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Social Commerce: How Social Media is Transforming Online Shopping
7 min read
8th November, 2024
Paid Social terms explained: 2025
Written by Adele Webb
7 min read - 30th June, 2025
Paid Social is one of the most competitive and effective forms of online marketing available today. But it’s packed full of acronyms, platform-specific features and digital marketing terms that are constantly evolving.
There’s no need to fall behind on the latest developments.
It’s time to break it down. Here’s every bit of paid social jargon in plain English. Keep it saved so you’ve got a speedy reference to hand.
We’ve split it into separate sections, so you can find everything you need at the drop of a hat.
Need the PPC glossary instead? You’ll find it right here
- General Metrics
- Meta Ads
- Tik Tok Ads
- Pinterest Ads
- Youtube Ads
- Targeting & Audiences
- Reporting & Tools
General Metrics
The percentage of users who clicked through to your site but left without interacting further.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of users who completed a desired action after clicking your ad (e.g., purchase, signup).
Formula: (Conversions ÷ Clicks) × 100
Cost Per View (CPV)
The average cost for each video view.
Formula: Total Spend ÷ Total Video Views
CPC (Cost Per Click)
The average amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
&Formula: Total Spend ÷ Total Clicks
CPM (Cost Per Mille/Thousand Impressions)
The cost to deliver 1,000 impressions of your ad.
Formula: (Total Spend ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked on it. This is one of the most vital metrics for any paid social analysis.
Formula: (Clicks ÷ Impressions) × 100
Engagement Rate
The percentage of users who engaged with your content after seeing it.
Formula: (Engagements ÷ Impressions or Reach) × 100
Frequency
The average number of times each person saw your ad.
Formula: Impressions ÷ Reach
PA (Post Engagement or Page Actions)
The total interactions (likes, comments, shares, saves) a post receives. Can also refer to actions on your page from an ad.
Reach
The number of unique users who saw your ad at least once.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
A measure of the revenue generated for every £/$ spent on ads.
Formula: Revenue ÷ Ad Spend
Meta Ads
The platform where advertisers create, manage, and analyse paid social campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta placements.
Advantage+ Campaigns
Meta’s automated campaign solution that uses machine learning to optimise targeting, creatives, and placements for the best performance with minimal manual setup.
Audience Network
A network of third-party apps and websites where Meta ads can be served outside of Facebook and Instagram, expanding reach.
Business Manager
A central hub provided by Meta to manage ad accounts, Pages, users, and permissions across teams and clients.
Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO)
A setting in Ads Manager that automatically distributes a campaign’s budget across ad sets to maximise results.
Carousel Ads
Ads that feature multiple images or videos in a single ad unit that users can scroll through horizontally.
Collection Ads
A mobile-first format combining a cover image or video with product tiles pulled from your catalogue, leading to an Instant Experience.
Conversions API
A server-side tracking method that sends web events directly from your server to Meta, offering more reliable data collection than the Pixel alone.
Dynamic Product Ads
Ads that automatically show the most relevant products to users based on their online behaviour, pulled from a product catalogue.
Facebook Pixel
A piece of code placed on your website that tracks user actions, enabling better ad targeting, measurement, and optimisation.
Lead Ads
A format designed to capture user information directly within the platform via a pre-filled form, without the need to visit an external site.
Meta Business Suite
An all-in-one tool that allows businesses to manage their Facebook and Instagram accounts, schedule posts, respond to messages, and view insights from a single dashboard.
Reels Ads
Vertical, full-screen video ads that appear between user-generated Reels content on Facebook and Instagram.
Stories Ads
Full-screen vertical ads that appear between organic Stories on Facebook and Instagram, often designed for quick, immersive interaction.
TikTok Ads
Full-screen static or dynamic ads that appear immediately when you open TikTok, with limited daily impressions, offering maximum reach in a short time.
Branded Effects
Filters, stickers and effects that you can create for your brand, that users can then use on their own content, to further bring your brand to life.
Branded Hashtag Challenge
A custom hashtag campaign that encourages user-generated content around a theme. It features on TikTok’s Discover page to boost participation and brand interaction.
Catalog
The name for a set of data stored on TikTok Ads Manager or one of their partner sites, which includes information about your products, including name, price, availability and more. Catalogs are then used to create dynamic ads from information shared in the catalog.
Catalog Sales
A sale or conversion made from a TikTok Video Shopping ad.
Creator Marketplace
TikTok’s official platform for brands to find, connect with, and collaborate with creators on paid partnerships.
In-Feed Ads
Video ads that appear natively in a user’s "For You" feed as they scroll, designed to blend in with organic content seamlessly.
Smart Optimisation
A feature that automatically adjusts bids to achieve the best performance for your ads based on your selected goal (e.g., conversions or reach).
Spark Ads
A native ad format where you can boost your organic TikTok posts (from your own account or a creator's, with permission) to amplify its reach.
TikTok Ads Manager
The platform where you create, manage, and analyse your paid campaigns on TikTok, including audience targeting, budget control, and performance reporting.
TikTok Instant Page
A fast-loading, mobile-optimised landing page built within TikTok, where users can explore products or offers without leaving the app.
TikTok Pixel
A piece of code placed on a website to track user actions, enabling conversion tracking and retargeting.
TikTok Shopping
An e-commerce integration where you can showcase and sell products directly through your TikTok profile and in videos or livestreams.
TopView Ads
Premium ads that appear as the first in-feed post after 3–5 seconds of opening TikTok, delivering high visibility.
Pinterest Ads
Ads with multiple swipeable images, where you can highlight different products, features, or benefits in a single placement.
