MoreVisibility - September 14, 2007
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, a “Digg This” button, blogging and incorporating third party community functionalities like Flickr photo slides and galleries or YouTube videos. Social media optimization is a form of search engine marketing, as stated by Wikipedia.
Rohit Bhargava was credited with inventing the term SMO. His original five rules for conducting Social Media Optimization are:
- Increase your linkability
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy
- Reward inbound links
- Help your content travel
- Encourage the mashup
How can these rules be followed?
- Increase you linkability. Your site has to be attractive to link to and have static pages and compelling content, allowing the Search Engines to pick up on it.
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy. Today, it is easy for a site to have the “add to” features or buttons, making it simple for the user to bookmark or tag the site.
- Reward inbound links. Spread the use of the site which has given you an inbound link by placing a link from an article of theirs to your blog or press release.
- Help your content travel. Apply the use of this rule by using podcasting as an example. Users or visitors that go to your site can take a video or news article anywhere they like and download at a later time such as an ipod.
- Encourage the mashup. Allow others to use your content, work upon it, recreate it and expand it. It is not only flattering but allows you to be a reference to someone else’s point of view.
