Social media optimization
(SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through
social media, online communities and community websites.
Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, adding a "Digg This"
button, blogging and incorporating third party community
functionalities like Flickr photo slides and galleries or
YouTube videos. Social media optimization is related to search
engine marketing, but differs in several ways, primarily the
focus on driving traffic from sources other than search
engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of
successful SMO.
Social media optimization is in many 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 bookmarking, video and photo sharing
websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves
the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the
blogsphere and special blog search engines such as Technorati.
The reality of the matter is that various social media have
different strengths and weaknesses. While it is true the most
obvious benefit of social media is branding and traffic, the
truth is that social media can also:
Generate lots of good, quality, relevant links, which we all
know can help a site perform better in the search results
help to forge relationships. Not necessarily relationships
with potential clients, but with those who help to influence
potential client decisions i.e. indirect sales
generate direct sales
build a company's authority in an industry
In order for a small business to utilize social media to its
fullest, and to determine which social media it should be
using as part of its effort, it must understand the trade-offs
it faces. Without being able to commit time or money to social
media, many small businesses will seriously need to question
their commitment to winning in their space in the foreseeable
future.What are the variables to consider:
a. available client time vs. available client $
b. complexity of client product/service information
c. client goals (direct sales, improved positioning, authority
building, etc.)
As is the case with search, those social media sites offering
the most potential for traffic, also contain the most
competition. The more competition there is, the more thought
and effort must go into being successful in that medium.
Does that mean that small business should avoid search? Not at
all. Same with social media. It just means that small business
must assess their desire and means, and find reasonable
opportunities where competition is not too intense for their
means. Precisely as with search ... though rather than looking
for keyword opportunities, you're looking for content and
medium opportunities! For example, would you ever suggest to
an SME client that you would try to rank for a generic,
ultra-competitive, one-word term such as "weight loss"? Never.
Though you may consider "weight loss san diego," right?
Precisely! |
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That said, here are the
strengths and weaknesses of several major social media sites,
as they relate to small to medium sized businesses:
1. Yahoo Answers: Yahoo Answers will not require much money to
engage in, making it an attractive option for small business.
Since in most cases, SMMs (Social Media Marketers) won't/can't
play a large role in Yahoo Answers, as they're not experts in
the space, it will require client time and expertise.
2. Wikipedia: Wikipedia is another great solution for
companies with more time than money. This is often a
do-it-yourself solution for companies, though a good SMM can
greatly aid with training, planning, and implementation, and
can save companies a great deal of time.
3. Digg: Having a submission go hot on Digg is equivalent to
ranking on an ultra-competitive keyword on Google, in terms of
the number of links generated. Digg is, in reality, the Google
of the social media world in terms of those looking to build
links, which means Digg itself has had to become very cautious
and difficult as a result of being gamed so frequently.
4. Reddit: Reddit is capable of generating significant volumes
of links, although somewhat less than Digg. It is like Digg,
except on a lesser scale. Though it generates fewer links, the
results are greater.
5. Propeller: Propeller (formerly Netscape.com) is also like
Digg and Reddit, though generating fewer links again. This is
in essence what makes it so attractive though ... it's the MSN
of the social world. Most companies focus so heavily on Digg,
that Propeller is often overlooked.
6. Delicious: Delicious is a good option for small businesses,
though it does require a commitment. SMEs need to spend time
creating resource, research, and/or instruction type blog
posts. These posts take time, often 8-10+ hours of research
per post.
7. StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon is capable of driving large
volumes of traffic (more than Reddit and less than Digg) to a
site, given the right content. For whatever reason though, it
generates substantially fewer links than either Digg or Reddit
on average.
8. YouTube: YouTube is unlike any of the other social media
mentioned above. While video itself has the ability to
generate substantial quantities of links via other social
channels, the YouTube medium essentially attracts all links
for its own purposes, leaving the video creator with virtually
no additional link power.
Summary:
In the end, success with any of the above social media sites
is still largely based on the quality and creativity of the
content. For companies without the time to dedicate to
creating such content, it will require a financial investment.
In this situation, hiring experienced SMMs skilled in the art
of choosing topics is very important, as they can likely aid
real quality content be successful on numerous platforms.
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