Catalogs
Product feeds uploaded to Pinterest that are used to create dynamic Shopping Ads. These ads turn your inventory into shoppable Pins.
Collection Ads
Ads that combine a large image or video with smaller, tappable product images underneath to encourage online/in-app shopping.
Idea Ads
Full-screen ad formats designed to inspire users through storytelling (similar to Stories on other platforms).
Pinterest Ads Manager
The platform where you create, manage, and analyse paid campaigns on Pinterest.
Pinterest Tag
A piece of code placed on your website to track conversions, optimise your ads, and build retargeting audiences.
Shopping Ads
Ads created from product Catalogs that appear natively in users’ feeds, driving sales and discoverable products from your brand.
Try On
An AR-powered feature that lets users virtually try on products like makeup.
Verified Merchant Program
A badge and trust signal given to approved merchants, increasing your visibility in Shopping experiences and boosting user confidence.
Video Pins
Auto-playing videos that appear in users’ feeds. Great for showcasing products or telling brand-related stories.
YouTube Ads
Non-skippable video ads up to 6 seconds long, designed for high reach to audiences and quick brand messages.
Channel Targeting
A strategy that allows you to show ads on specific YouTube channels that align with your target audience.
In-Stream Skippable Ads
Video ads that play before, during, or after YouTube videos. These can be manually skipped after 5 seconds or continue to play.
Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads
Short video ads (up to 15 seconds) that play in full before users’ selected videos play.
Video Action Campaigns
Campaigns that drive actions like clicks and conversions using skippable ads across YouTube.
YouTube Ad Placements
Custom ad placements where your ads appear on specific videos, channels, or YouTube pages of your choosing.
YouTube Audio Ads
Ads designed specifically for users who listen rather than watch, often paired with music or podcast-style content.
YouTube Shorts Ads
Brief vertical video ads shown between YouTube Shorts content, tailor-made for mobile engagement.
YouTube Studio
The platform where you manage your content, view analytics, and monetise videos, including ad settings.
Targeting and Audiences
Audiences built from your own data sources, e.g. website visitors, email lists or app users.
Lookalike Audiences
New audiences who share similar behaviours or characteristics with your existing customers, helping expand reach while maintaining relevance.
First-party Audiences
Audience segments created using data you've collected directly, such as email subscribers or site users.
Interest Targeting
Showing ads to users based on topics they’ve shown an interest in, like fashion, tech, or travel.
Behaviour Targeting
Targeting users based on their online actions, such as purchase history, browsing habits, or device use preferences.
Demographic Targeting
Segmenting your audience by age, gender, income, education level, or other demographics.
Geotargeting
Delivering ads to users based on their location, e.g. country, region, city, or postcode. You can also exclude certain locations.
Excluded Audiences
Groups you intentionally leave out of your targeting to avoid irrelevant impressions or wasted spend (e.g. existing customers in a new campaign).
Funnel-Based Targeting
Matching ad delivery to users at specific stages of the marketing funnel, from awareness to conversion. Your ads should be different and specific to each stage.
Remarketing / Retargeting
Re-engaging users who’ve previously interacted with your brand online.
Pixel-Based Targeting
Using tracking pixels on your website to collect user behaviour data and assist in retargeting.
App Activity Targeting
Targeting users based on specific in-app actions, such as downloads, logins, or purchases.
Event-Based Targeting
Showing ads to users who’ve triggered specific events (e.g. “abandoned cart” or video views).
Placement Targeting
Selecting specific websites, apps, or placements (like YouTube channels or in-app ad space) where your ads will appear.
Reporting and Tools
Creating 2 versions of an ad to see which performs better under controlled conditions. You can change elements including audience, targeting settings, bid strategy or ad content or assets in these tests.
Ad Relevance Score
A metric that estimates how well your ad resonates with its target audience, influencing both your ad performance and your CPCs.
Attribution Window
The set period in which a conversion is credited to a specific ad after a user interacts with it (e.g. 7-day click or 1-day view).
Breakdown Reports
Reports that segment your campaign results by metrics like age, gender, device, placement, or time to provide deeper insights for analysis.
Campaign Learning Phase
The early stage of an ad campaign when the platform is optimising delivery based on new data. Performance may be less stable at this stage.
Cross-Channel Reporting Tools / Third-Party Integrations
Platforms like Google Analytics or HubSpot that group together data from multiple ad platforms to provide a holistic view of your campaign performance.
Delivery Insights
Reports that show how ads are being served, including data on frequency and budget spend.
Meta Experiments
Facebook and Instagram’s native testing platform to run tests on campaign strategies, creatives, or audiences.
Offline Conversions
Tracking conversions that happen offline (e.g. in physical stores or over the phone).
Performance Benchmarking
Comparing your campaign results to industry or platform averages to evaluate its effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest’s built-in tool for tracking Pin performance, audience engagement, and conversion metrics. Think GA4, but for Pinterest.
Pixel Diagnostics
Tools or reports that help troubleshoot and confirm the performance of your tracking pixels (e.g. whether they’re firing correctly).
TikTok Attribution Manager
A tool that lets you customise attribution windows to better measure performance based on user behaviour on TikTok.
YouTube Analytics
GA4 for YouTube. The place to be to find data on video performance, viewer demographics, traffic sources, and ad revenue within YouTube Studio.
To sum it all up
Paid Social might be one of the most innovative and far-reaching parts of digital marketing. This glossary sets you up for success, so you’re up to date with the most recent innovations across paid social.
Stay informed, and keep this page saved for future reference; you never know when it’ll come in handy.
