I know that “CMS” is an acronym which is very commonly used throughout the marketing industry. Thus, you really shouldn’t have to spell it out for your customers. You wouldn’t spell out “USA,” would you?* But bear with me.
If you want to use an acronym, just follow these simple rules:
- Spell out the name or phrase before introducing its acronym: “…using our proprietary Content Management System (CMS)…” Spell out every acronym in your document at first use, no matter how common.
- Spell it out again whenever the name or phrase is the subject of a sentence or paragraph.
Or just don’t use acronyms at all. Acronyms can annoy readers, who have to remember what they mean whenever they appear.
For example, the acronym “CMS” has several meanings:
Which is a good reason to avoid acronyms. Besides, words still work.
*USA stands for:
USA Underground Service Alert
USA Uniform System of Accounts
USA Unix System Administration
USA Unit Self-Assessment
USA United Software Association
USA Utilization, Support, & Accountability
USA Uninterrupted Sharing Activity
USA Unique Settable Attributes
Source: acronyms.thefreedictionary.com