Social Media Optimization & Marketing

The way we interact today is changing. Marketing is a conversion… occurring across channels ... around the globe.
Monologues no longer work!

Social Media Optimization (SMO):
Content + Context + Connections + Community

 

Social Media helps bring people together – old friends, new friends, family, colleagues, business associates, and so on. Social Media Web sites have caught on and are here to stay. They are being embraced by the corporate world as part of their marketing strategies. There are ample opportunities for marketing within social sites. Money and time invested in social sites should really pay off. If leveraged correctly, they can be a strong traffic referral source for Web sites.

It used to be all you needed to be on the Web was a website. Today you need to think and act in terms of a “Total Web Presence”. And that means if you’re not participating in social media, you’re not really online.

Everything has changed: If you studied marketing in the textbook world, you likely covered the 4 Ps of marketing: you simply created a Product, figured out how to Price it, got it Placed in the market, and Promoted the heck out it.

Today’s approach to marketing, the approach infused with social media, leans much more heavily on the 4 Cs of marketing: Tons of relevant, education-based, and perhaps user-generated Content that is filtered, aggregated, and delivered in a Context that makes it useful for people who are starving to make Connections with people, products, and brands they can build a Community around.

It is evident today that marketers shift to focus on media that offer a more direct and deeper connection:



Furthermore, Social Media Optimization and Social Media Marketing are not just a game kids are playing. Businesses around the world are witnessing high value for their marketing initiatives with Social Media:



Social media is content. It used to be that all it took is text and then some linking. Nowadays: Videos, photos, podcasts, widgets, mash-ups, networking, reviewing, crowd sourcing…

The secret for a Social Media Success is with Value-Rich Content: Original, Sincere and open-source. Most of times – involves in some degree user-generated content.

Just released: WSI Social Media Kit. More than 60 pages of everything a company needs to know and do for its social media strategy, brand moinoring and more.

Download the Social Media Kit executive summary today!

Social Media Optimization (SMO) & Social Media Marketing (SMM) Defined

Wikipedia defines Social Media Optimization (SMO) as a “set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Methods of SMO 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, primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.”

Closely related, Social Media Marketing (SMM) is defined by Wikipedia as “a term that describes the act of using social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other collaborative Internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. In the context of Internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users…”

In a nutshell, SMO and SMM is the act of optimizing marketing means of businesses to leverage their marketing strategies and assets using social networks. In a world where “the consumer rules”, you need to make sure this consumer is connected to your business in a bi-directional way.

Just released: WSI Social Media Kit. More than 60 pages of everything a company needs to know and do for its social media strategy, brand moinoring and more.

Download the Social Media Kit executive summary today!

SMO and SEO: The Best of Friends.

Search Engine Optimization is the major success factor for your online business (i.e. – your website). Once the “on site” optimization is done, the ongoing challenges are with creating links and creating new and fresh content as this is what the search engines cherish most in order to gain ranking (therefore – traffic). Social Media Optimization is the way to achieve both of those elements: fresh content (including user-generated content) and incoming links.

“Exclusive, fresh and relevant content is by far the most important factor in search ranking" (Google, Fall ‘08). Every blog post you are writing, every comment, news, video and so forth is just that – exclusive, fresh and relevant content. Each such item is a new “crealable” content for the search engines. They love it and you get rankings and traffic in return.

You also probably have noticed that when searching in Google, the top 10 list of the search results contains now not only links to websites. Google, as part of what is called “Google Universal Search” is now presenting videos, images, news and other forms of content that it considers relevant to the search query. Ranking at the top of Google does not mean just optimizing Web pages anymore. Videos, images, news and more need to be optimized. Some of the social sites are designed exactly for this task. Note that those elements get a “reserved seat” high on the search results and receive growing users’ attention and clicks. Why would you miss on this opportunity?

Google typically limits results from one domain to two URLs per SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Social Web site profiles can rank nicely in SERPs. This can be used for brand protection and to suppress negative search results. Build profiles with unique content for each. Rewrite corporate abstracts and optimize for the company name where possible. Owning SERP real estate is very valuable.

Make a commitment to the social experience online. SMM can be an effective part of an Search Engine Marketing campaign. It can be a nice source of quality back links. Tagging can help Search Engines associate keywords with the destination Web site. Social sites can show up in SERPs, taking up more real estate with different domains. Optimized profile pages may help suppress negative results. Google Universal keeps enhancing its results pages with more information. Optimizing online media beyond standard HTML pages can get you top-quality rankings and traffic for pictures and video. SMO and SEO go hand in hand. Unify the marketing message across all media types and stay committed and active in the online communities. Social Media Optimization plus Search Engine Optimization will equal more free traffic and better Search Engine Rankings.

SMO Myths and Why There are wrong

SMO “Mythbuster” #1: "I can get a 'viral' marketing campaign"
Well, a virus is something that is random and unpredictable which means that you can’t control it. It will also – just like a virus – go away very fast. Instead, you need to plant seeds in the right social media channels and use your value-rich content to grow fans.  

SMO “Myth Baster” #2: Size Matters - "I only have 2,000 people coming to my blog each month, it’s not worth it"
There is nothing wrong with marketing in a niche. As a matter of fact, many marketers are doing all they can to find this niche and dominate it. In this case what counts is: Who comes (qualified leads?), How engaged (leave comments, grab RSS feed?), How long do they stay? (page views, time on page), Do they return? Tell others? , Click on other pages? Email? Call? Fill out form?

