Is it kickoff or kick-off? ZeroFOX or ZeroFox? Is "tradigital" really a word?
Find the answers to all your burning terminology questions here — and check our list of words to avoid to make sure you're steering clear of corporate gobbledygook.
These clichés, hedges, empty terms, and tired corporate buzzwords weaken your writing. Avoid them wherever possible.
Have a suggestion? Send it to our fussy senior editor Curtis Foreman (curtis.foreman@hootsuite.com).
accelerate Overused and general (do you actually mean going faster, or do you mean starting, fuelling, or something else?).
Boost Avoid except when discussing Facebook Boost. Hootsuite launched a post promotion feature we referred to as "Boost" in 2018. In 2019, when the feature was enhanced to support LinkedIn Sponsored Content in addition to Facebook Boost, we stopped using "Boost" to describe the feature. It's not actually a named feature, so stick with just Hootsuite or Hootsuite's post promotion features.
crush Tired and off-brand.
deep dive Tired and corporate. Consider explore, discuss, share, examine, learn, analyze, or similar.
disseminate Use a shorter word like tell or share.
disruptive Avoid unless something actually overturned or replaced an old way of doing things. Consider “innovative.”
double down Gambling language and a cliché.
embrace Overused (“embrace change”). Not a word you’d use in conversation.
empower Save for instances of genuine empowerment. Are you really giving someone new power in their life or just a tool to do their job? We’re selling software, not saving the world.
future Be careful using phrases like "the future of customer service," especially in content that will exist for years. Describing things as the future makes your writing sound dated when that future arrives.
functionality You can usually drop this word completely ("campaign planning functionality" becomes "campaign planning") or replace it with the less mealy-mouthed "feature."
harvest Don't say "harvest data" or anything that makes you sound like a creepy data spy. Frame these discussions more around customer insights and less around data gathering.
hope Avoid tiptoeing around around what you’re trying to say. Be more direct if you can. Acceptable occasionally in personal-sounding communications.
impactful Broad and vague — exactly what is the impact? Use a more specific term like effective, useful, or valuable.
in today's digital/social/fast-paced world "If this ever changing world in which we're living makes you give in and cry" was an original song lyric in 1973, when Paul McCartney wrote it for the James Bond film Live and Let Die. That was a long time ago. Try for something more original and insightful.
just Don’t be apologetic, as in “I just wanted to let you know…”
key Avoid. Consider “important.”
ladder up to Means supports or connected to.
learnings Corporate jargon. Humans ask: What did you learn? An alien trying to pass as human asks: What learnings did you take away?
leverage Salesy, clichéd, and overused as a verb. Means “use to your advantage.” (The noun form, as in “have leverage,” is okay.)
marinade Use think about it, reflect, or consider.
maximize Salesy, corporate, and clichéd. Avoid using.
mission-critical Too dramatic. Use only if an organization literally cannot operate without it. Consider “essential.”
new Be careful using this in content that will live for years — especially in guides, white papers, and so on. What's new today will date your writing later.
net-new Just “new” unless specifically referring to the sales/finance term.
operationalize Overused, corporate, vague. Try “start using.”
optimize Overused. Appropriate in specific contexts, such as SEO. You can only optimize something that can be measured. Avoid using with things that can’t be measured (as in “optimize your strategy”).
paradigm Abstract and probably not what you mean. Webster’s defines this as “a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated.”
prior to Use before.
