Rules Of Social Media Optimization

Rules Of Social Media Optimization
By Justin Brooke

Before you can put any of these rules to use, you may want to understand a little more about the differences between social media marketing and social media optimization.

SMM = Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is strategically using the big social sites to spread your brand name or drive traffic back to your web presence.

SMO = Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization is adding key elements to your websites or content that make them easy to spread across the big social sites.

Rohit Bhargava Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

1. Increase your linkability

Linkability is the willingness of other websites or articles to link back to your site. One way to increase your natural Google listing is to increase how many authority sites link to you, so to increase your linkability with social media optimization is to make your site more informative and useful to others. You can do this in many ways; blog, white papers, press releases, keyword targeted articles, RSS feeds, etc. This is the most important step in Social Media Optimization and should be your first priority.

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy

The act of tagging is to bookmark the website to social bookmarking websites. For example, if you like the content or services provided at a website you tag it. This will show others that you approve of this site and they will check it out, making viral traffic. To include social media optimization tagging on your site, you can add tagging links such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, etc. Also, add the tagging links to other pages in your site (not just the homepage) and when visitors click the tag button make sure that there is a suggestion box to help your visitor list a relevant tag and notes.

3. Reward inbound links

As I mentioned before one way to increase your natural listing with Google using social media optimization is to get more back links. You can do this by rewarding people/websites that link to you (inbound links). Inbound links are links that send people to your site from somewhere else. One way to reward people for linking to your site is to have a “Recently Linked” that lists all of the websites that have linked to you.

4. Help your content travel

Social media optimization focuses on providing useful content to your market. When you publish content such as an article, video, or audio file you must help it reach as many people on the web as possible. You can do this by submitting to relevant high traffic websites. When the word gets out about your great content (no matter what format) you’ll receive backlinks to your site.

5. Encourage the mashup

To mash up is to use two websites content and mash them together. For example, Youtube makes it easy to mash their content (videos) onto your site. In addition, because it is so easy you have added a video to your site that has a Youtube logo on the video as well as a link back to you tube. So to encourage a mashup with social media optimization is to make it easy for other websites to use your content and reference it to drive traffic back to your site.

Jeremiah Owyang Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 6 and 7

6. Be a User Resource, even if it doesn’t help you.

One thing all visitors appreciate is honesty. With social media optimization you should include links to other websites that will help your visitor reach their goal or find the information they want. Do this, even when it doesn’t benefit you. By linking to competitors or information not created by you, you reap the benefits of having the all inclusive information on a particular topic. In the end, more people will link to you because you have lumped all information (or links) on a topic on one location.

7. Reward helpful and valuable users

Valuable users are your best friends. A valuable user can be determined in many ways; they may send traffic to your site, add valuable content to your site, or assist visitors at your site. No matter what their doing, if it benefits you, your site, or your service you need to reward them. This could be by sending a personal message thanking them for their dedication. Other ways to reward your valuable users is to create reward systems, advertise for them or promote their efforts on your homepage.

Cameron Olthuis Developed Social Media Optimization Rules 8, 9, 10, and 11

8. Participate

With Social Media Optimization you can participate by joining on the conversation about your topic (or targeted keyword). Simply posting articles and sharing content isn’t going to keep the buzz going. You should continue to share information on other websites. This participation will share your knowledge with more people. One way to do this is to find people that are blogging on your topic and to give input on the conversation. Also, participate in forums or other social groups that are discussing your topic. Read comments on your articles, videos, and audios and respond to them.

9. Know how to target your audience

Social media marketing is about sharing content/information. Not everyone is interested in your topic, so be sure to do your marketing research and post your information and knowledge where it will be understood and appreciated.

10. Create content

Content is considered to be any form on information that benefits a visitor. Content can be a white paper, article, video, audio, widget, the list goes on. Your job is to find a piece of content that will spark interest in visitors. No matter what market you enter there is always a form of content that they will share with others. Find out what it is and give it to them. This will in turn have them coming back for more useful content. If this happens, then you know that your social media optimization is successful.

11. Be real

Internet users are searching the web for specific content. If you are providing content that links back to a website, be sure that the website is relevant. You will not be rewarded for coaxing a visitor to a site that has nothing to do with the content they just read (or watched depending on the type of content you provided).

Loren Baker developed Social Media Optimization Rules 12 and 13

12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble

It’s easy to let popularity get to your head. When you become the shining star in your market be sure to recognize those that helped you get to the front of the pack. (this ties into #7 a little)

13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh.

