Plain English
Social media, in plain English.
Nobody is born knowing this, and most of it is jargon for something ordinary. Here's what the words mean. If one is missing, email me and I'll add it.
The basics
- App, or platform
- One app or site where your business has a page, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or LinkedIn. My plans call them apps, so "2 apps" means your posts go on two of them. YouTube Shorts I only use as a copy of another app.
- The same posts on a second app
- The same posts, resized for a second app. Same words, no extra filming.
- Profile, or account
- Your business's page on a platform. The name, the picture, the description and everything you've posted.
- Business account
- A free setting that turns a personal account into one meant for a company. On Instagram, it's what turns on the numbers. Without it, I can't show you what's working.
- Google Business Profile
- Your listing on Google Search and Google Maps: your hours, reviews, photos and posts. It's what shows up when someone searches your business's name.
What you post
- Post
- One thing you put up. A photo, a set of photos or a video, with words underneath it.
- Caption
- The words underneath the post. Most people only see the first line before they scroll, so it does most of the work.
- Short-form video, or a Reel
- A vertical video, usually under a minute, filmed on a phone. Instagram calls them Reels, YouTube calls them Shorts, and TikTok just calls them videos. Same thing.
- Story
- A post that disappears after 24 hours. Less polished, and seen mostly by people who already follow you.
- Hashtag
- A word with a # in front of it. It files the post in a folder other people can browse, which is one way strangers find you.
- Link in bio
- Instagram and TikTok don't let you put a working link in a caption. So everyone points to the link on their profile instead, and that's what "link in bio" means.
The numbers
- Views
- How many times your post was shown on screen, counting repeat views by the same person. It's usually the biggest number you'll see.
- Reach
- How many separate people saw it. Views count every time it was shown, so reach is always the smaller number.
- Engagement
- People doing something with the post: liking, commenting, sharing or saving it. A save or a share tells you more than a like, because it means someone wants to come back to it or show it to someone.
- Organic
- Anything you didn't pay to promote. Most of my monthly work is organic. Presence includes two boosted posts a month, and you can add boosts to other plans.
- An ad, or a boosted post
- Paying Facebook to show a post to more people than would see it on their own. That money goes to Facebook (Meta), never to me. A boost is the simple version: take a post that already worked and pay to show it to more people.
- Analytics, or the report
- The numbers the platform keeps about your account. My report arrives once a month and explains them in plain sentences. See a sample report.
How a month works
- Content calendar
- The plan for the month: what goes out, when, and why.
- Shot list
- The list I send you of exactly what to film. It saves you from standing on a job wondering what to point the phone at.
- Round of changes
- One set of edits you send back on a post. Spark includes one round per post; Momentum and Presence include two.
- Ready-to-post folder
- On Spark, where your finished posts land each month, each with its caption and a suggested day, so you can post them yourself.
- Onboarding
- Getting set up in your first weeks: your accounts set up or switched over, and connected to my scheduler. On Spark, Momentum and Presence it's a one-time $250 if you're month to month, paid on top of your first month's fee, and there's none on a 3, 6 or 12 month term.
- Filming release
- The form that lets me post what you film, including the people and places in it. I email it before the kickoff call and we sign it together.
Have a question, or want a price?
Build your month and see the price as you go, or call me and ask.