Social Media Optimization and Social Media Marketing

Oct
2

I realize that some have opted to call Social Media Optimization something different like Social Media Marketing and vice versa. Given that this is somewhat of a new concept, I understand the friendly debate. Based on a recent post from Rohit Bhargava, he states that SMO is simply “tweaking” a web site by “adding quick links for tagging, syndicating content through rss or submitting content to relevant sites”. Based on this definition, which I completely agree with, I believe that Social Media Optimization is a more appropriate definition.

However, I would also say that Social Media Marketing is somewhat of a different practice within the same space; where firms aggressively target the social media channels (like Myspace, Friendster, Hi5) by creating profiles (Nike, Cingular, Jack in the Box, Aquafina); and engaging in conversations with consumers in places where they frequent.

Technorati Tags: social media optimization, smo, socialmediaoptimization, social media, social media marketing

Author: Michael Brito

Michael Brito is a Vice President of Social Media at Edelman Digital. All thoughts and opinions on this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer or clients; neither past or present. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or subscribe to this blog.

Dave Freedman

Social media optimization (SMO) serves to attract visitors to website content. In that sense it is a subset of social media marketing, which promotes products and services of all kinds, not just website content.

I think SMO involves two kinds of activity: (a) adding social media features to the content itself (like sharing tools, RSS feeds, commenting tools) and (b) promoting the content on social media sites. The latter involves activities such as blogging, commenting on blogs and other posts, posting status updates to profiles on social networks, and participating in discussion groups.

SMO is one of two ways to optimize website content. The other way is search engine optimization (SEO).

Simon Wakeman

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the link.

Your distinction between SMM and SMO makes sense to me - in the same way that most marketers would know the difference between website marketing (using website as a marketing tool) and website optimisation (making a website as effective as possible).

cheers,
sw