June 16th, 2010 
alandanielson SEO is a buzz word that everyone in the business world is all excited about. ”Search Engine Optimization” is all about getting your business to the top of the search engine lists. It’s great, and it’s a good business practice.
The problem with SEO is that the public has caught on. People know you can pay to have your results at the top. They also know how to “bend” the rules to manipulate the system. Even my own 79-year-old mother got my Dad’s appliance repair business to the top of Google without paying for any add words! People know that SEO is a game, and consumers HATE games.
SMO is a term I prefer. ”Social Media Optimization” is the marketing tool that businesses need to pay more attention to. This isn’t about getting a Twitter account and forcing your coupon links down people’s throats. Nor is it about getting the most fans on your Facebook page. SMO is much more. It’s about establishing trust in the community, relationships in the community, and a reputation in the community…the online social media community.
SMO takes time. There’s no microwave solution to leveraging Social Media for your business. It takes commitment and work. The way I see it, business leaders have two options for SMO. First, they can hire an employee or employees to run their social media strategy. Second, they can hire a firm to do it for them. Some of the biggest companies in the world outsource all of their television advertising, and I think they will soon be outsourcing their social media marketing.
What’s your SMO strategy?
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I have a buddy that launched his own SEO company and wanted me to help him out by helping to spread the word. I told him I would if he would help my wife’s new website (caryscreations.com) show up higher in the rankings. He said cool so we had a deal. I have to tell you that 100% of her business that has come in outside of referrals has come in not from her ranking higher on Google but from a simple Facebook ad I ran for her. It took me 3-minutes to create the ad, set my bid and budget, and that was it. I did a $5 a day spend and that’s it. Adding to utilizing Facebook we also created a page for her cake business that we post video and pics of her delivering and setting up wedding cakes. It’s a great way for people to see her in action. The really cool thing and that when we post video several of her friends “share” the video on their pages and no her message is exposed to a whole new group of people. Social media rocks! I spent $150 on a Flip HD camera to shoot the video and that’s our only real investment.