Glossary

The vocabulary of people who post every day

Short definitions of the terms you run into when you create, publish and measure social media content, with no vendor jargon. Every term has its own page, with the full definition and how it works in Murify.

Formats and features

Carousel

A post with several images or videos the viewer swipes through sideways, up to 20 per post on Instagram.

Reels

Instagram’s short vertical video, distributed mostly to people who do not follow the account yet.

Stories

Vertical content that disappears after 24 hours, shown at the top of the app to people who already follow the account.

Feed

The permanent grid of the profile: what stays published after the story is gone and the Reel has run.

Caption

The text that goes with the post: it gives context, goes deeper and says what the person should do next.

Alt text

A text description of what the image shows, read by screen readers and by the network’s search.

Explore tab

Instagram’s discovery grid: posts from accounts the person does not follow, picked by the algorithm for them.

Broadcast channel

A one-way conversation in Instagram DMs: the account posts, subscribers read and react, but cannot reply.

Highlights

Stories saved permanently on the profile, in circles below the bio, organized by subject.

Collab

A post published as co-authors by two or more accounts: it appears on every profile and adds up the reach and engagement.

Link in bio

The only clickable link on an Instagram profile, and the reason so many captions end with "link in bio".

Pinned post

Up to three posts held at the top of the profile grid, regardless of when they were published.

LinkedIn document

LinkedIn’s carousel: a multi-page PDF published as a post, which the person flips through in the feed.

Reach

How many different accounts saw your content at least once in a given period.

Impressions

How many times the content was displayed, counting every time the same person saw it again.

Engagement

Every interaction with the post: like, comment, share, save and click.

Engagement rate

Interactions divided by reach or by followers, as a percentage, to compare posts of different sizes.

Saves

How many people kept the post to see later: the strongest signal that the content was useful.

CTR

Click-through rate: how many people clicked the link divided by how many saw it, as a percentage.

Views

Instagram’s main metric since 2024: how many times the content was seen, in any format.

Retention

How much of the content the person consumed before leaving: the percentage of the video watched or of the slides seen.

How many times the post was sent in DMs or reposted to a story: the signal Instagram values most today.

Profile clicks

How many people opened your profile from a post: the first step of someone who may become a follower or a customer.

Follower growth

Followers gained minus followers lost in a period: the net change, not the total.

Completion rate

The percentage of people who reached the last slide of the carousel or the end of the video.

Organic reach

The accounts that saw the post without the brand paying for it, as opposed to ad reach.

Vanity metrics

Numbers that impress but do not guide decisions: total followers, likes, views of a single post.

KPI

Key performance indicator: the metric chosen to tell whether the goal is being reached.

Algorithm

The recommendation system that decides what each person sees, in what order, in the feed, stories, Reels and Explore.

Shadowban

A sudden, silent drop in reach, with no warning, attributed to a restriction the network placed on the account.

Ranking signals

The actions the algorithm uses to decide distribution: watch time, sends via DM, saves, comments.

Original content

Content created by the account itself, not reposted: Instagram now prioritizes originals in recommendations.

Instagram SEO

Writing captions, alt text, name and bio with the words people type into the network’s search.

Hook

The first sentence or the first slide: what decides, in one second, whether the person keeps going or scrolls past.

CTA

Call to action: the clear instruction of what the person should do after consuming the content.

Script

The post’s text organized before the design, slide by slide, with what each one says and in what order.

Content pillars

The three to five subjects the account always comes back to and that say what it is about.

Tone of voice

The way the brand speaks in text: formal or close, technical or simple, serious or playful.

Hashtag

A word with # in the caption that classifies the post and makes it findable in the network’s search.

Storytelling

Telling the content as a story, with a character, a conflict and a resolution, to hold attention and be remembered.

Copywriting

Writing text to provoke an action: follow, save, click, buy. Writing in service of the result.

Social proof

Showing that other people already bought, used or approved: a testimonial, the number of customers, a review.

Mental trigger

A decision shortcut the copy activates: scarcity, urgency, social proof, authority, reciprocity.

Carousel cover

The first slide: the only one that shows in the feed and the grid, and the one that decides whether the person swipes.

Open loop

A question or promise raised at the start and only resolved at the end, to hold the person until then.

