Let’s be honest, there’s a LOT of terminology that goes into learning the many concepts across digital marketing, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. This week I plan on sharing some industry terminology and acronyms that I think are most beneficial to understand as a beginner, and what I wish I knew about these terms when I first began my digital marketing courses. I’ll also be explaining them in common english to make things easier to understand, if you’re interested after this, you’ll be that much more prepared to read a whole book about the terms!
First, while some terminology may sound similar in practice, it’s important to keep in mind that there are some differences across various marketing concepts, so understanding what terminology is used when is crucial; which is why I’ve organized terms and acronyms by marketing concept, so feel free to focus on the digital marketing concepts you’re interested in or read up on all of them for a good well-rounded understanding, perfect for beginners learning independently!
Digital analytic tracking uses two main types of measurements, qualitative and quantitative, to better understand user interactions and how your audience is engaging with your content.
Qualitative Measurements focus on the why behind user behavior through the analysis of consumer opinions, feedback, or comments (Allison, 2024, p.8). These measurements are all about understanding the why behind audience actions in an effort to positively develop user experience and improve overall brand sentiment.
Quantitative Measurements focus on the what using fixed and descriptive numerical values and measuring things that can be counted, such as page views, scrolls, purchases, outbound link clicks, etc. (Allison, 2024, p. 2).
However, there’s a little bit more that goes into it, you’ll also need to understand different types of data structures and how they’re used.
Structured data is neatly organized, commonly consisting of financial data and other set values that can be easily organized into rows and columns, compatible with Excel and similar platforms. This data is easier to review, synthesize, and store than other data types.
Semi-Structured Data lies in between structured and unstructured, as it may not be as well-organized as structured data, but also isn’t as chaotic as unstructured data. Could require a bit of additional cleaning and organization to ensure proper use (Allison, 2024, p. 8).
Unstructured Data is the messy one of the bunch, as this data is typically less organized, often incomplete, and requires additional tools to clean and organize the data to generate valuable insights. Some unstructured data includes emails, social media posts, and images (Allison, 2024, p. 8).
You may also hear about different sources of data, don’t worry, this part is pretty simple, all data sources are categorized by primary data, internal sources, and external sources.
Primary Data is data in its rawest state derived from official documents (Allison, 2024, p. 10). This data is the most valuable type of data as primary data provides insights 100% relevant to your business specifically; however, primary data can be very time-consuming and require additional resources to generate insights.
Internal Sources: Consist of several readily accessible data types, including market records, customer data, transactions, etc. (Allison, 2024, p. 10).
External Sources: Consist of information that cannot be contained within an entity and instead must be accessed from third-party sources. Some examples of external sources include agency reports, press publications, and business research sites (Allison, 2024, p. 10).
Once you have this data, you’ll need to understand the terminology that defines the data and allows you to generate valuable insights from them. Web metrics focus on how your site is performing, allowing marketers to best understand what’s working and areas in need of improvement.
KPI (Key performance indicator) are metrics used to measure success – whether that’s increasing engagement, traffic, conversions, or followers.
Leading Metrics make predictions about the future using data, mathematical algorithms, and machine learning, allowing marketers to evaluate how future marketing developments could perform based on previous engagement (Allison, 2024, p.36).
Now, let’s take a look at traffic metrics, because your traffic can show you a lot more about your audience than just how many of them there are!
Unique Visitors is the number of individuals visiting a site within a specific timeframe (Allison, 2024, p.38). This metric is a great way to see how effective specific marketing efforts are in engaging with new users.
Page Views is the total # of pages viewed, including repeat views, which can be used to gauge user engagement and target areas for improvement (Allison, 2024, p.38).
Traffic Sources categorize traffic into categories, such as direct, referral, organic search, and social (Allison, 2024, p.39). This metric can help marketers better understand where traffic is coming from and where to focus marketing efforts (Allison, 2024, p.39); for example, if a social campaign isn’t bringing in many page clicks, it might be time to modify its associated posting strategy, content forms, or CTA.
Bounce Rate shows you a percent of visitors who leave after only viewing one page on the website. Understanding this can help marketers see if landing pages are engaging with users, or if modifications need to be made to the layout of the page or language used (Allison, 2024, p.39).
Average Session Duration is the average time spent by a user on your website per session (Allison, 2024, p.39). Shorter times may indicate what content isn’t engaging with your intended audience, while longer times typically indicate higher engagement levels (Allison, 2024, p.39).
Let’s transition into engagement metrics, which help us as marketers understand what content is most relatable with our audience, and provides helpful insights to future strategic marketing developments.
Pages Per Session is the number of pages viewed during a single session. The more pages per sessions suggests that your content is engaging for your audience and an effective site layout (Allison, 2024, p.39).
Average time on page is the average time spent by a visitor on a specific page. This metric can be useful in evaluating whether content is engaging to help inform future content creation and strategy (Allison, 2024, p.39).
Event Tracking tracks specific page interactions, like clicks, scrolls, downloads, etc. (Allison, 2024, p.39). This tracking provides marketers with valuable insights into how users are interacting with specific page elements and content, allowing for website fine-tuning to be done.
Scroll Depth is how far down the page a user scrolls and is used to gauge interest and engagement across pages (Allison, 2024, p.40). If one post gets significantly higher scroll depth, it might be beneficial to create more similar content.
Lastly, one of the most important metric categories is conversion metrics.
Conversion Rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for an email newsletter. This is reflective of the effectiveness of the site in reaching business-specific conversion goals, allowing marketers to make adjustments as necessary to improve future marketing campaign outcomes (Allison, 2024, p.40).
Funnel Analysis breaks down the steps a user takes before completing a conversion, such as page clicks and page visit pathway, helping marketers identify bottlenecks and potential areas for improvement (Allison, 2024, p.41).
Well folks! That’s all I’ve got for this week. I hope you learned a few useful marketing terms and metrics that can help you as you navigate the world of digital marketing.
References:
Allison, K. (2024). Digital Analytics: The Path from Clicks to Conversions (Vol. 1). Sentia Publishing Company.