Social Media Optimization
// May 20th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Digital Marketing
photo credit – oneredpanther
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We heard about SEO – Search Engine Optimization all the time. How about ensuring your digital strategy is social media optimized too? SMO should be a natural part of your digital strategy. The challenges that we face in embracing social media as marketing tools is uncertainity in results. Here are some principles that I subscribe to when working with social media.
It starts with 2-way conversation.
Social media is about establishing a relationship. A relationship that is built from conversations – 2 way communications, to be precise. Ask questions, answer questions, share thoughts, discuss, co-create. Relationships are built like this offline too. This is the key difference between traditional media where it is 1-way.
Forget about quantity. Focus on quality.
I am sick of followers on Twitter that follows you, hoping that you will reciprocate and follow back. They are doing this just to increase the number of followers. The question is so what you have 10,000 followers? Can you boost that you can influence them with your thoughts? Sway them into making a buying decision? or simply that you can reach them with whatever messages that you think you want them to hear? That’s using marketing 1.0 methods in a web 2.0 world. It beats to have 10 followers that engages with you on a constant basis that to have 10,000 whom never even care to read about your tweets. Quality please.
Forget about viral
Viral is a natural product of correct content for the correct audience. Having ’share this with someone wouldn’t work if your content does not connect at all. Don’t harp on viral. Work on what your audiences want. Viral will come.
Set realistic goals and take little steps at a time
Social media is not the gateway to reach out to entire online population. Don’t expect phenomenon results like what you read in the papers about how successful Dell has used Twitter to increase sales of their boxes. They probably take much more time in planning, executing and tweaking before it works for them. Take little steps and keep the team motivated.
Be patient & enjoy.