Pro plan Don't abridge the name of our Professional plan to Pro. We used to offer a plan called Hootsuite Pro but discontinued it and replaced it with Hootsuite Professional in 2016. New customers can't sign up for the old plan (now called Legacy Pro), but it's still used by some subscribers, so when describing our current plans, use "Professional" to avoid confusion.
reach out Don’t use as a synonym for “contact”. Webster’s defines “reach out” as “make an effort to do something for other people: The church is reaching out to help the poor.”
recent Avoid in long-form content (e.g., "a recent report by Gartner states..."). The longer your document lives, the less accurate this word becomes.
regarding Use “about.”
robust Literally means “strong and healthy.” Do you mean this?
slice and dice We aren't selling food processors. Stick to "filter."
social marketing This is an established marketing discipline separate from our core expertise here at Hootsuite. Use social media marketing.
social skills, social life, etc. In most cases, we'll drop media after the first use of social media and just call it social. That said, watch out for terms like "social skills," social life," "social sophistication," and so on; these terms have an established meaning that has nothing to do with social media. When in doubt, add media to prevent ambiguity (for example, social media skills).
synergize, synergy, synergistic A vague way to describe things working well together. Try to be more specific.
table stakes Not egregious, but an example of the kind of idiom we should avoid where possible for accessibility and translation. We had to explain this metaphor to a Spanish translator, who went with "necessary" instead.
tool When describing Hootsuite, call it a platform, not a tool. This is a business decision to support our perception as an enterprise solution provider. It's fine to use "tool" in other contexts; for example, Get the tools you need to succeed with social.
tradigital No.
Twitter Like it or not, it's been X since 2022 and it's not changing back.
unpack Use talk about, discuss, analyze, simplify, consider, or similar.
utilize Just “use.” Don’t use three syllables when one will do.
value add Marketing jargon.
very Donald Trump used “very” a lot. Don’t follow his lead. Use adjectives that are strong enough to stand on their own.
In content for North American audiences, we use American spelling and follow Merriam-Webster, with exceptions and additions listed here. Everyone at Hootsuite is welcome to propose a new entry or a change to an existing one — just DM our super-friendly editor Curtis Foreman on Slack.
When writing about Hootsuite products and services, include "Hootsuite" in first mention and optionally after that. For example: Hootsuite Amplify makes it easy for your employees to safely share your content and extend your social reach. Amplify boosts employee engagement by making it easy for your people to stay connected and informed.
Academy Formerly "Hootsuite University."
advisor Not “adviser.” Advisor is an unregulated salesperson. Adviser is regulated in many markets.
AdEspresso
am/pm Lowercase, no periods, no spaces.
ampersand (&) Don't use in place of "and" in formal contexts like reports, web copy, and so on. Acceptable in less formal contexts (tweets, email subject lines, and so on), or when it's part of a company name or composition title (AT&T, Procter & Gamble, House & Garden), and in some accepted abbreviations (R&B, B&B).
apostrophes For plurals of a single letter, add an apostrophe and an s: Mind your p’s and q’s, the Oakland A’s. Don't use apostrophes for decades (unless the ‘80s) or acronyms: the 1990s, CDs, KPIs.
app
app directory
Asia Pacific Some news agencies use Asia-Pacific, but we haven't used the hyphen in the past, so won't start now. Use Asia Pacific, not the Asia Pacific region.
AutoScheduler
baby boomers Sentence case, not title case. Born around 1946–1964.
Black Capitalize when using to describe racial identity, as in Black Americans. (Many style guides prescribe the lowercase black; we've chosen to follow the lead of groups like Black Lives Matter and the NAACP. There's an excellent piece in Conscious Style Guide about the thinking behind this approach.)
Boost DON'T USE. See Words to avoid section above.
Brandwatch Not CamelCase.
C suite (noun) Don't capitalize suite.
