App marketing glossary

AI UGC
AI UGC is UGC-style video where AI produces some or all of the script, creator, voice or edit instead of a human filming it.
Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Answer engine optimization is the practice of structuring content so AI assistants and search answer boxes can find, understand and cite it.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
ASO is the process of improving an app's visibility and conversion rate in the App Store and Google Play through keywords, creatives and ratings.
Aspect ratio
Aspect ratio is the width-to-height proportion of a video. TikTok, Reels and Shorts use vertical 9:16, typically 1080 by 1920 pixels.
CAC (customer acquisition cost)
CAC is the total cost of acquiring one paying customer, calculated as acquisition spend divided by new paying customers.
Call to action (CTA)
A call to action is the single instruction at the end of a video or post telling the viewer what to do next, such as "link in bio" or "search it on the App Store".
Completion rate
Completion rate is the percentage of views in which the video was watched to the end.
Content calendar
A content calendar is a schedule showing what will be posted, on which platform, when, and in what status.
Content pillar
A content pillar is a recurring theme your account posts about, such as tips, demos or customer stories, that anchors your content calendar.
CPI (cost per install)
CPI, or cost per install, is the advertising spend divided by the number of app installs it generated.
Engagement rate
Engagement rate is the share of people who interacted with a post (likes, comments, shares, saves) relative to followers or views.
Hold rate
Hold rate measures how well a video keeps viewers after the hook, commonly the share of viewers who reach a later point such as the 15-second mark or 50% of the video.
Hook
A hook is the first one to two seconds of a short video: the line or visual that stops the scroll and earns the next few seconds of attention.
Hook rate
Hook rate is the percentage of people who keep watching past the first few seconds of a video, usually measured as three-second views divided by impressions.
LTV (lifetime value)
LTV is the total revenue, or gross profit, a customer is expected to generate over their entire relationship with your product.
Payback period
Payback period is how long it takes for a customer's gross profit to repay what it cost to acquire them.
Posting cadence
Posting cadence is how often you publish on a platform, for example three videos per week.
Retention rate
Retention rate is the percentage of users who are still active after a given period, such as day 1, day 7 or day 30 after install.
ROAS (return on ad spend)
ROAS is revenue attributed to ads divided by the ad spend that produced it. A ROAS of 2.0 means two dollars of revenue per dollar spent.
Safe zone
A safe zone is the area of a vertical video where text and key visuals will not be covered by platform interface elements like captions, buttons and profile names.
Screen recording ad
A screen recording ad is a video ad built around a real recording of an app or website in use, usually narrated by a creator voice-over.
Spark Ads
Spark Ads are a TikTok ad format that promotes an existing organic post, keeping its engagement and creator handle.
UGC ad
A UGC (user-generated content) ad is an ad made in the style of organic creator content: a real-looking person on a phone camera showing a product in use.
UTM parameters
UTM parameters are tags added to a URL (source, medium, campaign, term, content) that tell analytics tools where a visit came from.

Start your first batch with Otto — Your automated social media marketer.