May 13th, 2010 by Susie

Most sites can benefit from a mix of SEO and SMO techniques. Social media optimization can help generate user interest in a site, improve traffic volumes, help with online reputation management and crucially create that much sought after community spirit. Of course, SMO only has to hit some of these targets for it to be a worthwhile activity. While the strategies and tactics that are selected and pursued should correspond with the attributes of the site and the features of the sector concerned, it is still possible to come up with a handy list of tips for those fresh to the SMO scene.

• Attach buttons or tags for the social media sites on the site. Research into your target audience may help in choosing which social media sites to feature. For example, if a site has a technical or technological aspect to it, Digg may be appropriate. Similarly, if a site hosts ‘creative’ material, Twitter could be a wise choice

• Add regular and frequent amounts of fresh content to the site. Just as in SEO, users anticipate a cascade of entertaining and/or useful information. The search engines will also be placated by this step

• Respond positively to others who respond to the site. For example, if someone leaves a comment it can be a great idea to respond favourably. Likewise, if a reputable site links to the site, a return gesture may be perceived in a good light

• Facilitate the forwarding of content from the site. If content remains stationary, it will be seen by fewer individuals than if measures are taken to enable users to forward it on. Social media can gather momentum in this fashion

• Provide incentives for users to frequent the site and actively engage with it. Competitions can be great in this regard. Furthermore, the giving of prizes can be a useful stimulant to participation. It is not necessary to provide users with extravagant or costly gifts as an incentive can even be non-monetary. For example, the most interesting responses to blogs can be ranked in a Hall of Fame

• Welcome feedback from users about any aspect of the site or its social media marketing efforts. Learning possibilities should never be neglected and paying attention to the opinions of others can help in the honing of techniques

• Keep scanning the social media horizon for the fluctuating fortunes of the competing social networking sites. Paying special attention to the progress of newcomers or being aware of search engine optimization and SMM convergence can be productive, but it is important to be conscious of changing market share too. If the popularity of a social networking site is in decline, exploring alternative avenues may be astute

It is apparent that SMO is not really the preserve of the amateur. It is all too easy to make an elementary faux pas in a campaign. Knowing basic facts like Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook is not really going to help a firm make use of the exciting opportunities out there. A good SEO company should have the capacity to incorporate high quality SMO into its overall plan for a site.

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