Yes you read that correctly. Social Media Optimization. You are probably sitting there on overload from Search Engine Optimization and the last thing you want is to start with yet another thing to do. Welcome to Web 2.0+. Another fad, I doubt it. But like SEO it can be confusing.
Do I really need Social Media?
To all those that are wondering what to do with all this social networking & bookmarking sites, here is a brief reason why you should get involved. It gets your message out. It connects you with who you are targeting.
It can make a difference I am here to say you get out of it what you put into it. Brian Brady in San Diego California pushed me into Twitter a little while ago. Kicking and screaming, I might add. It is the reason I am presenting this material tonight at Niagara University. Never would have happened if that chain of events I did not join Twitter.
Social Networking is not just about being social; it is an integral part of your marketing strategy for your business. It is about engaging with the community in a Web 2.0 world. Social Media Marketing is an important part of your Internet Marketing plan. Ted Koterwas in 17 Rules of Social Media Optimization writes a great list of Social Media Optimization rules; most significant was how few are creating content and the percentage of people consuming it:
Be cognizant of what actions will influence the desired outcome with the most impact. According to Hans Peter Brondmo of Plum during the SES San Jose session "Marketing with Social Media", 1% of those involved with social media are creating content, 10% will enrich that content and 90% will consume it.
Read Also: The 23 Types of Social Media Users
Additionally he writes:
In the spirit of social media principles, the idea of Social Media Optimization is now out there and belongs to the marketing and PR community. People have already added great ideas and thoughts to this concept - and I strongly believe the future definition of this emerging marketing practice will come from the group.
So how do we integrate Social Media into our overall marketing strategy? One step at a time. In 5 Ways To Make Social Media A Part of Everyday Business Strategy Derek Edmonds brings up some great points:
The "SEO value proposition" of social media is that you get your message out to communities and individuals entrenched in an innovative online environment. You become a part of the community which understands online relationships; and that community brings forth new connections, networks and inbound link opportunities.
Read Also: 25 Tips to Perfect your Social Media Marketing Campaigns
Starting with Social Media
Where to start? Everyone has their own opinion. Each one of us needs to make the determination what works for our business. The following sites will increase traffic and create a buzz when you need it:
Digg
The Digg Community is a great resource of targeted readership. You can find a wide variety of material on Digg. There is a limited selection of topics, and each member cans DIGG articles that they like.
- 11 Tips to Enhance Your Digg User Experience by Tamar weinberg
- 10 Steps to Guarantee You Make the Digg Front Page by Seoblackhat
- 15 Ways to become a Digg Power user in only 48 hours by earnersblog
- The Digg Toolbox: 70+ Digg-related Scripts, Tools, and Tutorials by Laura Milligan
StumbleUpon
Stumble is a lot easier to use than Digg, and it is another way to vote on sites. When I am looking for something interesting to write about, Stumble is a resource for me.
- 65 Must Read StumbleUpon Articles by Fred Peters
- Use Social Media Arbitrage to Drive Traffic by John Wesley
- StumbleUpon's Top 50 Stumblers Analysis by Glen Allsopp
How much can be said in 140 characters? Apparently a lot! And the you can benefit sigificantly from getting invovled. There has been a lot of great things written about Twitter, it takes some getting used to, but what a great tool. I find all sorts of interesting things out just by checking in...
- What is Twitter? By Colleen Kulikowski
- Forget Facebook, everyone's a-Twitter by Jerry Langton
- 5 Ways to use Twitter for Good by Chris Brogan
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and get started! Used properly you can be generating a large amount of business for yourself. If you don't - it is like the New York State Lottery - You have to be in it to win it!
This is just a starting point, for every one mentioned above, there are at least 20 or 30 additional on the internet at this point in time. Hope that this explains it for you! If you join Twitter, I invite you to follow me...
If you enjoyed this post by your Buffalo & Niagara Falls Home Sales Expert, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!
Additional Social Media Resources:
- 21 Punching Tips On Social Media Marketing and Social Media Optimization
- The Five Pillars of Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Evangelism: How to Turn Visitors into Supporters of Your Website
- 10 Ways Non-Profits Can Start Leveraging Social Media
- 7 Essential Web Design Principles to Earn Trust. And 4 Things to Avoid!
Dear Colleen, I am so grateful to you for providing all of these great links to people who have so much to offer. As I read through some and subscribed to others, it became clear to me just how far I have to go before I could consider myself truly knowledgeable about the resources and the required understanding of the complexities of Web 2.0. On the surface it is a simple and clear principle. But looking at the resources and what it takes to begin to make it successful, is a whole other matter.
What I do know about the subject is a pittance compared with what I must learn and I thank you sincerely for sharing this material. At first overwhelmed but now inspired,my sincere appreciation to you.
Sincerely,
William
Hi Colleen,
This is awesome information, with so many to choose from this makes it less intimidating. Thank you :)
I just signed up with Twitter and am getting the hang of it. Slowly. I'm going to check out all of the links in your article. May have to bookmark it, cause I can only take in so much in one setting but this is great material. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Points or not, this is something that will benefit us all and I appreciate it.
