50 Text Abbreviations and How to Use Them [UPDATED]

Text message marketing acronyms and jargon · CTA: Call to action · UGC: User-generated content · SMS: Short message service · MMS: Multimedia ... UpdatedApril27,2020 Textabbreviationsalmostdeservetheirowndictionary.ItseemsliketherearecountlesswaystoabbreviatewordsinEnglishtextmessages—someofthemcommonandothersmoreoff-the-wall.Witheverygeneration,thetextslangchangesandawholenewsetofabbreviationsneedtobelearned,especiallyifyouwanttostayrelevantinyourmarketingmessagesbecauseevencompaniesuseabbreviationsinbusinesstexts. Ifyou’veevercaughtyourselfwondering,“Whatdoesbtwmeaninatext?”or“IsitappropriatetosayLOLrightnow?”you’renotalone. Here’saguidetotextabbreviationsandideasonhowyoucanusethemtoimproveyourmasstextingandSMSmarketing. 50Textabbreviationsandacronymstoremember Here’sacheatsheetofSMSabbreviationstomakesureyou’reneverstumpedforsomethingtosay. Commontextabbreviations ROFL:Rollingonfloorlaughing STFU:Shutthe*swearword!*up ICYMI:Incaseyoumissedit TL;DR:Toolong,didn’tread LMK:Letmeknow NVM:Nevermind TGIF:Thankgoodnessit’sFriday TBH:Tobehonest TBF:Tobefrank RN:Rightnow QOTD:Quoteoftheday OOTD:Outfitoftheday BRB:Berightback BTW:Bytheway LOL:Laughoutloud TTYL:Talktoyoulater HMU:Hitmeup FWIW:Forwhatit’sworth IMO:Inmyopinion IMHO:Inmyhumbleopinion IDK:Idon’tknow TBA:Tobeannounced TBD:Tobedecided Businesstextabbreviations EOD:Endofday FAQ:Frequentlyaskedquestion AKA:Alsoknownas ASAP:Assoonaspossible DIY:Doityourself LMGTFY:LetmeGooglethatforyou NP:Noproblem N/A:Notapplicableornotavailable OOO:Outofoffice TIA:Thanksinadvance Romantictextabbreviations ILY:Iloveyou MCM:MancrushMonday WCW:WomancrushWednesday BF:Boyfriend GF:Girlfriend Textmessagemarketingacronymsandjargon CTA:Calltoaction UGC:User-generatedcontent SMS:Shortmessageservice MMS:Multimediamessagingservice RCS:Richcommunicationservices ROI:Returnoninvestment CTR:Click-throughrate 5G:5thgeneration,meaningthenewestgenerationofmobilecommunications TextBroadcast:Asinglemessagesendtoalargegroupofpeople TexttoJoin:Amethodpeoplecanusetooptintoyourtextlist TexttoWin:Acontestyourunthroughtextmessage TexttoLandline:Whenyousendorreceivetextmessagesonalandlinephone Howtousetextabbreviations Sometimes,textabbreviationsjustmakesense.They’reespeciallyhelpfulwhenyou’retryingtokeepyourtextswithinacertaincharacterlimit,orwhenyou’reusingverycommonabbreviationsthatjusthavenoneedtobewrittenout.Usinganabbreviationintherightwaycanalsohelpyoubreakthroughtoconsumersandspeaktotheminanaturalwayifyou’rereachingoutforecommercemarketinginitiativesorotherbusinesspurposes.  Hereareexamplesofwheretextabbreviationsfitnaturalwithinthebodyofthemessage: Example1: Thankyou!Yourcustomerservicerequesthasbeenlogged.AspecialistwillreachoutbyEOD. Example2: ICYMI:Storewidesalethisweekendonly.Showthistextatthecounterforanadditional10%off.BTW,storehoursare9AM-7PMSatandSun.  Example3: TGIF!Celebratethestartoftheweekendat[RESTAURANTNAME].Showthistextfortwo-for-oneappetizers. Thesearemerelyafewexamplesofhowyoucanuseatextabbreviationtoestablisharapportwithyourcustomerswhensendingautomatedtextmessages.Nomatterhowyoudecidetouseabbreviations,trytokeeptheseguidelinesinmindwhenyou’recraftingyourtexts. 1.Keepitsimple Becausetextslangandabbreviationscanbepersonal,youdon’twanttogetcaughttryingtouseabbreviationsthataretoofaroffthebeatenpathwhenyou’resendingbusinesstextmessages.Stickingwiththeclassics,likeusingBTWtosaybytheway,isalwaysagoodidea.Also,don’ttrytocramtoomanylettersintooneabbreviation.Abbreviationscanquicklybecomehardtofollow,sokeepitsimple. 2.Stayprofessional Definitelyavoidabbreviationswithfoullanguageinthemwhenyou’resendingbusinesstextmessages.It’salreadyhardtoconveytonethroughtext,addingedgyabbreviationsmerelycomplicatesthistask.Playitsafeandsticktofamily-friendlyslang. 3.Addmediaintoyourtexts Thegreatthingabouttextmessagemarketingisyou’renotlimitedtoonlytext!BysendinganMMSmessageyoucanactuallyattachanimageoraGIF.Ifyou’resendingaTGIFappetizerspecial,forexample,attachinganimagetothemobilecouponcanhelpyoulookmoreprofessionalandcompelling. Avoidabbreviationmistakes Eventhoughtextabbreviationscanbeuseful,it’salsoquiteeasytogowrongwhentryingtousethem.Partofthereasonforthisthatslangchangesrapidlyandusinganabbreviationthat’snolongerinvoguecanmakeyoustandout—inthewrongway.Avoidthesemistakestocomeacrossinyourbestlightwhentexting. 1.Watchoutfordatedslang What’sinstyleandwhat’sdatedisobviouslysubjective,sopartofthisreallyreliesonyourknowingyouraudience.Justasanexample,itwouldprobablycomeacrossasout-of-touchtomillennialsifyouincorporatenumbersintoyourabbreviations.Commonabbreviationslike“Good2cu”or“Come2ourbar2nite4agr8time”probablyaren’tgoingtoconvincemanyyoungerpeopleyouknowwhatyou’retalkingabout. It’sagoodideatorunyourabbreviationsbyafewdifferentpeopleonyourmarketingteambeforeusingthem.Trytogetthebestsenseforyouraudienceandscrapanyabbreviationsyou’reunsureabout. 2.Don’toveruseabbreviations Youdon’twantawholetextfullofabbreviationsbecausethat’sjustgoingtomakepeoplefeellikethey’redecipheringacode.Asaguideline,it’sprobablysafesttostickwithonewell-placedabbreviationinyourentiretextmessage.Ifyou’retryingtoabbreviatebecauseyou’rerunningoutofroom,considersendingashortenedlinktoawebsitethatcanmorefullyexplainthedetailsyou’retryingtogetacross.Or,sendanMMSwithaphotothatcontainsmoreinformation. Textabbreviationscanbeamarketingasset Usingatextabbreviationintherightwaygivesyourcompanythechancetospeakcasuallywithyourcustomersandshowthemyoutrulyunderstandtheirlanguage.Justmakesureyourabbreviationsaresimpleandcommonenoughthatpeopleactuallyunderstandwhatyou’resaying.Ifyou’reeverindoubt,optforafulllengthversionofthewordyou’retryingtoshorten. 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