| Why should I care about Social Media | | | | far too familiar with spam. Unsolicited bulk |
| Optimization? | | | | messaging and link heavy advertisements |
| | | | instead of useful comments are two of the |
| You should care about Social Media | | | | more prevalent methods of Social Media |
| Optimization (SMO), because you care about | | | | spamming. However, Social Media spamming is |
| your company's image. There's an old saying | | | | even more atrocious than email spam, because |
| that goes something like, "A happy customer | | | | the offending text is visible to everyone on |
| will tell one other person about his good | | | | the site. It doesn't hide in your inbox, so |
| experience. A disgruntled customer will tell | | | | it can really dilute the appeal of the site. |
| ten people about his bad experience." Good or | | | | Your kindergarten teacher was on the right |
| bad, that's powerful marketing. Social Media | | | | track. If you don't have something relevant |
| Optimization gives you the power to take an | | | | to say, don't say anything at all. |
| active role in managing your brand by | | | | |
| interacting with your current and potential | | | | Is SMO right for my firm? |
| clients by discussing your products, their | | | | |
| comments and concerns and continually | | | | There are many different types of Social |
| promoting your brand. | | | | Media sites currently available. To put it in |
| | | | perspective, think about all the different |
| Social Media Optimization Defined | | | | interests you have in life. Now, consider the |
| | | | possibility that there's at least one Social |
| In its most basic form, Social media | | | | Media site for each of your interests. Of |
| optimization ( is any method used to raise | | | | course, you're not the only person on the |
| your website's online visibility through | | | | Internet, so it's a safe bet there are |
| meaningful communication. SMO opens a | | | | literally millions of sites dedicated to |
| dialogue between you and your clients, using | | | | countless interests around the world. Believe |
| the power of popular opinion to fuel your | | | | it or not, there's a group out there looking |
| marketing campaign. The open format | | | | for your company, product or service. You |
| strengthens your search engine optimization | | | | just have to make it available. Therefore, |
| efforts by fostering a mutual connection with | | | | understanding how to submit to and maintain |
| your clients through the myriad of online | | | | your content on each community is absolutely |
| communities, also called social media sites. | | | | crucial when developing a successful SMO |
| Current examples of SMO include: | | | | strategy. |
| | | | |
| Â- Creating profiles in social media | | | | A few examples of the different Social Media |
| communities such as MySpace, Facebook, and | | | | genres include: |
| VIRB. | | | | |
| | | | Â- News - These sites allow users to submit |
| Â- Participating in and/or creating blogs. | | | | news articles. Once an article is published, |
| | | | users can submit their comments and vote to |
| Â- Disseminating your blogs or articles | | | | promote the story and/or author. |
| using RSS feeds. | | | | |
| | | | Examples include: Digg, Propeller, Newsvine |
| Â- Creating and sharing content through | | | | |
| community based sites like Flickr, YouTube, | | | | Â- Media - These sites allow users to upload |
| and more. | | | | and share a variety of different media files. |
| | | | The overwhelming majority of these sites are |
| Not to incorporate unnecessary buzz words, | | | | dedicated mainly to photo and video files. |
| but SMO is a very Web 2.0 approach to Search | | | | |
| Engine Optimization. Of course, Web 2.0 | | | | Examples include: YouTube, Flickr |
| merely refers to the perceived second | | | | |
| generation of Web-based communities and | | | | Â- Wiki - These sites allow users to add and |
| hosted services - the social-networking | | | | edit informational articles as determined by |
| sites, wikis and folksonomies, which | | | | the individual users. |
| facilitate collaboration and sharing between | | | | |
| users. SMO allows you to become an active | | | | Examples include: Wikipedia, WikiHow, Million |
| member of your online community, quite an | | | | Dollar Wiki |
| important aspect of marketing your brand. | | | | |
| Through participation, you establish yourself | | | | Â- Networking - These sites allow users to |
| or your company as an industry leader and | | | | create profiles and network with others |
| increase your online visibility. | | | | according to similar traits, tastes, and |
| | | | interests. |
