We’ve all been in those marketing meetings where somebody starts rhyming off social media acronyms, like it’s an episode of Line of Duty, and you’re too polite to ask what they mean, because you work in social media and you should know these, right?
During your time in social media, you may have come across a ton of lingo or acronyms that take you a while to figure out.
When you’re in charge of creating social media content or responding to customers, it’s important to know what the most common social media acronyms are, so they can help you understand your audience better, and on some occasions, communicate to them.
Plus, some acronyms might find their way into marketing or sales reports. This makes it even more crucial to know what they stand for, so you can do your job better.
If you don’t know your DMs from your RTs or your CTAs from your CTRs, then read on as we talk you through our list of top 40 social media acronyms, that will keep you ahead of your game.
Let’s start off with the common acronyms related to specific social media networks. These are pretty straight-forward and look like this:
- FB – Facebook
- IG – Instagram
- LI – LinkedIn
- YT – YouTube
- TW – Twitter
Now, let’s work through some of the common acronyms that you need to know, which may feature on your social media feeds, inboxes or reports.
- DM – Direct message. This refers to a message sent between two users. Mostly used on Twitter and Instagram, you might see companies asking followers to ‘DM for enquiries’ or ‘DM us your complaint’ etc.
- PM – Private message. This is a more generic term for one-on-one communications that aren’t visible to the public and includes DMs as well.
- RT – Retweet. This is when you share someone’s Tweet to your own feed, you are Retweeting them.
- CMGR – Community Manager. They are responsible for managing and nurturing a brand’s relationship with its community – not to be confused with a social media manager!
- CPC – Cost per click. Used in social media advertising, this is the amount of £ you pay for every person who clicks on your ad.
- CR – Conversion rate. This is the measurement of the number of people who took the desired action divided by the number of people who could have.
- CTA – Call to action. This is a statement that encourages the audience to take a certain action.
- CTR – Click through rate. This is the percentage of peoplw who took the action of clicking on a link, when they were given the option.
- SMP – Social media platform.
- SMM – Social media marketing.
- UGC – User generated content. Refers to any form of content in any formatted created by the users of a social network.
- PV – Page views. The number of visitors landing on a specific page.
- SEO – Search engine optimisation. This often involves making improvements to your website content with the main goal of ranking higher in relevant search results.
- URL – Uniform resource locator. The web address used for identifying a website or page.
- UV – Unique views. The number of individual page viewers. This may also apply to videos or images.
- UX – User experience. Refers to the best practices around how people can easily interact with and perform actions within a website or application.
Conversational social media acronyms and slang
Most social media acronyms are less business-related and more casual and conversational. A lot of them have been around for years, while others are a bit more recent. You’ll often find these acronyms used in public posts that your followers make or share, or in their comments on your posts.
It’s good to know what these social media abbreviations mean so you know what your audience is saying and provide them with a relevant response if needed. Some of these abbreviations are also used as hashtags, and you can take advantage of them for better visibility.
- BTS – Behind the scenes. Use this acronym when you’re giving your followers a behind-the-scenes look at what your brand is up to.
- BTW – By the way.
- DAE – Does anyone else…?
- DYK – Did You know…?
- FBF – Flashback Friday. A theme where people share old pictures or posts with their followers.
- FBO – Facebook official. When you make a public announcement on Facebook about a live event.
- FF – Follow Friday. This trend started out on Twitter and involves giving a shoutout to users that you think deserve more recognition and followers. Often this can be used in the hope that the users you share will do the same back to you and increase your followers.
- FOMO – Fear of missing out.
- HBD – Happy birthday.
- HMU – Hit me up.
- HTH – Here to help / happy to help
- ICYMI – In case you missed out. Typically, this acronym is used when sharing content that’s not too current but something you want your followers to know.
- LMK – Let me know.
- OP – Original Poster.
- TBT – Throwback Thursday. Like FBF, this involves sharing old photos or posts that your users may be interested in.
- TMI – Too much information.
- WBW – Way back Wednesday. Follows the same theme as FBF and TBT.
- WFH – Work from home.
- YOLO – You only live once.
Best practices on using social media slang and acronyms
Although knowledge of social media acronyms is important, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should fill up your social media posts with them. Below are three tips to help you use them appropriately and correctly:
1. Maintain your brand voice
Regardless of how well you know and understand social media language, you should only use acronyms if it fits your brand voice. If it just isn’t for your company, it will do no harm not to use them.
2. Know when to use the right slang or acronym
Even if your company has a more casual brand voice, it’s not always a good idea to use casual social media language. You must carefully assess the situation and know the right time to use the right acronym. For instance, a customer complaining may not appreciate if you asked them to “hit you up.” Instead, you could tell them that you’re “HTH”.
3. Don’t try too hard
This best practice goes hand in hand with the first two tips. If it doesn’t fit your brand voice or the situation, don’t force it. But even if you’re not going to use a lot of slang yourself, understanding these popular social media acronyms will help you understand your audience and their replies better.
How often do you use acronyms in your posts? How many of the acronyms in this blog did you really know (come on, be honest!)
How do you stay up to date with the latest trends? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Contact us at hello@socialsoda.co.uk
