In a marketplace dominated by consumer-generated media, people prefer to rely on third-party reviews and references rather than a company website or brochure. In such a situation, it is important to be able to influence, counteract, or at the very least, be aware of what is being said about you by other people. Not only does participation in relevant communities help manage one’s online reputation, it is also a great opportunity to engage, educate, and even sell to other members.
But, before you can leverage the power of social media marketing to grow your business, it is important to invest time to understand the relevance of popular social media, the “etiquette” of customer engagement as well as the common pitfalls of the social landscape.
Instead of “Googling” the best restaurant or hotel, people today are more likely to ask a friend or refer a bookmark site for ideas. While we understand the power of Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media engines, we believe that the real edge in SMO often lies in leveraging lesser known but more targeted community platforms where the real “influencers” can be found. At Creative Lipi, we help you develop and implement a strategy customized to your unique goals and product/service requirements around these specific “social hubs.”
As the term SMO suggests, we help optimize your site and its search visibility by popularizing it on various social or community websites such as message boards, podcasts, blog sites, wikis, and vlogs (or video blogging). Some of the most popular methods for doing SMO involve a combination of the following:
- Tagging and social bookmarking
- Profile creation and maintenance
- RSS feeds
- Adding social news buttons
- Website analysis and optimization
- Blogging and blog management
- Forum marketing
- Video and photo sharing
- Article writing and distribution
- Press release writing and distribution