Any one on the internet knows how quickly things change. Keep up with new media content, new types of websites, and new interests in your market. By staying on top of new information you can maintain top rankings.

Lee Odden developed Social Media Optimization Rules 14, 15 and 16

14. Develop a Social Media Optimization strategy

Social Media serves multiple purposes. You need to identify what your purpose is and then publish content that will promote that purpose. Some purposes for Social Media Optimization include: branding, reputation, charity, increase traffic, build reputation, increase sales, credibility, etc. Make sure that as you develop content that you are publishing and creating with that purpose in mind.

15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely.

Of all the content available on the web only about 10% of people on the web are content creators. The other 90% are consumers and are willing to share your content. Make your content easy to consume and spread. Also be sure to create content that will have the most impact on your original purpose (which could be any of the following: branding, reputation, charity, increase traffic, build reputation, increase sales, credibility, etc).

16. Make Social Media Optimization – SMO part of your process and best practices.

We all know that there are specific Search engine optimization tactics that every website should include. Just as you include keywords in your title tags and keywords in your H1 tag, you should find ways to include social media optimization aspects into the building of your website. This can be small details like including social bookmark tags on your site or encouraging incoming links with the “recently Linked” list I covered in #3.

17. Don’t be afraid to let go of a message or idea and let others own it.

Finally, when you create a movement, spark and idea, or develop a new topic don’t be afraid to let others run with it. Collaboration is key. Others can improve upon your original idea and give you credit for the start. Be sure to give credit where it’s due.

Justin Brooke started with just a $2/day marketing budget and grew his business past 6 figures in just 1 year. At just 25 years old he has been Vice President of a multi-million dollar company and nominated “Best Marketer of 2007″ by the American Business Awards. Justin’s award winning social media optimization company wants to handle your social media marketing needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Brooke

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Why it is Important to Be Social in Social Media Why it is Important to Be Social in Social Media

Source: Ezine Articles

By: Kevin D. McNabb

If you are like me, you have become fascinated with the popularity of social media and the diversity of its involvement into the mainstream of our lives.

All you have to do for social proof is to take a look at the Alex ranking of the Top 20 most visited websites on the Internet and you will see that 5 of these sites are social media sites (#2 Facebook, #4 YouTube, #12 MySpace, #15 Twitter, #20 Bing)

So I think it is comfortable to say that social media is here to stay and if we are waiting to see if it is a fad or a force, I am here to help, it is a FORCE.

Now if your thought is to get involved in ALL the social media sites, you are biting off more than perhaps you can chew. Why? Because there is literally hundreds of social media/bookmarking sites available to us that offer similar and in some cases distinct options.

My recommendation would be to join three to four at the beginning and really master the use of the site before moving on to the next one and the next one.

One of my observations as I virtually travel through these sites is the lack of “social” etiquette used by some users within these communities.

What I mean by this is that each and every social media site is a community within itself. It has its basic structure and rules and regulations. The community as a whole will help others stay within those guidelines using various methods such as; gentle hints in posts, deleting of comments and in some cases pretty nasty communication.

So if we are interested in joining a community, then it is my recommendation to learn the dos and don’ts of that community.

The first thing I recommend that you do when you join a social media site is to fully complete a profile and upload an appropriate picture of yourself.

I don’t know how many people on a daily basis try and offer me, sell me, connect with me, etc… within a social media community and do not even have a picture uploaded.

This actually boggles my mind.

Why would I want to connect or do business with anyone that does not have the decency or credibility to upload an appropriate picture of them? Answer: I wouldn’t. For me any communication I receive from another member of the social media site that I am a member of that does not have an appropriate picture uploaded is immediately deleted.

Now let’s talk about what an appropriate picture is within a social media site. Well that depends on what you are using that site for. If you are using the site strictly for social interaction and non-business connecting than any picture that you choose to represent you is of course at your discretion. In some examples that I have come across, some people do not necessarily use any discretion.

So, the question that remains is what is an appropriate picture for one to use within a social media site if one is choosing to conduct business? Answer: A picture of you that your grandmother would be proud of.

We have all seen the examples of pictures used on a social media site that are at best questionable and yet the individual is expecting to have credibility with their audience.

Personally, when I coach someone about personal branding, the first two things that I review are the picture and the information being used in a profile.

It starts with your picture. That is the first thing that people see of you. It should represent you in a positive manner. Now, I am not suggesting that it shouldn’t be fun, what I am suggesting is the “one” picture that you choose to represent yourself in that social media site should be appropriate for your chosen use for that site. Hint: I recommend putting the fun pictures within the appropriate sections of the profile.

