Using social media as a marketing technique requires a different approach than some of the more traditional marketing that you’ve probably known or done or doing. It’s also very different than the tasks that you’ll complete as part of your SEO efforts.

Social-media optimization is a term coined by Rohit Bhargava. When he came up with it, he also came up with five strategies to help you accomplish optimization of your social-media efforts. Over the next few months, several other industry experts added to the list and there are now 16 guidelines that will help you optimize your social-media efforts:

1. Increase your linkability:

The linkability of your site is determined by the amount of content that you have available to users who might come from social networks. Old, stale, and rarely changing content will not help with your social-media optimization, so begin by updating your content and your content strategy to ensure that it is interesting for visitors who might come from your social network.

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy:

Don’t make users try to figure out how to add your blog or site to their content feed. Instead, make it easy by a function that generates the necessary URL or code for visitors to add you to their important links. There are tools available to help with this, including the RSS Button Maker: http://www.toprankblog.com/tools/rss-buttons/.

3. Reward inbound links:

People who link to you want something in return. If you can provide a link to them in your blog, blogroll, or some other area of your web site, people and companies will be much more likely to link to you. Just remember to keep the links into and out of your site directly related to the topic of the site.

4. Help your content travel:

Having traveling content means having content that can be accessed from another site easily. If you have content that many people will be interested in, consider making that content available in PDF format or as an audio or video file. Then when users want to spread your content, it will be easy for them to do.

5. Encourage the mashup:

A mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into an integrated experience for your site users. For example, if you make it possible for others to embed your content in their blog or web site in exchange for a link back to you, you’ll find that your popularity climbs faster than if you won’t let them move your content from one place to another.

6. Be a user resource, even if it doesn’t help you:

Today’s Internet users, and most especially those users who participate in social media and social networking, will expect you to provide information that is useful to them. If you’re not providing that information, they’ll go to someone who is. So, call it being a Good Resource Ambassador, but try to help people without expecting anything in return. Your returns will come just because your actions proved your site’s worth.

7. Reward helpful and valuable users:

Helpful and valuable users will be the best help you can have as you’re working with your social-media optimization. Find a way to reward those users so they’ll continue to be helpful.

8. Participate:

If you don’t participate, your thoughts and opinions will not be welcomed in a social-media network for long. If you’re going to leverage the power of social media, you have to be willing to participate.

9. Know how to target your audience:

Audiences can be tough. If you approach the wrong audience with the wrong message, you’ll be slaughtered in the court of opinion. Before you make that kind of mistake, take the time to learn who you’ll be in the community with.

10. Create content:

Content is one key to social-media marketing. If you make it a point to create fresh, unique content regularly, visitors will come to you because they know they can find the information they need.

11. Be real:

Social networkers can spot a fake nearly as quickly as they could spot a three-dollar bill. Don’t try to con your audiences. Eventually, they’ll catch on and annihilate you. Be who you are. That will get you much further than being what you think others want you to be.

12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble:

When you participate regularly in social media, you may find yourself in the position of being considered an expert. Many people will let this distinction go straight to their ego. Just remember, someone one else was on top yesterday and will be tomorrow, so treat the people around you as you would like to be treated when you’re not the talking head of the moment.

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

One of the greatest benefits of social media is the ability to use your creativity to do something different. And in social-media optimization, creativity is often rewarded with better traffic and higher interest.

14. Develop a social-media optimization strategy:

As in SEO, you don’t want to be wandering in circles as you’re trying to optimize your social-media presence. Develop a strategy that keeps you on track and helps you target the social networks that are most closely related to your topic.

15. Choose your social-media optimization tactics wisely:

As great a marketing tool as social media can be, it can also be the most detrimental practice you institute. If you use the wrong tactics in a social-media forum, you can expect to find your efforts worthless. You can also expect that it will be very hard to rebuild the trust that you destroy.

16. Make social media optimization part of your processes & best practices:

Social media networks require constant participation. And as with SEO, that means ongoing efforts daily. Integrate your social-media optimization strategies into your daily SEO workflow.

Tags: SMM, SMO, Social Media, Social Media Guidelines, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Media Strategies, Web 2.0

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 2:15 am and is filed under Social Media, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.