What is Social Media Optimization

Posted by Vaibhav

May 30, 2008

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a planned process of using social media, social networking websites and online communities as a means for generating publicity. It is one of the forms of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which helps in promoting websites on a comprehensive basis.

There are various websites for social media optimization such as Digg, Del.icio.us, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Newsvine, Flickr, Spurl, Wikipedia, MySpace, Shadows, Yahoo Answers, Frappr, Reddit, Facebook, Orkut, Blinklist, and so on.

The increasing need to be amongst people and stay connected with friends has caused social media optimization to emerge as a popular trend practiced in each and every corner of the world today. Also, it is a very effective business tool for commercial websites as it provides an opportunity to increase their online popularity, drive in large traffic, and enhance their pagerank.

SMO involves the ‘pull strategy’ of marketing rather than the ‘push strategy’, as the content of a website decides its fate in the internet world. For instance, people would find it interesting to access websites which offer texts, images, or videos which are unique and appeal to the masses.

Another advantage of SMO is that it helps in building your brand due to its powerful impact on the online audience. Everyday, several millions of people stay in touch with social media sites for the purpose of entertainment, connectivity, obtaining information, and socializing with friends and other people in their network. What this means is that your target market already exists in large numbers and you just need to strategize your moves so as to pull the crowd towards your website.

Pulling the crowd is a big challenge as there are loads of websites competing with you throughout the internet. What distinguishes the best from mediocre is the quality of content, the frequency of updates, and the relevance of information provided by the site. A keyword-rich text is always beneficial, but only when it appears genuine and is as per the nature of the website.

Hence, the opportunity is huge; it all depends on how well you capitalize on it. You must be watchful of the latest updates taking place in the online industry and enhance your brand as much as possible with the help of social media optimization.

Social Media Optimization