Social Media Optimization

Social Media is the online tool and platform that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. It can take many different forms including text, images, audio and video. Popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, pod casts, wikis, and vlogs.

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 You Tube videos. Social media optimization is a form of search engine marketing.

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 book marking, 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 concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimise a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati) and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs. 

Search Media Optimization is one of the most aggressive ways of promotion and branding. There are several ways in which a website can be noticed by the targeted audience and traffic can be brought to a website. Two basic methods are: through PPC and through SEO. Combining all available methods is called Social Media Optimization. Some of the ways of SMO implementation are:

• Press Releases – Publishing PR in most popular websites
  
• Forum Posting – Posting comments in relevant forums
  
• Social Networking – Orkut, Facebook etc are social networks where people search for relevant products. These draw many visitors.
  
• Business Listing – Through list website in Varity of business listing sites
  
• Classifieds – Putting classifieds in relevant sites
  
• Video Marketing – Promoting site through Youtube etc by making relevant videos
  
• Directory Submission – Putting websites in relevant directories
  
• Book Marking websites – Putting websites in various book marking websites
  
• Viral marketing – Through word of mouth promotion

Through SMO, websites gain popularity and visibility everywhere relevant to the industry.