In closing, the most important part of social media is to be “social.” Think of it as you walking into a room of people that you have never met, but want to get to know. Ask yourself this question, “How should I present myself if I want to attract people to me?”

Kevin D. McNabb has been a professional network marketer since 1985.

During this time he has been able to build an organization in excess of 60,000 people in over 37 countries. His goal is to help create 100 millionaires through network marketing.

For more information about how to explode your presence on social media or Kevin McNabb (The Responsible Network Marketer(TM)), please see http://RNM.KevinMcNabb.info

Using Social Media to Strengthen Customer Relations

Source: Ezine Articles

By: David S Baxter

Social media began to be prevalent around 2005. Today, it’s sites like Facebook and MySpace that are prevalent among all age groups, although they began with a focus on young people as their main audience, to keep in touch. Today, corporations use these sites to improve customer relations. As of 2009, social media has begun to revolutionize the way corporations are managing their customer relations altogether.

According to IT research and advisory company Gartner, by 2010 60% of Fortune 1000 companies will be using social media in some form as a way to improve customer relations. That’s the good news. Gartner also posits that over half of the companies using web 2.0 sites for this function will do it wrong and actually harm customer relations. Gartner suggests that companies focus their analysis on customer online buying in order to offer a direct calculation of return on investment in terms of sales and customer loyalty coming through social media sites.

Gartner has said that there are four steps that businesses need to pursue so as to use social media successfully as a means to improve and manage customer relations. The first step is to clearly define what the purpose of the social and media initiative is. The second step is that a company must be willing to surrender some control over social media as a means to customer relations, because the public at large wants to “own” part of the relationship as a reward for their participation.

Companies then have to reward those customers that participate socially. This may mean allowing them to vote on, or otherwise rate contributions and information on the site. Finally, companies must appoint someone in-house who has the skills to head up a social media customer relations initiative. Using web 2.0 sites for customer relations should never be an afterthought. In fact, it should probably have someone specifically devoted to it full time, with their own staff if necessary.

Social networking has indeed changed customers’ and prospects’ behaviour, in critical mass. Gartner has stated that these customers can no longer be described demographically in a way that is entirely accurate or adequate; demographics are the usual means of measurement when it comes to corporate customer relations’ effectiveness.
However, with that said, don’t spend a lot of time or effort in trying to use social media as a focus with any great effort unless you know it will pay off by driving truly valuable traffic to your website.

Non-linear Creations did a year’s study of five social media sites, and their effects. These web 2.0 sites were Stumbleupon, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. It was determined after that year that social media sites drove about 18% of its site visitors from referring sites in aggregate.

In the Case of Non-linear Creations, Linkedin and Facebook outperformed the other social media site. That’s important, but it isn’t the whole story. What about conversion rates? Non-linear Creations measured conversion rates by whether visitors downloaded one of their white papers, subscribed to their blog or newsletter, or contacted them by phone or email. In this case – driving real prospects – Linkedin outperformed the other sites. Traffic from Linkedin was much more likely to convert than the average site visitor. Other web 2.0 sites actually underperformed the average.

There’s no guarantee that Linkedin will give your company the tangible results that Non-linear Creations got. It probably depends on what type of business you have. It is not quite understood what the less tangible benefits are of reaching customers online in a way that makes them feel as if the brand is listening and cares enough to interact in the way they desire. One of the things people dislike about customer support call centers is their anonymous feel. It keeps them from feeling a sense of relationship to the brand. So far no obvious downsides of using social media for customer service, so it would seem to be in any company’s best interests to use this form of outreach.

It certainly isn’t hard to create accounts on web 2.0 sites. The hard part is in actually interacting with customers on them, listening to them, and analyzing your online visitor numbers to see which sites give you the most return on investment in terms of online sales or some other metric. At that point you’ll have to determine how much effort to put into making under-performing social media referrers more effective.

Learn more about Social Media. Stop by David Baxters’s site http://www.SmartMediaInnovations.com where you can find out all the latest data and information about Social Media and how you can use it to improve your customer relations today.

