Social Media Optimization: David M. Freedman, Chicago Journalist

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A Brief History
of Social Media

Social media evolved from new Internet technology, mostly developed after 2000, which made it easy and cheap (often free) for non-tech users to contribute content to various kinds of websites. Blogs, for example, let you post, comment on, and discuss content with other bloggers and commenters. Social networks let members build profiles and all manner of personal and business-oriented content. Anyone can write and edit entries for Wikipedia, or post book reviews on Amazon.com. Wikis and forums let groups collaborate on content creation. You can upload your photos to Flickr and your short videos to YouTube. You can rate, share, recommend, tag, and socially bookmark the content that others create.

Around 2004, the new Internet became known variously as the user-generated web, the social web, and Web 2.0. Time magazine named "You" (as in YouTube) the person of the year in 2006.

Mainstream news and entertainment media have become increasingly social in the past few years. CNN’s iReport led the way, letting “citizen journalists” post news stories on its site. Many news sites allow users to share, rate, and comment on stories. The New York Times (TimesPeople) and Huffington Post (HuffPost Social News) were among the first news outlets, in 2009, to integrate Facebook-like social networking features on their sites.

Before 2000, the World Wide Web featured mostly one-way communication: websites to users. Now communication on the Web is every-which-way: it's a conversation.

Consumers are engaging with social media at their desks, on the road, and just about everywhere else—with computers, netbooks, smart phones, iPods, Kindles, and almost any device with an Internet connection.

For more information about social media, including a blogroll, research reports, white papers, and conferences, see Freedman's social media resource center.

DEFINITION: SMO

Social media optimization is a set of methods for attracting visitors to website content by promoting it through social media. SMO is a subset of social media marketing, which is promoting all kinds of products and services, not just Web content, through social media.

NEW ARTICLE
Dave Freedman wrote "Optimize Your Website Content Through Social Media," published in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of The Value Examiner. Read it here

David M. Freedman, Website Content, Chicago

Social Media Optimization

You invested time and money to develop your website, "populating" it with rich, informative content. Now you want to attract clients, prospects, and referral sources to your site. You might also want to attract potential employees, the media, and other key audiences.

One way to do that is by Web optimization. The broad objective of optimizing Web content is to generate traffic to your website content through search engines and social media.

There are two parts to Web optimization:

Search engine optimization (SEO). The narrow objective of SEO is to get your article ranked high in search engine results so that people find it quickly when they search for information on the topic.
Social media optimization (SMO). The narrow objective of SMO is to spread the word “virally” through various online communities that you have posted new or updated content, describe how it can help people who read it (its benefits), and provide a hyperlink to it. SMO is one of Freedman's specialties.

J-level Content
For SMO to be most effective, you should post information that your key audiences need. There are at least two categories of website information, or content. One is brochure-type information: the services you offer, credentials of the firm’s professionals, clients or industries that you serve, contact information, success stories, press releases, testimonials, and “about us.”

The other category is journalism-level content. It includes articles and white papers published under your byline, blogs, newsletters, transcripts and podcasts of your speeches, how-to information that helps clients succeed, and links to other Internet resources.

Social Media Optimization
SMO is a set of methods for attracting visitors to website content by promoting it through social media. SMO is a subset of social media marketing, which is promoting and publicizing all kinds of products and services, not just Web content, through social media.*

SMO is an ongoing process that you undertake over weeks or months after new content is published on your website. There are two kinds of SMO methods:

Social media features that you “plug into” your website content, including RSS feeds, commenting fields (a function of WordPress and other CMS software); and tools for sharing (ShareThis), rating (Digg), social bookmarking (Delicious), and polling (ConstantContact and ZapSurvey).
Promotional activities in social media, including writing a blog, commenting on other blogs and news sites, participating in discussion groups, and posting status updates on social networking profiles.

Promotional Activities in Social Media
There are many ways to use social media to spread the word virally about your article. Freedman will help you select the methods that will work best for your firm, among the following:

Join a professional network like LinkedIn or Plaxo, or a social network like Facebook (if that’s where many of your clients, prospects, and referral sources hang out). Post status updates about your new or updated content, providing a hyperlink to that page of your website.
Join discussion groups in which your key audiences participate. Follow the discussions, and when you have some ideas or information to contribute, join in. Mention your website content, with a link to it, if it adds value to the discussion—not in an overtly promotional manner. LinkedIn and Facebook have tens of thousands of niche discussion groups and sub-groups.
Read blogs in your industry, field, or practice niche, and post a comment (in response to the original blog entry or to another comment) whenever you have some constructive ideas or criticism, or to correct a factual mistake. Mention your content (with hyperlink) if it helps to illuminate the subject.
If you write your own blog, post a summary of any new content that you add to your website. Link to your content whenever you post a blog entry on a related topic.

If your content requires updating from time to time, do so assiduously—do not let it become obsolete or inaccurate, or you’ll shoot your credibility.

Tracking and Analytics
To some extent you can measure the response from social media participation, using both human and electronic tracking systems and analytics. After you analyze the response to your SEO and SMO efforts, you can adjust your optimization strategies, and perhaps your content management strategies as well.

Effective SMO requires strong writing and PR skills. If you do not have those skills on staff, you may hire an outside Web content consultant or PR professional to assist you. Here's a big tip: Not all Web and PR consultants have expertise in both journalism-level writing and social media optimization. Be sure you hire an individual or firm with that broad range of expertise.

Dave Freedman is one of those individuals with expertise in both journalism and SMO. He has won national awards for journalism and public relations. See Dave's profile. Please contact Dave to see if SMO is right for your website content.