Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization

Internet marketing has changed…again. Don’t give up your day job just yet doing search engine optimization for your web site.

Google changed everything when it burst on the scene in 1998 and the web has not been the same since. Now the web is undergoing another transformational change, and this time the game-changer is FaceBook.

There’s A Revolution Under Way

Here’s a good video that talks about the Social Media revolution. The statstics presented are staggering. The point is that social media is not a fad, it is a fundamental shift in our culture. Fundamental shifts are referred to historically as revolution, not evolution. Social media may be the most significant change in our society since the industrial revolution.

Social Media Optimization(SMO) and Search Engine Optimization(SEO)

A Brief History Of Search Engine Optimization

Google burst on the scene with a radically new algorithm that, better than anything else, links content on the internet. It mimics the human brain in the way establishes and creates connections. Essentially, it makes the web smaller and more approachable. It made the web “searchable”. The searchable web is accessed primary as a reference, answer provider, or problem solver via search.

Google took on a persona. It appeared that there was nothing Google did not “know”. It spawned a religion that contends it has the all-knowing, all-reaching characteristics of a deity. It quickly became a verb. Who has not said, just “Google” it?

Search engine optimization sprang to life. It became, and is still, a very profitable industry. It offers anyone with a web site the opportunity to be found and known anywhere on the planet. The strategy is tried and proven:

Identify Top Keywords
Create Lots Of Content Around The Keywords
Match Search Requests To Search Terms
Attract Visitors
Traffic Begets Traffic. Popularity increases with visitors, search engine, and advertisers.

Has Google Peaked?

No. But it’s growth is slowing…quickly. More people are coming to the web every day and they’re coming to Google. But it’s dominance, and the dominance of the searchable web, are slipping away.

FaceBook Is The New Hub

FaceBook matched Google in early 2010 in visits
Visitors spend 3 times longer on FaceBook than Google
Time spent on Facebook has nearly doubled in the last year
Time spent everywhere else on the web has declined in the last year
FaceBook is not growing in addition to the rest of the web. It is consuming traffic from the rest of the web. It is displacing publishers elsewhere on the web.

The New, Connected Web – People Not Pages

The web is and has always been “hyper”. Pages are connected via hyperlinks. The single most significant component of the internet is not the networking of computers, the network protocols, the routers, or even the standard HTML language. It’s one HTML Tag, <A></A>, the Hyperlink.

Hyperlinks establish new pathways to knowledge. They help us learn and establish relationships between data. These connections act like our brain acts in forming and solidifying connections.

The new connected web connects people, not pages. We, as people, are creating and living digital lives. In real time, the connected web:

Identifies Us
Tells Our Story
Moves With Us
Establishes and Builds Relationships
Enriches Us

The Search Web

The search web is a tool, a universal reference, a library. Search engines have visitors or users.

Google is a utility. Google, and all the search web companies, act as intermediaries between web users and answers. Users want answers quickly. They “Google” something, get the answer, and move on. Users trust Google so much that they spend little time exploring it. If your web site is not on the first page, and the top half of it, you don’t exist. When is the last time you looked at Page 2 of your search results?

The Social Web

The social web is alive and personal. Social networks have friends, fans, and followers.

FaceBook is an enabler. In our digital lives, it creates and builds relationships. FaceBook is the new front porch. We don’t rush to Facebook for an answer and then leave. We go to visit and catch up. As individuals, it’s a natural part of our makeup. It can enable relationships between individuals and businesses or brands as well. Constraint and restraint are in order. Establish your web site as front porch conversation, not as the annoying door-to-door salesman.

A Briefer History Of Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization focuses on driving traffic from sources other than search engines through:

Social media features added to the content itself, such as:
- RSS feeds
- Social news,
- Sharing buttons, User rating and polling tools
- Images and videos
Promotional activities in social media aside from the content being promoted, such as:
- Blogging and commenting on other blogs
- Participating in discussion groups
- Posting status updates on social networking profiles
Viral Marketing – word of mouth spread by social bookmarking, blogs, video and photo sharing websites.
Online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM). Think of this a a public relations strategy or campaign for businesses and individuals that care about their online reputation.
Customer service, satisfaction, and relations
Business development in the form of new or improved products or services
Recruiting and background checks
Fostering a community for an associated web site

It’s About The Relationship, Not The Keyword

People, not keywords are the key. How many of us like to share good news, new products we’ve found, great deals we’ve discovered, something interesting we’ve learned? Establish your product, service, or solution as a trusted way to connect and involve people.

Identify, entertain, and enrich your social network friends and fans. Grow and move with, and in response to, your friends and fans. Followers will keep coming, and staying.

The Web Is Changing – Change With It

The web is changing. You need the searchable web and the social web to prosper. Prosperity comes in many forms of enrichment. People are looking for enrichment.

People are spending time on the web looking for digital partners, as well as or instead of content publishers. Social Media Optimization is the new Search Engine Optimization.

The Web Is Changing – Be Social!