Social Media Marketing For MLM

Source: Ezine Articles

By: Musa Aykac

The development of many social media sites like that of Facebook, Orkut, YouTube and Twitter has given an opportunity to the individuals to market a business in a different way. The total idea of marketing a business has changed its face from the traditional tactics to a newer version. It depends on the individual whether he/she is accepting traditional or the new tactics for marketing a certain type of business.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, YouTube has given a wide opportunity to market their business in a different and an effective manner. These social media sites are such web sites which are most widely used and are being popularized on the internet. In today’s internet driven world 99% of people use to have one or more account in this type of social media sites. As a result of which this type of sites are the place where the market is there and you can use your idea to make it a better place for marketing your business. These sites can help anybody who is willing to market his/her business in the best possible way. The quantity and size of the market is such that individual can use it as better marketing place.

In the present say scenario, every individual who is using the internet is guaranteed to have one or more account in these types of sites. The reason behind joining these types of sites is that people use to get connected with their old and new friends who were missing in the due course of time. As a result they use to be stay in touch through these types of sites and the market grows as most of the people use to get connected and at last the network grows to a considerable big size.

Social media sites like Facebook which provides gaming entertainment also drags most of the individuals to have an account in it. Through Facebook you can, not only be in touch with your friends, but can also be entertained by several games and quiz facility. So as a result of which these social media sites proves to be the fastest and the most effective way to build an MLM business.

But there is a technique to do marketing on these social media sites. You should follow some of the rules that are required to do marketing. Before marketing you should keep in mind the following tips:

- You should never spam.
- Perfectly personalize your profile.
- Always try to build relationship.
- Make as much contacts as you can.
- Always stay visible to everybody.
- Post your content into your blog.

So by keeping all the above points in your mind, you can build a larger network through these social media sites and as a result can promote an MLM business effectively. This is one of the effective ways to perform good marketing of your business.

Social Marketing & List Building – How to Use Twitter to Quickly Build a Highly Qualified List

Source: Ezine Articles

By: Jeff Herring

One of the really nice things about building your list with Twitter is the immediacy of response on Twitter. When you include the right words and links in your “tweet stream” (a phrase I never imagined saying) you can quickly build a list of highly qualified members.

This is so quick and easy I’m a little surprised more people are not using it. I think this is because of some of the misinformation out there, so I will clear some of that up while I give your the strategies below.

Here are a 2 powerful strategies:

1) Invite people back to one of your opt-in pages for more good info from you in exchange for their email address. Some people will tell you not to do this on Twitter. My opinion is they are wrong. As long as you are also being social on Twitter and not just marketing with every message, you can certainly use this strategy. I tweet an invitation like this almost everyday. Tweet about the benefits your prospect is going to get and include a link back to your opt-in page.

When you do this you are offering great quality stuff in exchange for their email address. Once the prospect has opted-in, you can turn that highly qualified list member into a highly responsive list member when you follow up well.

2) Use your other resources as list building tools on Twitter – Did you know you can leverage your blog posts, your articles, and your videos to build your list from Twitter? Each time you have a new blog post, a new article, or a new video, let your Twitter followers know about it.

When you have set it up correctly there will already be an automatic message on Twitter about each of these things. Your job now is to follow up these “auto-tweets” with invitations of your own.

A phrase that will draw attention is to ask “Have you seen this yet?” and then include the link to your blog post, article or video.

In each of these resources you should have at least one way for your prospect to opt-in for something cool and powerful and join your list.

To learn more about how to leverage the Social Networks to build your list and more, get your FREE Instant Access to our Social Marketing Video Training Series when you visit http://SocialMarketingBlueprint.com/7laws

You’ll get a series of videos, audios and pdfs all about Social Media Traffic & Profits

From Jeff Herring and the SocialMarketingBlueprint.com

Why it is Important to Be Social in Social Media

Source: Ezine Articles

By Kevin D. McNabb

If you are like me, you have become fascinated with the popularity of social media and the diversity of its involvement into the mainstream of our lives.

All you have to do for social proof is to take a look at the Alex ranking of the Top 20 most visited websites on the Internet and you will see that 5 of these sites are social media sites (#2 Facebook, #4 YouTube, #12 MySpace, #15 Twitter, #20 Bing)

So I think it is comfortable to say that social media is here to stay and if we are waiting to see if it is a fad or a force, I am here to help, it is a FORCE.

Now if your thought is to get involved in ALL the social media sites, you are biting off more than perhaps you can chew. Why? Because there is literally hundreds of social media/bookmarking sites available to us that offer similar and in some cases distinct options.

My recommendation would be to join three to four at the beginning and really master the use of the site before moving on to the next one and the next one.

One of my observations as I virtually travel through these sites is the lack of “social” etiquette used by some users within these communities.

What I mean by this is that each and every social media site is a community within itself. It has its basic structure and rules and regulations. The community as a whole will help others stay within those guidelines using various methods such as; gentle hints in posts, deleting of comments and in some cases pretty nasty communication.

