Optimize Your Business By Social Media

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites.

Abbreviated as SMO, social media optimization is the process of increasing the awareness of a product, brand or event by using a number of social media outlets and communities to generate viral publicity.

Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities.

 

Why would a search marketer — or a site about search engines — care about social media? The two are very closely related.

Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news stories, and “discovery” is a search activity. Social media can also help build links that in turn support into SEO efforts. Many people also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content.

It is important to realize that not every business really needs a Facebook Fan-page or a Twitter profile. In some cases, it just might be that right now your small business doesn't have time or resources to invest in Social Media. Still, a business can still leverage social media traffic without joining each of these sites just by making sure you have the basics in place. An RSS feed is crucial to success. With an RSS feed you can distribute your content to other sites and users.

You can also make your Web pages social-friendly by offering users recognizable badges they can click on to submit your Web page or blog post to many of the popular social sites.




In addition to covering social media marketing generally, Search Engine Land also has areas specifically about particular major Social Media sites and social search sites:

• Delicious 

• Facebook 

• Google+ 

• Twitter 

• YouTube 

• Social Search Engines 

• Foursquare 

• Word of Mouth & Buzz Search Engines