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Yo! What's SMO?
A Guide to Social Media Optimisation
Most people won't admit if they have no idea what it means to Digg, write posts on Facebook or how to blog using WordPress. To them, YouTube is two words and Wibiya sounds like a foreign language.
As an average internet user, you don't have to know about Social Media Optimisation (SMO) but as a business owner, you need to know what it is and how to use it. If you're internet-savvy you've heard of sites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Digg, Twitter and YouTube, what you may not know is how these sites can be critical to the success of your website and your brand name in the forefront of your customers' minds.
What is SMO?
SMO is about creating an opportunity so content can be easily found, distributed and shared by the community. The intent is to attract unique visitors to your website content from sources other than search engines. The process can be simple or quite complex; ranging from embedding a social media button (e.g.Facebook LIKE button) to spending hours blogging or participating in forums.
In many ways, SMO is connected to viral marketing, where word-of-mouth is established through the use of social networking, bookmarking, photo sharing and video websites. The purpose of SMO is to socially optimise the site to ensure it is easy to link to, highly visible in search results and more frequently included in blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, video logs and more.
The strategy works in two ways.
- Features/tools in the content itself - such as implementing RSS feeds, sharing buttons, user-submitted stories, images, videos and polling tools.
- Promotional activities in social media - taking part in activities such as status updates, blogging and commenting on other blogs and forums.
What clients are saying: Resource Education
Why do I need it?
Making your website content shareable on many platforms will not only increase brand awareness, but it will encourage customers to communicate with your business on an informal level. Creating a platform for discussion amongst social media users opens opportunities for your brand to spread like wildfire.
Social media users interested in your industry topics will be attracted to your content and directed to the main website for detailed information on what you can offer. Rankings can also be increased for the website if you've got a successful SEO strategy.
