When it comes to social media marketing, there’s one three-letter abbreviation that I can’t stand: SMO (social media optimization). Why don’t I like that term? SMO implies that leveraging social media in your marketing efforts is a cousin of SEO or, even worse, an adjunct that is simply about getting more inbound links to build your search engine prominence.
Marketing your site with social media is much more than optimization. Social media marketing (SMM) is an entire channel that allows marketers to build communities of “friends” and then socialize with those friends in their chosen online environments. It’s about leveraging a whole new platform and environment to galvanize and communicate with your customers (and potential customers) and to let them communicate with you.