C-suite, C-level (adjective) Hiring for C-level positions requires special care.
cloud Lowercase: in the cloud, cloud computing.
currency See Regional Currency & Pricing States
click-through (noun, adjective) Tracking click-throughs is important. Marketers measure an ad’s click-through rate.
click through (verb) You click through an ad.
customer success manager (CSM) See titles
cyber (adjective) Per AP style, most words formed with “cyber-” don’t get a space or hyphen: cyberattack, cyberbullying, cybercafe, cybersecurity.
departments Don’t capitalize department names: marketing, sales, etc.
dialogue, dialog Per AP style, when describing a conversation, use dialogue. When describing a software interface, use dialog box.
ebook
ecommerce
engage Means “involve (someone's interest or attention)”: Write content that engages your audience’s attention.
engage with Means “establish a meaningful contact or connection with“: We engage with customers.
enterprise (noun, adjective) Avoid using “enterprises,” “enterprise organizations,” or “enterprise companies,” as these terms don’t accurately reflect some of our primary verticals (health care, higher education, and government). In most cases, use organization, large organization, or similar. The adjective enterprise-strength is acceptable, as is (of course) the product name Hootsuite Enterprise.
ephemeral content Content visible for a limited period, after which it disappears — for example, Snapchat and Instagram Stories.
Facebook ads
Facebook Live video
Facebook Page As in business pages, vs. personal profiles.
Facebook post
fan base
financial services (noun, adjective) Not capitalized and not singular. Use the plural in both the noun and adjective forms: financial services, financial services organizations, financial services trends, etc.
finserv (adjective) Don't use in public-facing content. Short for "financial services." Acceptable occasionally in presentations and content for smaller audiences familiar with the industry. Don't capitalize or use CamelCase.
fintech (noun, adjective) One word. Short for "financial technology." Acceptable in content for industry professionals who can be expected to be familiar with the term. Don't capitalize or use CamelCase.
first-touch attribution Hyphenated for consistency with multi-touch attribution.
flesh out Not “flush out.” She flushed an owl out of a tree. He fleshed out the idea.
follow up (verb) I’ll follow up with you.
follow-up (noun, adjective) I’ll send you a follow-up. He sent a follow-up email.
front line (noun) Here’s a report from the front line.
frontline (adjective) We share frontline news.
full-day (adjective) It’s a full-day webinar.
full-screen (adjective)
future-proof, future-proofing (noun, verb) Always hyphenated. This can come off disingenuous (can someone really future-proof their strategy?), so use carefully and intentionally.
G2 Formerly G2 Crowd. Hootsuite is a leader in the G2 Grid® for social media suites.
generations Capitalization rules for these are inconsistent, but there you have it. Capitalize the Greatest Generation, Generation X or Gen X, and Generation Z or Gen Z (these were all coined or influenced by the titles of works, FWIW), but use sentence case for baby boomers and millennials.
Generation X Born around 1965–1980. Capitalize. Gen X and Gen Xer are fine to use too.
Generation Z Born around 1997-2012, though specifics are up for debate. Capitalize. It's okay to use Gen Z and Gen Zer too.
GIFs
Geopiq for Instagram DON'T USE. Now Streamview by Synaptive, rebranded in March 2017.
hashtags The social team uses CamelCase for clarity and accessibility: #HootChat, #WinWithSocial.
health care Two words.
Heyday Also Heyday by Hootsuite on first use. Never "HeyDay" or "Hayday." Hootsuite's customer messaging platform for retailers, acquired in 2021.
Hootsuite In most cases, just Hootsuite. Preferred hashtag use is #Hootsuite. In legal contexts (contracts, unsubscribe links, etc.), our legal company name is Hootsuite Inc. Note that our original company name (camel-case HootSuite) and original legal name (Hootsuite Media Inc.) are both off-brand and to be avoided.
Hootsuite Ambassadors #HootAmb
Hootcast #Hootcast
HootChat #HootChat
HootGiving #HootGiving
Hootlet #Hootlet
Hootsuite In most cases, just Hootsuite. Preferred hashtag use is #Hootsuite. In legal contexts (contracts, unsubscribe links, etc.), our legal company name is Hootsuite Inc. Note that our original company name (camel-case HootSuite) and original legal name (Hootsuite Media Inc.) are both off-brand and to be avoided.