| As you can imagine, Social Media Optimization | | | | |
| is most effective when the viral nature of | | | | Examples include: MySpace, Facebook, Virb |
| the technique and its communities are | | | | |
| utilized in a positive manner. Creating | | | | Â- Bookmarking - These sites allow users to |
| legitimate content, building relationships | | | | compile public bookmark collections of sites |
| and instilling trust in your community is the | | | | they find interesting, informative, or |
| very backbone of SMO. You may initiate the | | | | helpful. The more a site is bookmarked, the |
| process, but effective SMO will take on a | | | | hgher the ranking. |
| life all its own. A true forum is bred | | | | |
| through the act of continual communication | | | | Examples include: Stumble Upon, Technorat, |
| between your company and your online | | | | Del.icio.us |
| audience. | | | | |
| | | | When executed properly, Social Media |
| Of course, not everyone plays by the rules. | | | | Optimization can be quite a beneficial |
| In every aspect of life, you will find those | | | | marketing tool. However, SMO may simply not |
| who would cheat the system to receive short | | | | be the right fit for your organization. Some |
| term gains. Like most schemes, the underbelly | | | | questions you might like to consider before |
| of SMO may seem attractive to anyone looking | | | | launching your SMO campaign are: |
| for a quick fix, but don't make that mistake. | | | | |
| Just as it's true with SEO, erroneous SMO | | | | Â- Most SMO sites share very specific |
| will backfire. Using questionable techniques | | | | information. Would your products benefit from |
| will very likely yield the exact opposite | | | | this type of content specific market? |
| results you were hoping to see. | | | | |
| | | | Â- The audience for most Social Media sites |
| SMO Etiquette | | | | is more of a young, tech savvy group. Would |
| | | | your company, product or service appeal to |
| Legitimate SMO techniques are centered on | | | | their fickle nature? |
| sharing information and exposing your | | | | |
| community to your interests. As such, you | | | | Â- Does your web site contain a blog, or |
| want to focus on promoting proper SMO | | | | similar media outlet, you can regularly |
| etiquette. The MySpace super friend, the guy | | | | update with relevant content? |
| or gal who adds anyone and everyone, would be | | | | |
| a good example of improper Social Media | | | | Â- Given the fact that community based sites |
| Optimization. The whole concept behind Social | | | | focus on individual profiles and commentary, |
| Media is to create a community with similar | | | | are you comfortable with developing unique |
| interests for meaningful discussion and let | | | | profiles across multiple sites? |
| the power of popular opinion increase your | | | | |
| online visibility. Of course, you may belong | | | | In summary |
| to several different communities and you may | | | | |
| even have some of the same friends in those | | | | Social Media Optimization has become a |
| different communities. That's perfectly fine. | | | | successful marketing tool for one simple |
| The idea is to remain active in your | | | | reason. It works. The gap between old media |
| communities by adding friends and | | | | and new has gotten smaller and smaller with |
| contributing relevant content. Adding friends | | | | the majority of the prominent television and |
| in bulk, for no reason, is no way to | | | | print media outlets finally embracing the |
| optimize. | | | | Internet by launching sites of their own. The |
| | | | different Social Media sites, like MySpace |
| Communal sites like MySpace and Facebook, or | | | | and Facebook, have exploded with profiles for |
| even YouTube and Flickr to some extent, are | | | | everything from 8th graders discussing their |
| indeed popularity contests. However, simply | | | | favorite bands to full scale ad campaigns for |
| trying to catalog massive amounts of | | | | Blockbuster movies. |
| unrelated, uninterested "friends" is totally | | | | |
| counterproductive. Let the high school kids | | | | If done correctly, SMO can expose your brand |
| worry about who's got the most friends. For | | | | to markets you never thought possible. |
| the purpose of SMO, you should concern | | | | Whether it's used alone to drive a campaign |
| yourself with quality, not quantity. | | | | or in conjunction with your current |
| | | | interactive marketing strategy, Social Media |
| Using unsavory SMO techniques is the Web 2.0 | | | | Optimization offers you a significant |
| equivalent to spam. Unfortunately, we're all | | | | advantage. |