Network Business

What is Social Media Optimization?

Social media optimization (SMO) consists of a set of methods for generating traffic on any website through social networking websites, business networking websites, online communities and blogs (macro blogging as well as micro blogging). These methods exploit the customer base that the target social media / business networking website already have and belong to common interest group with the website that is being promoted.

We all are aware of the social networking websites like orkut, facebook etc. These websites provides platform to interact with other users, create groups for common interest, share ideas, share profiles and many more.

How can SMO benefit me? SMO is a great tool due to its penetration in the target markets. It does not cost money to run a SMO campaign. SMO is a good tool for branding SMO can do wonders for direct sales, direct marketing of products and services What are various methods for SMO? Creating RSS feeds Placing Social News buttons Setting up a blog (Macro Blogging-e.g. blogger.com , wordpress.com) Micro blogging through twitter Incorporating functionality to add third party community tools like videos, images (youtube.com) Active participation in community forums and discussions with meaningful inputs

 

List of websites which can be helpful in Social Media Optimization

http://www.orkut.com http://www.facebook.com http://www.linkedin.com http://www.blogger.com http://www.myspace.com http://www.digg.com http://www.stumbleupon.com http://www.xing.com



Measuring ROI for Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Measuring ROI is important in any marketing campaign / advertising campaign you undertake. Similarly in SMO too it is important as based on this one can allocate efforts and invest time in sustaining the efforts.

Again, the goals matter in computing ROI for SMO campaign. The goals can be

Generating direct sales Brand Building Generating Leads etc.

 

For generating direct sales, one can incorporate small software code to detect the source of traffic and associate it with sales if any comes from the visits.

For brand building, one needs to follow the depth of penetration in business / social networking website.

Summary: SMO can be a very useful tool to generate the traffic for any website if used effectively. There is no cost associated with SMO methods but it requires sustained efforts for generating quality leads.

Nowadays, every organization wants to have a large consumer base, greater profit and a better image in the market. A very common way of conveying the company’s message to its customer has become the Social Media Optimization. Social Media Optimization is a set of methods for creating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Online website activity has now been increasing, with more information being given out to the customers in order to gain their confidence. The methods of Social Media Optimization include adding RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos. Social Media Optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways, mainly the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful Social Media Optimization. Social media optimization is in a number of ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social book marking, video and photo sharing websites. This online concept aims to bring together ideas and display information that could benefit the organization in terms of its popularity and overall increase in customers. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines. Social Media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence. A lot of people have started to interact through blogs, especially discussing issues that concern them. This has thus created a social network against groups of people and helps in sharing data as well. social media optimization (SMO) is not only limited to marketing and brand building. Increasingly smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy (i.e. product/service development, recruiting, employee engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business development and more). Firms often save up on their cost because they are conducting a number of tasks simultaneously through search engines and websites with the help of Social Media Optimization. There are a number of functions that it provides; therefore quite a few goals of the organization can be achieved through Social Media Optimization.

Social media optimization is a way for individuals and organizations to generate publicity through social networking tools like Twitter and LinkedIn, online communities like MySpace, and automated tools like TwitterFeed and Ping.fm. The term “social media optimization” was originally coined by SEO consultant extraordinaire, Rohit Bhargava, the senior vice president of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence and author of the Influential Marketing Blog. (Bhargava’s work was so groundbreaking, Jeremiah Owyang, another social media optimization expert, even dovetailed a few of his own rules to the original work.)

Social media optimization is basically a way to promote your blog, website, or even your company’s brand, through social media, without being obnoxious or overtly commercial. Sure, you can blanket sites like Twitter with “Want to lose weight? Download my free report, ‘19 Ways to Lose Weight Fast’” repeatedly, or brag about your latest affiliate paycheck, but that’s not going to get you any followers. At least none worth talking to.

Bhargava terms these people”Twankers” (people who use Twitter for one-way broadcasts about their own greatness) and “Twidiots” (people who only tweet insignificant things like their latest press release or what they had for breakfast). If you’re just having one-way conversations and telling people about the minor, mundane details of your company, you’re not providing any value, and your SMO efforts will be wasted.

Whether you are an SEO consultant or you are new to social media marketing, there are a few rules you need to follow in order to be effective. Bhargava’s five rules of social media optimization included important things like increasing your linkability, helping your content travel, and encouraging the mash up. To that, we would add our own four rules.

* Focus on a few networks, not many. Many social media optimization beginners make the mistake of joining as many social networks as they can, and getting a few followers in each. The problem is you’re getting 10 or 20 followers in 10 networks, rather than 400 or 500 in 2 networks. If you take this narrow route, chances are you will attract the same followers in each one.

* Find people in allied fields, not just your own, to improve your social media optimization. Think referrals, not customers. If you’re in the financial services industry, don’t just focus on finding people who need to invest. Connect with people who can refer those same people to you, like lawyers, real estate agents, bankers, and anyone else who has clients who will need the financial services you offer.

* Provide real value to others. Telling people how they can earn money while they sleep, or “Lose Weight Fast!!!” is not valuable. Steering people to a recipe site for people who are trying a low-carb diet, or writing a blog post about the top five fat-burning foods is valuable social media optimization. Refer people to helpful websites, even if they’re not your own. And don’t be nervous about asking questions of your own. It makes you look like a real person, and not just a know-it-all.

* Commit to a social media optimization program for the long haul. It’s not enough to just use it a few times and be done with it. This is an ongoing process. You wouldn’t take the time to cultivate a new friend and then never hang out with them, would you? Some of these contacts will become your friends online. Ignore them, and you’ll waste all the effort you put into your social media optimization and developing those relationships. Remember, social media marketing is actually about building real relationships, not just broadcasting one-way information. That’s what a TV is for.

By starting a social media optimization program, you’ll accomplish two things: 1) You’ll become a thought leader in your chosen field, and 2) your expertise will lead to more and bigger clients or job opportunities.