Definition

A person secretly paid to hype up a product while cosplaying as an unbiased enthusiast, essentially the original influencer before Instagram made it a legitimate career. They're the planted audience member at an auction driving up bids, or that 'random customer' in the infomercial who just can't believe how amazing this vegetable chopper is. The word itself has become the ultimate callout in online discourse for anyone suspected of suspiciously enthusiastic endorsement.

Example Usage

Half the comments on that crypto thread are obviously shills pretending they're regular investors who just happen to love this particular coin.

Source: Common marketing and advertising terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

Click-Through Rate

The ratio of people who actually click on your ad versus those who pretend it doesn't exist, much like how people treat street performers. A 2% click-through rate is considered good, which tells you everything you need to know about how much people love ads.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Advanced

second-party data

Someone else's first-party data that they share with you directly, like a data partnership minus the sketchy middleman. The often-overlooked middle child between first and third-party data.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Beginner

burner email

A temporary, disposable email address users create to access gated content without sharing their real contact information. The digital equivalent of giving a fake phone number at a bar.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

merchandising

The art and science of promoting product sales through strategic in-store presentation, placement, and marketing activities—basically making stuff look so good you forget you don't need it. This retail wizardry combines psychology, aesthetics, and logistics to maximize revenue per square foot while creating an irresistible shopping experience. When done well, you walk in for milk and leave with a cart full of impulse purchases.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Beginner

cost per acquisition

The total marketing spend divided by the number of customers acquired, revealing exactly how much you paid to convince each person to care about your product. Also known as CPA, or 'the number that makes CFOs wince.'

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Advanced

Omnichannel

A strategy where brands try to be everywhere at once, like a helicopter parent but for customer experience. The goal is a seamless experience across all channels, which in practice means your app, website, and store all crash at the same time.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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See “shill” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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