I stayed up way later than my usual bedtime on Saturday night to catch Ashton Kutcher on Saturday Night Live.  I don’t celebrate Ashton’s entire career or anything, but I am intrigued about his use of social media to help companies grow.  As he soared through his opening bit, he dropped the term Social Media Optimization, or SMO.  It really got my wheels spinning and I think it’s important to point out exactly what I see Social Media Optimization (SMO) as:

SMO:
Social Media Optimization is the process of utilizing and IMPROVING social media campaigns to grow your online market share.  With the web, every campaign is different, every demographic is different, every objective can be different, therefore, it is mission critical to pay attention to what is happening with your own campaign.

Optimizing your social media campaign should involve some of the following practices:

• Are you following the right people? Find out. If they are dead weight or spam masters, make them go away, and enjoy doing it. It’s fun and freeing at the same time.
• Are the right people following you? If you find that every self proclaimed life coach in the universe is constantly growing daises on your Twitter home page, make them take their peace, love and joy elsewhere. You’ve got a business to run, not a commune.
• Fine tune your message.  Who are you? What are you trying to convey? Over time and practice, you can crank out a consistent message without repeating the same words over and over.
• Give it away. I’ve said it a million times, people will find what they are looking for online no matter what (for free…..) Use your social media optimization campaign to give stuff away and spread cheer amongst your followers.
• Don’t disappear. Social media takes time and attention. You won’t have 12,000 followers overnight, build your tribe selectively and grow over time.

The most important thing I can stress is this: be real, be yourself, have a personality.  Your accounting firm doesn’t have to be all about numbers, your mechanic shop doesn’t have to be all about oil changes.  How can you set yourself up as an expert in your field and draw people to you seeking your leadership? Social Media.

Have questions about SMO? Give me a call to discuss: In Orlando 407-830-4550 or toll free Nationwide: 866-998-6886. Learn more about social media and Internet marketing at my web site: http://www.ontargetwebsolutions.com

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