I also sent the link to a mortgage broker who I have been trying to talk into joining AR.
Sooooo much to do.... yikes, when to fit it all in???
Excellent links to follow. Twitter...doesn't everyone come kicking and screaming ? But, the posts I have been taken to and the photo's is beyond amazing. I follow local people too and have a meeting set up with a guru around Ann Arbor. If all I got out of it was the same people that are here, why bother but it is the relationships of people outside here that have been so engaging.
I've never really understood Digg so I will spend time reading the links you posted and I'm sure it will help.
Wow! Thanks for the feature...
Brian -- I owe you a drink....
Kim When to fit it all in... Sometimes things have to slide, like responding to comments. I have had to become very exacting with my time. I keep a list and make sure I hit each site in time. Some days I get further tha others.
Monika -- this was the topic that I presented. All we did was get them signed up on DIGG, Twitter and Stumpleupon.
Missy -- so very true! Social media used correctly will just build an aspect of your business.
Chrstina -- You are very welcome.
Marlene -- You are very welcome!
William -- We are always learning, as we master one thing another comes along....
John -- It is amazing how small this world really is... It is about not letting any one thing consume all of our time...
Lola, Suzanne, Jackie & Rich -- Thanks!
Deborah, Liz & Peter -- Remember to sit down and decide what your goal is with your Internet Presence. Then break it down into manageable chunks. And START. Keep to the plan.
Lisa -- Find things also in your local newspapers, and other bloggers in your area. It is amazing to find things from others....
Lloyd -- the internet is kind of big club. That is the point, find people that like the same things you do, and the connections and business will come naturally. It is human nature that you want to do business with your friends and people that you know in a social context. There is an element of familiarity. You know something about the person.
Colleen,
I've been Twittering for a few months now and yes, it really does work. I also am finally understanding how so many of these applications are all linked together (such as Twitter and Jott, Jott and Google Calendar, etc.). Thanks for the great post - I have bookmarked it to refer too regularly.
Tina in Virginia
Tina -- You are very welcome...
Jeanean -- thanks! It is about making the personal connections and in Twitter it is happening. Where the real interaction is in the TWEETUPs... If your area has one attend, if not orgainze one...
Team DiMuria - the beauty of the Internet, the information is there when you need it, or it sparks the mind to a whole new level!
Christy -- it is all in the balance...........
Hi Colleen - you were right, much easier to understand after talking to you earlier. I've checked out the twitter links here, and then found others on those sites to follow and check out. Cool stuff, and I can now see the business app side to these things that I joined and then did nothing with. As you suggested, I'll be taking one at a time and putting them to better use for my business.
Congrats on the teaching opportunity you had - that was so cool, and you do have a knack for teaching and helping. I hope that leads to some really cool things for you!
Ann
Colleen,
I've taken small steps to get into the real social media and after reading this I'm encouraged to do more research on how and where a mortgage lender fits in. Great info on the topic.
Social media optimization
In the last few years search engine has become an important tool for online
business but now a day's Social media optimization is most popular techniques to promote products and services in the market by the mediums of social media book
markings.
Search engine optimization techniques can be broadly classified into two Categories: on-page optimization and off-page optimization, these techniques are very helpful for improving traffics for a website.
Some point should be included in social media optimization
• Know how to target your audience
• create content
• create a SMO strategy
• Book marking and tagging
• increase your link ability
• SMO should be a continuous process
Some of the popular social book marking sites
* blue dot
* bookmarksync
* del.icio.us
* citeulike
* connotea
* digg
* diigo
* furl
* givealink.org
* linkwad
* ma.gnolia
* my web
* mixx
* netvouz
* newsvine
* propeller.com
* reddit
* simpy
* sitebar
* stumbleupon
Great read. Thanks.
Colleen, you have tons of good info here, i've bookmarked it and will for sure explore all the links, thanks.
Great post with lots of resources to use. Ive used StumbleUpon and Digg before, but tips and information are always appreciated. Social networking is as important as "real" networking these days.
Wow. That is great amount of info. Of course I did not read it all but I appreciate the links.
Wow...information overload with this blog, but that's a good great thing! I've added you to my bookmark library for later reading. And that list is getting soooooooo long!
Very thorough tutorial. Will bookmark and read when I get time here and there. Like others, am overwhelmed with all the info. Looking forward to understanding more about what to do when I sign up for these sites. Still not twittering even though I see many on AR do. I barely have time for facebook, linkedin and a few others I am on.
Keep the great content coming!
Hi Colleen--
Thank you so much for a great post and so much good information. Can't wait to get through all the links!
What a wealth of information and links. I finally embraced Twitter but haven't really gotten into Digg or Stumbleupon - although been some questionable opinion about Digg on Twitter lately. I will check out some of the links to keep on the journey - that has not end in sight :-)
Hey everyone!
Interesting that this is all of a sudden popular... Glad that I could share something that would be helpful!
Great post. I hope to implement a lot of the ideas that I see here.
This is an excellent compilation. Thanks so much for sharing it. Just goes to show you---quality posts endure!