Brand kit

The brand’s set of colors, fonts, logo and tone of voice, registered once and applied to every post.

Visual identity

The system of colors, typography, logo and image style that makes the brand recognizable without reading the name.

Template

A ready-made post layout, with the places for text, photo and logo defined, so you swap the content and keep the design.

Color palette

The brand’s colors and the role of each one: background, text, accent and support.

Typography

The brand’s fonts and the hierarchy between heading, body and detail.

Multi-format

The same post delivered in 4:5, 1:1 and 9:16, with the layout rebuilt for each ratio, with no stretching or cropping.

Visual hierarchy

The order in which the eye reads the slide: what is bigger, more contrasted and higher up is read first.

Contrast

The difference in luminance between text and background: what decides whether the slide is readable on a phone, in the sun.

Safe zone

The area of a story or Reel the app’s interface does not cover: outside it, text ends up behind buttons and the caption.

4:5 format

The vertical ratio of the Instagram feed, 1080 by 1350 pixels: it takes more screen than the square.

9:16 format

The full-screen vertical ratio, 1080 by 1920 pixels, used for stories, Reels, TikTok and Shorts.

Profile grid

The profile view with posts side by side, in columns: where the visual identity is judged all at once.

Keyword

The agreed word that, when commented or sent in a DM, triggers an automatic reply.

Automatic reply

A message sent on its own in the DMs to whoever commented the keyword on a post.

Message flow

A sequence of automatic DMs: ask, wait for the answer, send the link, request permission.

Opt-in

The person’s explicit permission to receive messages from the account. Without it, there is no broadcast.

Broadcast

One DM to every contact who opted in, right away or scheduled.

24-hour window

The period, counted from the person’s last message, in which the account can reply freely in the DMs.

Inbox

One place for comments, messages and mentions from every connected account.

Comment moderation

Reviewing the comments on posts and flagging, hiding or replying to the ones that need attention.

Lead

A person who showed interest and left a contact: commented the keyword, replied in the DMs, gave their email.

Contact tag

A label applied to a contact to say where they came from or what they asked for: "ebook", "promo", "hot lead".

Segmentation

Splitting the contact list by interest, source or behavior to send the right message to each group.

DM funnel

The path from comment to result inside the DMs: commented, received, replied, clicked, bought.

Story mention

When someone tags your account in their own story: the most valuable interaction from a happy customer.

Official Meta API

The authorized door to publish, read metrics and reply to messages on Instagram without passwords or bots.

Professional account

A business or creator account on Instagram: the one with insights, a contact button and API access.

Webhook

The notice the network sends the tool the instant something happens: a new comment, a message, a mention.

Brief

The short description of what the post needs to say, to whom and with what goal, before producing it.

Editorial calendar

The day-by-day view of what will be published, on which network and for which brand.

Content planning

Deciding in advance what to produce in the week or month, from the account’s topics and goal.

Batch production

Creating several posts at once, in a single session, instead of one per day.

Scheduling

Leaving the post ready to be published on its own, at the chosen date and time, on the connected account.

Best time to post

The hour when your audience responds the most, calculated from the performance of previous posts.

Social media manager

The person who runs a brand’s social networks: plans, produces, publishes, replies and measures.

UGC

User-generated content: a photo, video or testimonial made by a customer or creator for the brand to use.

Micro-influencer

A creator with ten to a hundred thousand followers: less reach than the big ones, more engagement and more audience trust.

Posting frequency

How many times a week the account publishes in each format: consistency matters more than the number.

Evergreen content

Content that does not age: it stays useful and findable months after being published.

Content repurposing

Turning one piece into several: the video becomes a carousel, the carousel becomes stories, the caption becomes a LinkedIn post.

Seasonal content

Content tied to a date or season: Black Friday, Mother’s Day, back to school, end of year.

Client approval

The step where the client reviews and releases the post before it is published, common at agencies and for freelancers.

From the term to the finished post

One sentence becomes a script, a design in your brand and a caption, in all three formats. Create your account and make your first carousel in five minutes.

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The vocabulary of people who post every day

Formats and features

Metrics and analytics

Algorithm and distribution

Script and copy

Brand and design

Comments, DMs and contacts

Planning and publishing

From the term to the finished post