Before you can put any of these rules into practice, you may want to understand a little more about the differences between social media marketing and social media optimization.
SMM = Social media marketing
Social media marketing strategically uses large social sites to spread your brand name or drive traffic back to your web presence.
SAINT = Social media optimization
Social media optimization is about adding key elements to your websites or content that make it easier to spread on the big social sites.
Rohit Bhargava developed social media optimization rules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
1. Increase your bonding skills
Linkability is the willingness of other websites or articles to link to your site. One way to increase your natural Google listing is to increase the number of authority sites that link to you, so increasing your linking ability with social media optimization is to make your site more informative and useful to others. the rest. You can do this in many ways; blogs, white papers, press releases, keyword articles, RSS feeds, etc. This is the most important step in social media optimization and should be your first priority.
2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy
The act of tagging is bookmarking the website on social bookmarking websites. For example, if you like the content or services provided on a website, you tag it. This will show others that you approve of this site and they will check it, generating viral traffic. To include social media optimization tagging on your site, you can add tagging links like Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, etc. Also, add the tagging links to other pages on your site (not just the home page) and when visitors click the tag button make sure there is a suggestion box to help your visitor list one label and relevant notes.
3. Reward inbound links
As I mentioned before, one way to increase your natural listing with Google using social media optimization is to get more backlinks. You can do this by rewarding people / websites that link to you (inbound links). Inbound links are links that send people to your site from somewhere else. One way to reward people for linking to your site is to have a “Recently Linked” listing all the websites that have linked to you.
4. Help your content travel
Social media optimization focuses on providing useful content to your market. When you publish content like an article, video, or audio file, you need to help it reach as many people as possible on the web. You can do this by submitting to relevant, high-traffic websites. When word gets out about your great content (regardless of format), you’ll receive backlinks to your site.
5. Encourage the mashup
Combining is using the content of two websites and combining them. For example, YouTube makes it easy to combine your content (videos) on your site. Also, because it’s so easy, you’ve added a video to your site that has a YouTube logo on the video, as well as a link to your tube. Therefore, promoting a mashup with social media optimization is making it easier for other websites to use and refer to your content to drive traffic back to your site.
Jeremiah Owyang developed rules 6 and 7 of social media optimization
6. Be a user resource, even if it doesn’t help you.
One thing all visitors appreciate is honesty. With social media optimization, you need to include links to other websites that will help your visitor reach their goal or find the information they want. Do this, even when it doesn’t benefit you. By linking to competitors or information not created by you, you get the benefits of having complete information on a particular topic. In the end, more people will link to you because you have grouped all the information (or links) on a topic in one location.
7. Reward helpful and valuable users
Valuable users are your best friends. A valuable user can be determined in many ways; They can send traffic to your site, add valuable content to your site, or help your site visitors. No matter what they do, if it benefits you, your site, or your service, you must reward them. This could be by sending them a personal message thanking them for their dedication. Other ways to reward your valuable users is to create reward systems, advertise them, or promote your efforts on your home page.
Cameron Olthuis developed social media optimization rules 8, 9, 10 and 11
8. Participate
With social media optimization, you can participate by joining the conversation about your topic (or specific keyword). Simply posting articles and sharing content is not going to keep the buzz going. You must continue to share information on other websites. This participation will share your knowledge with more people. One way to do this is to find people who will blog about your topic and give feedback on the conversation. Also, participate in forums or other social groups that are discussing your topic. Read comments on their articles, videos and audios and respond to them.
9. Know how to address your audience
Social media marketing is about sharing content / information. Not everyone is interested in your topic, so be sure to do your market research and post your information and knowledge where it is understood and appreciated.
10. Create content
Content is any form of information that benefits a visitor. The content can be a white paper, article, video, audio, widget, the list goes on. Your job is to find content that piques the interest of your visitors. No matter what market you enter, there is always a form of content that they will share with others. Find out what it is and give it to him. This, in turn, will keep them coming back for more useful content. If this happens, then you know that your social media optimization is successful.
11. Be real
Internet users search for specific content on the web. If you provide content that links to a website, make sure the website is relevant. You will not be rewarded for persuading a site visitor that they have nothing to do with the content they just read (or viewed, depending on the type of content you provided).
Loren Baker developed Social Media Optimization Rules 12 and 13
12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble
It’s easy to let popularity go to your head. When you become the shining star in your market, be sure to recognize those who helped you get to the front of the pack. (this ties in a bit with # 7)
13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh.
Anyone on the Internet knows how quickly things change. Stay up-to-date with new media content, new types of websites, and new interests in your market. By staying on top of new information, you can stay on top.
Lee Odden developed social media optimization rules 14, 15 and 16
14. Develop a social media optimization strategy
Social media has multiple purposes. You need to identify what your purpose is and then post content that promotes that purpose. Some purposes of social media optimization include: brand, reputation, charity, increase traffic, build reputation, increase sales, credibility, etc. Make sure that, as you develop content, you are publishing and creating with that purpose in mind.
15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely.
Of all the content available on the web, only about 10% of the people on the web are content creators. The other 90% are consumers and are willing to share their content. Make your content easy to consume and spread. Also be sure to create content that has the most impact on its original purpose (which could be any of the following: brand, reputation, charity, increase traffic, build reputation, increase sales, credibility, etc.).
16. Make Social Media Optimization – SMO part of your process and best practices.
We all know that there are specific search engine optimization tactics that every website should include. Just as you include keywords in your title tags and keywords in your H1 tag, you must find ways to include aspects of social media optimization in building your website. These can be little details like including social bookmarking tags on your site or encouraging inbound links with the “recently linked” list I covered in n. 3.
17. Don’t be afraid to put aside a message or idea and let others own it.
Finally, when you create a movement, spark and idea, or develop a new theme, don’t be afraid to let others follow. Collaboration is key. Others may improve on your original idea and give you credit for the beginning. Be sure to give credit where applicable.
