Buzzwords spread like wildfire across the Internet, but many people misunderstand their meaning, especially when read out of context. In the vast world of digital marketing, trendy buzzwords seem to pop up incredibly often, and occasionally they turn into something useful. When trendy buzzwords take hold and develop into meaningful terms that shape the digital marketing landscape, it’s vital to stay in the know so that you won’t get left behind with dated vocabulary.
In this article, we’ve listed ten of the biggest digital marketing buzzwords that have great importance in 2018. With a few months left before we leap forward into 2019, you’d be wise to brush up your knowledge and learn these terms!
Algorithm
The word algorithm has become a huge digital marketing term, but it has roots deep in computer science. An algorithm is essentially a formula that’s used to determine an outcome. For instance, Google uses search algorithms to calculate the most relevant page rankings instead of requiring a human to do it.
AI
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a term that has swiftly taken over the marketing world. AI utilizes complex algorithms to calculate and predict the outcomes of digital marketing strategies such as search results, display ads on websites and what advertising appears in social media newsfeeds. AI is used to pick the best actions based on data that is created from running simulations.
Customer Journey
From generating new leads to making a sale, the customer’s journey through your company’s acquisition process involves many touchpoints. The customer journey typically refers to the process that your customer goes through from discovering your product or service to obtaining it. Through digital marketing, the customer journey has become increasingly automated, allowing for a well-oiled, seamless sales process instead of over-the-top pushy advertising tactics.
Hyperlocal
The term hyperlocal refers to marketers using GPS data to develop a marketing strategy that targets customers in a specific geographic area. Most often this is done through Google and Facebook. A good place to get started with a hyperlocal marketing strategy is with local search. Make sure your business shows up (with all of the correct info) when local customers are looking for the products and services you provide.
EAT and YMYL
Two buzzwords for one! E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness, and is a metric by which Google’s evaluators rank search result pages.
Y-M-Y-L stands for Your Money Your Life. It’s essentially a rating for online content that offers financial, medical or legal information. It also counts any pages that could result in a monetary transaction for a service or product.
Clickbait
Clickbait started popping up years ago when people would purposely name their content something completely different just to get more views and clicks. Sadly, it’s back in full force, and many people (especially on YouTube) are starting to use clickbait as a way to garner more attention.
Google “Medic” Update
Google’s most recent search update was commonly dubbed “Medic,” hence this term. As usual, the updates aren’t entirely clear with what they’ve changed (that’s part of Google’s secret, so you can’t game the system) but there are always many theories floating around the Internet.
SSL & Cookies
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It’s the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This ensures that all data passed through a website remains private. Cookies are bits of data stored on your computer whenever you visit a website. A cookie policy is a statement presented to your users listing what cookies are active on your website, what data they track, why they track it and where in the world that data is sent.
Due to a 2018 European law, called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR for short) these terms most likely hit your inbox repeatedly this summer by way of privacy policy update emails. For digital marketers, it’s important to make sure that your websites are always secure and in compliance, or you may be at risk of getting dinged by Google.
Influencers
“Influencer” is a term given to a prominent person or company in an industry that has a lot of sway on social media. An influencer simply making a statement could draw thousands or even millions of people to take action or make a purchase. If it only affects a couple hundred people or less, then the term micro-influencer is used. This is a very popular way to spread the word about products and services.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is a combination of software and artificial intelligence (AI) that helps to automate repetitive tasks that help with marketing, such as sending out email drip campaigns or publishing frequent posts on social media. The execution may be hands-off, but it still takes a human touch to create the content.
The More You Know
Did you learn some new marketing lingo? When it comes to digital marketing, we know that it can be hard to keep track of every trendy buzzword out there, especially in a field that is changing every day! That’s why we’re here to help shed some light and share our expertise.
If you can master these buzzwords, then we bet you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level. If you still have some questions, reach out to one of our Digital Marketing Consultants by calling (800) 617-6975, we’re happy to help!
