Engagement through social media is becoming an ever more important element for any digital marketing strategy. With this in mind, it is necessary to address a fundamental question that you should ask yourself when looking for social media services, do you need social media optimisation services or social media marketing services?
Social Media Optimisation Services (SMO)
This essentially involves structuring a website in such a way as to allow visitors to easily distribute your content via social media platforms or online communities.
In its simplest form this can involve adding a ‘Like’ or ‘Tweet’ button to your site. Whilst on the other hand it can go as far as improving the user experience of a site to entice them to share your content.
Social Media Marketing Services (SMM)
Whilst SMO involves structuring your site to aid in the distribution of your content, SMM usually involves activity away from a site helping to drive up awareness and drive target visits via various social media platforms.
In its simplest form this can involve Tweeting regularly about relevant topics and referencing back to your site or social book marking in StumbleUpon or Digg. Going further, it can also include creating unique, engaging content such as pod casts or videos. These can then be distributed on third party sites such as YouTube, with the aim of it going viral and helping to increase awareness.
In Conclusion
As explained above, SMO and SMM in most cases are two very different activities, but in the end both will aid in driving targeted visits to your website. However it is important to keep both in mind when looking to engage actively in the world of social media, they are both reliant on each other and should not be viewed in isolation.
At the end of the day, the development of a successful social media campaign can bring numerous benefits to a business. These benefits can include attracting targeted traffic, help improve rankings in search engines and in many cases it can be a very cost effective form of online marketing.
Need Further Help?
If you’re looking to promote your business via Facebook or other social media platforms, have a look at our Social Media Services or Facebook Management packages.
Good post Andrew and a nice distinction between the two. Interesting to see that there is a distinct line between on page and off page optimisation, as with SEO.
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