There’s a lot of jargon in the digital world, but most of it is useful for communicating to our peers so it’s important to be aware of them.
We’ve previously looked at photography, web development and design terms. But what about the content, isn’t content the king?
Needless to say, we’ve heard your cries and have put together a two-part list of content marketing basics that are vital to know and understand. This first part introduces some of the basics, then in the second part, we will get a bit more technical.
The content
- CTA (call to action): calls to action help convert visitors by triggering them to act
- copy: the written text of advertising and marketing that has the purpose of causing the reader to take action
- copywriting: the act of writing copy that persuades and converts
- blogging: to publish content on a ‘blog’, it has become an important way of business to establish themselves as thought leaders
- blog post: the primary component of content marketing, less formal than traditional media articles and tend to be personal and opinion based
- eNewsletter: content delivered via email, usually to a database of subscribers
- ebook: a digital book that is downloaded, used by marketers to generate leads
- press/media release: company announcements or stories of interest issued to news media to provide journalists information
- meme: a phrase or image that evolves and changes as it is passed from user to user
- curated content: collection, organisation and sharing of content
- aggregated content: content compiled from a variety of sources
- user-generated content (UGC): content that is created by the public rather than by the brand
- CMS (content management system): software that manages content of the website e.g WordPress
Formatting
- landing page: stand-alone page used in advertising campaigns and designed specifically for lead generation i.e gaining a visitor’s contact details
- above the fold: the top section of a webpage that is seen on the screen without scrolling down, where the most important information should be
- viral: when a piece of content becomes hugely popular and is shared on numerous social media networks and by large publishers e.g #nuggsforcarter
Strategy and planning
- adaptive content: content that adapts according to the situation it is being consumed, relative to the context, person and device
- content audit: evaluating the content on a website for value, quality and editorial consistency
- content mapping: a plan of how you will deliver content so that it reaches the right people at the right time
- content marketing: producing valuable content as a strategy to attract and convert prospective customers
- content strategy: planning of content creation and management of its distribution
- CRM (customer relationship management): system that organises and manages customer interactions with a company and their position on the sales cycle
- editorial calendar: used to plan and coordinate the publishing of content – what, where and when
The audience
- buyer persona: a fictional description of your ideal customer used to create content
- (brand) advocate: also called a brand evangelist
- sales funnel: the stages from being aware of a product or service to making a purchase
- customer journey: the behaviours of the customer at each stage of the sales funnel, used to inform content creation
- B2B: a business that sells directly to other business
- B2C: a business that sells directly to the consumer
- lead generation: the process of attracting prospective customers and giving them something eg. a free download in return for their email
- brand awareness: how well known a brand is to the general public
- personalisation: content that is tailored and delivered to a specific group or individual in relation to where they are in the sales funnel
- influencers: people who are authorities in an industry that others look to for advice, brands can leverage influencers to promote content
- crowdsourcing: the generation of ideas by asking the community for contributions
