Definition of SMO (Social Media Optimization)

Definition of SMO

SMO, or Social Media Optimization, is a search engine optimization technique that emerged with the advent of social media or networks on the web, and above all, the desire of Google and search engines to take their activity into account when ranking websites. As such, SMO is nothing more or less than an SEO technique based on social networks. Social Media Optimization is an online marketing strategy designed to improve a company’s visibility and presence on social networks. It’s a key element in brand optimization and website traffic generation.

How does SMO work?

SMO is a very subtle process. Why is that? First of all, because it can’t be improvised. Indeed, if you don’t know the first thing about marketing, you could be on the wrong track. If your aim is to improve your company’s e-reputation and traffic via Facebook, Twitter and the like, you first need to implement a marketing strategy. The mistake would be to create pages on these social networks, post anything and everything and wait to see if your number of subscribers increases. Which is unlikely…

SMO objectives

The objectives of the SMO include different types of :

• Increase a company’s visibility and presence on social networks.
• Generate traffic to the website by encouraging users to share links to the company’s web pages.
• Improve customer relations by creating an active brand community.
• Increase brand awareness by encouraging users to share information about the company’s products and services.
• Increase conversions by encouraging users to carry out actions on the website, such as purchasing a product or service, filling in a contact form…

Are you popular?

But how do Google and the search engines judge your SMO? Like PageRank, all Google wants to know is: are you popular? The same applies to your social networking pages. And here, it’s not just the number of subscribers you have that matters, although that’s a sign, but above all what’s happening on your pages. Do you create interactivity with Internet users? Do you provoke discussion threads? Shares, retweets, likes? How many Google + circles are you in? SMO is a measure of your popularity with Internet users, and therefore of your ability to get people talking about your brand or company.

To find out more, visit our article dedicated to SEM, SEO, SEA and SMO.