10 Content Marketing Terms Every College Graduate Should Know

Digital content marketing is fast becoming one of the most effective means of marketing, promotion, and advertisement in the contemporary business industry. Companies are relying more and more on their digital marketing than ever before. The careers in the industry are also significantly on the rise, growing at an increase above the national average with marketing and advertising manager positions expected to increase 10% from 2016-2026. This should really come as no surprise when we consider that companies are spending just over $200 billion USD in 2018 on digital advertisements, it’s certainly no mystery as to the importance of the profession itself. People are needed to manage those advertisements, and who better than young, fresh college graduates! But first, before you even consider applying for one of the hundreds of postings online and show up unprepared for an interview, be sure to know the following key terminology. These are some of the most basic yet highly important pieces that every marketing professional must know in order to succeed.

1- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO, is essentially the visibility of a company or brand online and where they pop up on search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing. The higher a company appears on these search engines, the more likely they are to be found by a potential consumer. Publishing content, utilizing certain high-search keywords and phrases, incorporating backlinks, and the readability of content all impact where it will appear on a search list.

2- Analytics

Digital media analytics is the use of user-generated data to interpret, predict, and utilize patterns in order to optimize a site or brand's functionality and effectiveness as a whole. They’re a pretty big deal right now. Analytics means that a company will use data in order to make certain decisions based on the evidence produced and seen in that data. Data ranges from how many clicks an article receives, to how many visits to the site, which links are more effective, which parts of app consumers spend the most time on, etc. There are specific tools and programs that collect this data for companies to analyze.

3- KPI (Key Performance Indicators)

Key Performance Indicators, more commonly known as KPIs, are used by companies as a means of determining the effectiveness and success rate of a company’s growth toward a quantifiable goal. Goals set must be measurable and quantifiable, rather than broad and ambiguous goals that can be specifically measured. Success and growth are achieved when companies set strong KPIs for their company and follow necessary measures to accomplish them. Not having clear KPIs, can even be detrimental to a business.

4- Conversion Funnel

A conversion funnel is a term used for the specific, targeted journey an e-commerce customer takes that starts with the search engine, follows their navigation of a site, and ends with a sale or purchase. The journey starts broad and narrows down as a consumer is ‘funneled’ through the process until they select and purchase a product or service. Effectively run websites will have a strong conversion funnel that converts standard visitors into buyers.

5- ROIs (Return on Investment)

Returns on Investment, commonly referred to as ROIs in the marketing industry as well as other financial industries is a means of measuring performance and profit. The ratio for an ROI is found as the difference between the total profits and the cost of the investment. If a company spends a certain amount of money to run a campaign, they’re going to want to see the profit margin be larger than what they’re spending in order to see that it is indeed effective.

6- Customer Retention

Beyond converting a visitor into a consumer, companies, and brands want to build customer loyalty because it not only involves consumers buying more goods from the same brand, but there is also the potential for referrals and recommendations to that same company. Any marketing company wants to see that they can keep customers coming back for more, rather than losing them to the competition.

7- Attribution

In marketing, attribution is essentially the act of attributing or assigning quantifiable values to specific events in a customer’s journey. Certain clicks, ads, links, etc, that might allow a visitor to be converted into a customer. The data is used to analyze the effectiveness of various touchpoints and events that are part of the purchasing process. Ads that have a higher number of clicks are quantifiably more successful at converting traffic, and thus, have attribution rates.

8- Acquisition

Acquisition refers to a company or brand that has gained new customers. New customers can be gotten through different strategic measures and maneuvers, and companies with a higher customer acquisition rate, based off of referrals, loyalty programs, and other incentives. Companies might even use acquisition rates as a means of gauging success and performance when it comes to certain aspects of their business or industry.

9- CMS (Content Management System)

Content management systems are programs or software that a company or an individual can use to not only create and organize their content but publish it and deliver it to consumers. They come in layouts and themes, help organize with the use of calendars, can help distribute as major websites or small blogs. While some companies use only one specific program, other companies might use a few different programs with different capabilities to help manage their content.

10- Customer Journey

A customer journey is an important part of content marketing because it takes into consideration the entirety of a consumer’s experience, rather than only one purchase, sale, or step. It’s crucial that companies look at the entire customer journey in order to recognize and fix any flaws or hiccups and provide the smoothest, most enjoyable journey for customers. Often, companies will use surveys following purchases to allow consumers to share feedback on their individual experience, or customer journey. Digital Authority Partners lists a wealth of terms that are crucial to know. Start small here, then go big here. Learn the terms, know the slang, listen to the feedback, and absorb every experience you can to best prepare yourself for entering what is quickly becoming a highly-recognized and needed professional field.