Hootsuite Community #HootCommunity
Hootsuite Helpers #Hootsuite_Help
Hootsuite Life #HootsuiteLife
Hootsuite Partners #HootPartners
HootPerks #HootPerks
HootTip #HootTip
Hootup #Hootup
HubSpot DON'T USE. No longer included in Hootsuite app directory. (Some long-form content pieces mention it as a featured app.)
Impact
Inbox
industry principal Owls who are focused on, or subject matters in, specific industries.
infosheet One word.
Instagram Stories
Insights Formerly UberVU. Purchased by Hootsuite and rebranded in 2014.
internet Lowercased as of 2016.
jobs See titles
kick off (verb) We met to kick off the new campaign.
kickoff (noun) The kickoff meeting is this Friday.
Klout DON'T USE. Formerly supported in Hootsuite, but we discontinued support in 2016.
knowledgeable
last-touch attribution Hyphenated for consistency with multi-touch attribution.
LiftMetrix DON'T USE. Now Hootsuite Impact. Purchased by Hootsuite and rebranded in 2017.
like, likes (noun) Lowercase when talking about positive reactions across social. You need to measure more than just likes. Capitalize only when specifically talking about Facebook: Get more Facebook Likes.
like (verb) People are required to “like” the Facebook page to view content.
LinkedIn Company Pages
LinkedIn Groups AVOID. While LinkedIn Groups still exists, LinkedIn ended support for the LinkedIn Groups API in 2017. Hootsuite has removed LinkedIn Groups functionality, so don't describe Hootsuite as a tool for managing LinkedIn Groups.
livestream, livestreaming
login (noun, adjective) My login credentials aren’t working.
log in (verb) Used on the website to avoid having “sign up” and “sign in” side by side. Log in to Hootsuite.
micro-influencer Defined by Edelman as having 1,000–10,000 followers.
millennial Born around 1981–1996. Sentence case, not capitalized.
multi-touch attribution
names Use a person’s full name on first mention, then last name in subsequent mentions.
NeedTagger DON'T USE. Discontinued and removed from Hootsuite app directory in 2014.
News Feed Facebook News Feed
Nexgate DON'T USE. Now Proofpoint. Purchased by Proofpoint and rebranded in 2014.
nonprofit
OK
onboard
on-brand (adjective) The image of Mickey Mouse smoking was not on-brand for Disney.
on demand (adverb) The webinar is now available to watch on demand.
on-demand (adjective) We’ve released a series of on-demand webinars.
online
on-site (adjective) We offer on-site training.
opt-in (noun, adjective) Subscribers need to complete the opt-in process first.
opt in (verb) Users can opt in to receive communications.
Owl Capitalize when describing Hootsuite employees. Welcome new Owls!
Ow.ly Our link shortener.
page Lowercase except if saying “Facebook Page(s).” Visit our Facebook Page. See related pages on Facebook.
page views
percent Use % for percentages unless there's some reason to spell it out. (AP style used to prescribe spelling out percent, but changed in 2019. As long as you're consistent in your choices, it's not a big deal either way.)
permissions Lowercase in most contexts: The super administrator can create or delete an organization. Capitalize when describing assignment of specific permissions, as in product help: There are three organization permission levels: Super Admin, Admin, and Default.
pm See am/pm
plan As in your monthly plan or Professional plan.
pop-up (noun, adjective) Dismiss the pop-up. The pop-up window appears.
pop up (verb) When you click, a window pops up.
preapprove, preapproved
prescreen (verb)
principal As in industry principal, Owls focused on, or subject matters in, specific industries.
Professional plan Don't abridge the name of our Professional plan to Pro. We used to offer a plan called Hootsuite Pro but discontinued it and replaced it with Hootsuite Professional in 2016. New customers can't sign up for the old plan (now called Legacy Pro), but it's still used by some subscribers, so when describing our current plans, use "Professional" to avoid confusion.
