eMedia Daily

Social Media Optimization

You’ve been working on search engine optimization on your site or blog for a while - diligently reading about and implementing all of the “insider secrets” that float around. You’ve probably at least considered implementing search engine marketing, researching the keywords that you could use to drive traffic to your site.

Neither SEO or SEM, however, can get you into the bookmarks/tags/digging the way that Social Media Optimization can.

According to Rohit Bhargava, the first person to use the term SMO (via Nick over at the Search Engine Optimization Journal), the five rules to follow for social media optimization are:

• Increasing linkability
• Making tagging and bookmarking easy
• Rewarding inbound links
• Assisting your content with its travel plans
• Encouraging the mashup

How do you do each of these things?
Increasing linkability. Create unique, insightful, and useful content that encourages readers to come back for more, and to tell their friends.
Making tagging and bookmarking easy. Using a widget from AddThiscan allow your readers to easily add your site to any number of social bookmarking/social media sites. Plus it’s a lot less cluttered than adding logos from all of the different sites.
Rewarding inbound links. After someone does you the favor (and yes, it is a favor) of linking to you, find a way to reward them. Whether that be in offering a free product/service, a discount, or some other innovative way of saying thank you, make sure that you have a plan, and then follow-through on it.
Assisting your content with its travel plans. Promote yourself - using press releases, and personal notes to other bloggers/editors in complimentary publications. If the known voices in the industry are reading what you have to say, there’s a good chance that their readers will become interested in you as well.
Encouraging the mashup. Provide an RSS feed and encourage people to use it. Enough said.