So if we are interested in joining a community, then it is my recommendation to learn the dos and don’ts of that community.

The first thing I recommend that you do when you join a social media site is to fully complete a profile and upload an appropriate picture of yourself.

I don’t know how many people on a daily basis try and offer me, sell me, connect with me, etc… within a social media community and do not even have a picture uploaded.

This actually boggles my mind.

Why would I want to connect or do business with anyone that does not have the decency or credibility to upload an appropriate picture of them? Answer: I wouldn’t. For me any communication I receive from another member of the social media site that I am a member of that does not have an appropriate picture uploaded is immediately deleted.

Now let’s talk about what an appropriate picture is within a social media site. Well that depends on what you are using that site for. If you are using the site strictly for social interaction and non-business connecting than any picture that you choose to represent you is of course at your discretion. In some examples that I have come across, some people do not necessarily use any discretion.

So, the question that remains is what is an appropriate picture for one to use within a social media site if one is choosing to conduct business? Answer: A picture of you that your grandmother would be proud of.

We have all seen the examples of pictures used on a social media site that are at best questionable and yet the individual is expecting to have credibility with their audience.

Personally, when I coach someone about personal branding, the first two things that I review are the picture and the information being used in a profile.

It starts with your picture. That is the first thing that people see of you. It should represent you in a positive manner. Now, I am not suggesting that it shouldn’t be fun, what I am suggesting is the “one” picture that you choose to represent yourself in that social media site should be appropriate for your chosen use for that site. Hint: I recommend putting the fun pictures within the appropriate sections of the profile.

In closing, the most important part of social media is to be “social.” Think of it as you walking into a room of people that you have never met, but want to get to know. Ask yourself this question, “How should I present myself if I want to attract people to me?”

Kevin D. McNabb has been a professional network marketer since 1985.

During this time he has been able to build an organization in excess of 60,000 people in over 37 countries. His goal is to help create 100 millionaires through network marketing.

For more information about how to explode your presence on social media or Kevin McNabb (The Responsible Network Marketer(TM)), please see http://RNM.KevinMcNabb.info

Ways of Optimizing Social Media

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Menno_Spijkstra

By: Menno Spijkstra

Social media sites have been the favorite destination of many online marketers these past years. These web sites offer a whole new different way of people communicating to one another with the use of videos, forums, or blogs. For an effective online marketing using social media, you must be able to apply optimization methods for your site to gain the popularity it needs. By being popular in these sites would mean more people will get acquainted with what you are promoting on the net. Your site will be able to generate the traffic it needs in order to achieve your target sales in the long run.

Traffic is very important to every online marketer who relies on his web site to sell his products or services. Next to search engine optimization, social media optimization has now become a major part of every affiliate’s marketing strategy especially to those who join these sites to promote their businesses. This type of optimization pertains to employing certain techniques that would make your site popular among social media sites by generating publicity. You can do this by using online media such videos, blogs, or forums in attracting internet users to visit your web site. There are many affiliate marketers who produce their own web videos which include information related to their products and they post it in video sharing web sites.

Once the video is uploaded on this site, millions of people around the globe will be able to have an access to that video. The affiliate marketer benefits from the free one way links it can gain and have more people directed to his web page. With every video that you post, you can include your site’s link at the bottom which can really work for your advantage. If you are one of those online marketers who have not yet tried social media marketing, you could be missing a lot of opportunities. This type of marketing is actually an exciting one since it is not one of those traditional ways of promoting an online business.

You’ll be surprised to know that online marketing could be fun and creative. You may explore the world of blogging, too. You can write blogs related to the niche you are promoting and submit them to free blog directory sites. The more web logs you post, the more visible your web site link will be on the net. However, keep in mind that content is very important. That is why online marketers who are into blogging are encouraged to write on interesting topics that could draw its target readers to their blog site. If your blogs are not interesting, then you may not be able to attain the ideal traffic that you want.

Furthermore, if you join social media networks, you will also be able to expand your network and linkages. Linkages are very vital to a web site’s success because the more links pointing at your site, the better search engine rankings you will get. There are various ways of increasing links to your site like using social bookmarking. Keep on exploring new ways to further forward your business by joining these interesting media sites.

The author of this article, Menno Spijkstra, is an underground Internet Marketer who has been successful in selling products online for years. Menno is now coaching people how to make real money online through his program IM Achiever. This course includes a detailed manual plus 5 products to sell and keep 100% of the profit.