SMO “Myth Baster” #3: “But none of my competitors are using social media"
This is actually the best thing that can happen to you. Be first to market; gain your competitive edge!

SMO “Myth Baster” #4: “Isn’t blogging supposed to be spontaneous?"
 True, but not when it's a corporate blog. A corporate blog is one of the tools of the trade nowadays and as such could (should?) be just like any other marketing message that you wish to pass along to your target market.

SMO “Myth baster” #5: "I just don't have time to use social media”
If you are a small business, there are several “Time Savers”:
•    Hands-on professional training
•    Clear strategy; delegated roles
•    Share the joy, e.g. group blogging, Twittering
Start with blogging and invest about 2 hours/week, half of which should be invested in blog updates (plus photos uploads, videos, etc’) and the other half in reading, watching and listening to others in your industry and in your target market group.

SMO and SMM Campaigns and Tools

Social Media is all about you (your business) and your audience. The key is to work with you to understand your target market and then to analyze the industry you are acting in, in order to see which social media techniques will work best for you.

Amongst our SMO and SMM services you can find:

• Social Network Campaign such as Facebook/Myspace. Social Networks are attractive because consumers are connecting with other consumers and the trust tends to be higher. This strategy works best when integrated with other marketing strategies
• YouTube Optimization: YouTube channel design – simply put: create another website with your corporate identity on the second biggest search engine on the web today! Promoting your videos while getting Organic listings, YouTube Analytics & Reporting
• Authority Blog campaign: Copywriting, RSS, Pinging and Consistent frequency!
• Online Brand Reputation: tracking and listening to anything that is being said about your brand, managing bad rumors and reputation issues. Brand reputation is about knowing everything, positive and negative that is impacting your brand online
• Interactive Site Elements: Can people vote for the best article on your site? Is there a need for an interactive calculator? Can they post comments?
• Custom Application Development: Facebook applications, Unique widgets, Creative, interactive games. Help the news move on – “tell a friend”
• Social Bookmarking Campaign: Strategic Bookmarking for increased exposure to help your SEO efforts as well!
• Photo Sharing Campaigns: Browse through your Flickr photos with an interactive widget, Optimize your images and post them for the online community to see, Track the views and click-throughs for each photo

And many other custom-made solutions and services.

Online Brand Reputation Monitoring (BRM)

 

Social Media is actually a conversation. A conversation between you (your business) and your audience as well as (sometimes) a conversation between one of your prospects/customers to another one. One of the key elements of Web2.0 – which Social Media is part of – is “user generated content. The conversation should be directed in beneficial ways to you, but what if it doesn’t? What if your potential customers (or existing ones) start talking between them and saying different things on your business, their buying experience, your services, etc’? Wouldn’t you want to be aware of what is being said on your business?

Online Brand Reputation Monitoring is about listening, watching and tracking information that is related to your brand. With Brand Reputation Monitoring you should be alerted when there is information on the web that directly impacts your brand. This way, questions or negative reviews can be responded to if appropriate and positive testimonials or information can be leveraged.

As a business owner you should be aware that there are ways that there are ways to track and monitor your company’s brand online. Monitoring what is being said enables you to respond properly to negative things being said as well as use the positive ones. Contact WSI E-Services and will explain further the value of Brand Reputation Monitoring.

 

SMO & SMM Professional Methodology by WSI

1. The first step (as always with WSI E-Services) is about observation and research.  In fact, the following steps are a result of this analysis, hence can have different tactics, strategies and implementation method.
   In this step we wish to learn what is the market saying about you? What are your customers doing? Where are they having conversations? What do they think of your product?
2. The second step is to identify the message, the medium and the creative questions like which medium is best for your target market? What message will speak to your target market? What type of creative will be effective?  And which social media platforms should be leveraged? Are being learned and answered.
3. Then comes the conversation engagement. The campaign must begin by engaging the prospects in a conversation.  Blogging is one key element here. Otherewise (or in addition) perhaps you should start with posting examples and questions? Maybe have employees post a comment or share their opinion? If your industry is active with social networks – let’s take advantage of that and start a more intensive conversation.
4. Forth step is the Follow Up one.  Follow up on what your customers are telling you and about you; take the feedback customers are giving you and do something about it. When you interact with them, it will encourage them to participate & engage more.
5. Tracking phase:  You should learn which campaigns are effective? Which KPIs lead to conversions? Which strategies need to be defined? What new opportunities were discovered? And more
6. The sixth step is “Incentivize”:  Give them incentives. Note that it doesn’t have to be monetary! Recognitions are the key here, publicly or within the network. It could be a special logo, a special thank you or credits. This could be combined with contests and/or special Promotions.

WSI is practically a worldwide evangelist in SMM and SMO. Social Media Marketing and Optimization will be very soon where SEO is today. If you would like to learn more how your business can benefit from Social Media and how to utilize it as part of your Internet Marketing mix, contact WSI E-Services today and let’s set a meeting. 
 

Just released: WSI Social Media Kit. More than 60 pages of everything a company needs to know and do for its social media strategy, brand moinoring and more.

Download the Social Media Kit executive summary today!