

The average number of times one person sees your ad or content in a set period.

A location added to a post or story, which helps local discovery.

A short, looping animation, often used for reactions in posts, comments and messages.

Your username on a platform, usually written with an @, like @setupe.

A word or phrase after a # that groups posts by topic so people can find and follow them.

The first line or first seconds of a post designed to stop the scroll and make people want to see more.

The total number of times your content was shown on screen, including repeat views by the same person.

A single place where comments, mentions and messages from all your channels arrive. Setupe’s social inbox gathers them in one view.

A person with an engaged following who can shape opinions and purchase decisions, and often partners with brands.

Working with influencers or creators to promote a product or brand to their audience.

Key Performance Indicator. A measurable number you track to judge progress toward a goal, like engagement rate or link clicks.

The one clickable link in a profile bio, often pointing to a landing page with several links.

Broadcasting real-time video to followers, who can comment and react as it happens.

An ad audience made of people who resemble your existing customers or followers.

A humorous image, video or phrase that spreads quickly and gets remixed as it travels.

Tagging another account with @ in a post or comment, which usually notifies them.

An influencer with a smaller but highly engaged audience, often between about 10,000 and 100,000 followers.

Reviewing and managing comments and messages to remove spam, abuse or off-topic content.

Content made for and uploaded directly to a platform, rather than shared as a link to somewhere else.

Another name for a feed, especially on Facebook and LinkedIn.

A focused topic or audience segment a brand or creator specializes in.

The number of people who saw your content without paid promotion.

Advertising on social platforms, from boosted posts to full ad campaigns.

Saving content to a Pinterest board, or fixing a post or comment to the top of a profile or thread.

A social network or app, such as Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, Facebook or YouTube.

The editor where you write, design and preview a post before scheduling it. Setupe’s composer lets you tailor one post for each channel.

A line of scheduled posts that publish automatically at set times.

The number of unique people who saw your content at least once.

Short vertical video on Instagram and Facebook, built for discovery and entertainment.

Sharing someone else’s content on your own account, usually with credit.

Showing ads to people who have already interacted with your brand, website or content.

What you get back from your social media spend compared with what you put in, in money or time.

A feed of new content from a blog or website. Setupe can use RSS to post new articles to your channels automatically.

How many times people bookmarked your post to come back to later, a strong sign of valuable content.

Setting a post to publish automatically at a chosen date and time.

Measuring whether conversations about your brand are positive, negative or neutral.

How much of the conversation in your industry is about your brand compared with your competitors.

How many times people passed your content on to their own followers or friends.

YouTube’s short vertical video format, up to about a minute long.

Tracking online conversations about your brand, competitors and industry to spot trends and insights.

The person who plans, creates, publishes and reports on a brand’s social media.

Evidence that other people trust a brand, like reviews, testimonials, follower counts and user-generated content.

Using social media to find, connect with and build relationships with potential customers.

Content that a brand paid for, usually labeled as an ad or paid partnership.

A TikTok feature that lets you clip a few seconds of another video and add your own response after it.

A full-screen photo or video post that disappears after 24 hours, found on Instagram and Facebook.

Linking another account to a post or photo so it appears in their tagged content and notifies them.

The specific group of people your content or ads are designed to reach.

A series of connected posts, popular on X and Threads, used to tell a longer story or explain an idea.

The preview image shown before someone opens a video or link.

How a brand sounds when it writes, for example friendly, formal, bold or witty.

A topic, sound, format or hashtag that is suddenly popular on a platform.

A sound or song being used in lots of short videos at once, which can give your video a discovery boost.

When someone stops following an account.

Content about your brand made by customers or fans rather than by the brand itself.

Tags added to the end of a URL so tools like Google Analytics can show which post, platform or campaign sent the traffic.

Numbers that look impressive, such as likes or follower count, but don’t necessarily show business results.

An account with a badge confirming it belongs to the person or brand it claims to be.

How many times your video was watched. Each platform counts a view after a different number of seconds.

Content that spreads very fast and far, reaching many people beyond your usual audience.

The total time people spent watching your video. Platforms use it as a strong ranking signal.

An automatic message one app sends another when something happens, for example when a post is published. Setupe supports webhooks for automation.

A product or report rebranded with an agency’s own logo and branding so it can be presented to clients.

A social network for short public posts, real-time news and conversation.