Proofpoint Formerly Nexgate.
real time (noun) Do not use if information may take more than 60 seconds to appear after becoming available (for example, with Hootsuite's X integration). We followed the presentation in real time.
real-time (adjective) Do not use if information may take more than 60 seconds to appear after becoming available (for example, with Hootsuite's X integration). The app displays real-time information.
real-world (adjective) Augmented reality displays data about real-world products.
reply as In product, as in reply as @hootsuite when giving users the choice between profiles. Don’t use “reply from @hootsuite.”
regram Means "post a photo from someone else's Instagram account."
repost
reshare
retarget Means "Target ads based on a consumer's previous online activity."
retweet See also tweet
ReviewTrackers Note CamelCase.
roles See permissions.
Sales Prodigy DON'T USE. Acquired in 2016.
Seesmic DON'T USE. Acquired in 2012.
setup (noun and adjective) Review the setup instructions.
set up (verb) Set up your email account.
share
sign in (verb) Used in the product (per Microsoft Manual of Style for technical publications), but not on the website. See log in
sign-up (noun, adjective) The sign-up sheet is in the kitchen.
sign up (verb) Example: Please sign up for the event before Friday.
sign off (verb) Please sign off on the changes.
signoff (noun) We’ll need signoff from all stakeholders.
single sign-on, SSO
small and medium-sized businesses No hyphen after “small.” “Small and midsized businesses” is also acceptable.
Smarsh
social media management We refer to Hootsuite as a social media management platform (abbreviated SMMP). The Forrester Wave ranks Hootsuite uses the category social media management solutions (SMMS) to rank Hootsuite against our competitors. Don't use "social relationship platform" or "SRP" to describe Hootsuite (we used to use this term, but don't anymore).
Sparkcentral Also Sparkcentral by Hootsuite on first use. Never "SparkCentral" or "Spark Central." Hootsuite's social care solution, acquired in 2021.
stand-alone Hyphenated; not one word.
startup (noun, adjective) One word.
streams Capitalize only when introducing the feature per capitalization guidelines in Style.
Streamview Long form is Streamview by Synaptive. Formerly Geopiq for Instagram.
Swift App DON'T USE. Acquired in 2010.
sync (noun, verb) Not “synch.”
takeaway One of the key takeaways from the webinar…
Talkwalker Note lowercase w (not CamelCase).
team See department
Timeline As in Facebook Timeline.
titles Write job titles in sentence case whether they appear before a name (chief marketing officer Penny Wilson) or after (Penny Wilson, chief marketing officer). Capitalize only formal titles: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pope Francis.
touchpoint One word.
travel, traveler, traveling One “l”.
tweet (noun, verb) Lowercase all forms of tweet, retweet, etc. What are millennials tweeting? That tweet got a lot of retweets.
TwapperKeeper DON'T USE. Acquired in 2012.
Twitter DON'T USE. RIP, little blue bird. Acquired in 2022 by Elon Musk, delisted, and rebranded as X. It's not changing back. Use X. In cases where the former name is needed (e.g., for SEO), X / Twitter is acceptable.
TwitterBar DON'T USE. Acquired in 2011.
UberVU DON'T USE. Now Hootsuite Insights. Purchased by Hootsuite and rebranded in 2014.
University DON'T USE "Hootsuite University" — it was relaunched as Hootsuite Academy in 2016.
user-generated (adjective)
URL Always uppercase.
US (noun, adjective) Abbreviation for the United States. No periods.
UK (noun, adjective) Abbreviation for the United Kingdom. No periods.
Vine DON'T USE. The Vine video sharing service was discontinued in 2016.
web Lowercase as of 2016.
web browser Lowercase.
webinar
website
webpage
What the Trend DON'T USE. Acquired in 2011.
white paper
Wi-Fi
X Replaces Twitter (as of 2022).
x Lowercase when used for times, as in increase revenue by 3x.
Zeetl DON'T USE. Acquired in 2014.
ZeroFox (Formerly ZeroFOX, until 2021 or so.)
