Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 by Hwasu Kim
As usual I start my day scanning through any interesting articles or blog on Social Media and other technology topics, and I came across an interesting article by P.J. Fusco, "For Pix and Clicks Go SMO" (http://www.clickz.com/3627123). This article was written in 2007, but it's still relevant to the current market and worthwhile mentioning.

I haven't heard the term Social Media Optimization (SMO) until today, and I actually like it. As we provide a social media solution, I talk a lot about social media strategy, but I haven't been articulating social media optimization in a way that it makes sense to pure media players. I frequently get a question like, "Do you support SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?" To someone coming from the search space, I have to take a deep breath before I can begin to address this question. Many people describe SEO like a feature. If you didn't know, it's not. It's a strategy. There isn't just one thing you do to achieve SEO. Social Media Optimization (SMO), which directly correlates to SEO, is also a strategy. So, what are the things you should consider to optimize your social media site?

Here are some collective tips from the article and Marketingvox.com (http://www.marketingvox.com/how-to-optimizing-image-use-in-social-media-043605/):
  • Use groups of images for targeted groups to add content.
  • Mark your images with a non-intrusive personal stamp, like your URL - these images are then easily copied, thus ensuring higher overall exposure.
  • Use large images, preferably of the same size when presented in group, and be sure to categorize them.
  • Host your images on to a hosting service to prevent your server from being overburdened.
  • Use breaking news photos and exclusive shots. (The Hudson plane landing is a good example of this.)
  • Add a unique title, appropriate to the image. Use a keyword or two and stay on topic.
  • Add a description for the photo or write an article to go with the image. Annotating images is critical.
  • Always tag your images with keywords. Be specific, and add as many tags as appropriate, using optimal terms as phrases. Be reasonable with the number and accuracy of descriptive photo tags - don't over do it.
  • Make photos publicly viewable. Consider loosely licensing your pictures; share your photos with the rest of the online community.
  • If your photos are location-specific, such as store fronts or travel destinations, geo-tag the pictures.

Now, let see how Reality Digital Opus platform supports SMO...
  • The Opus platform supports images, videos and audio and provides flexible ways to organize them, group them, categorize them, and share with others.
  • The Opus platform can stamp media with your logo or other branding you'd like.
  • The Opus platform can support the dimension and quality of media. Of course, the Opus platform follows the First law of Thermodynamics, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change forms". (This is the only time you will see my geeky side, I promise...) If the original media is in a poor quality, Opus cannot enhance the quality. The Opus platform will change the format that is optimal for the web browsers and media players.
  • Reality Digital hosts the site for you, so no burden on your side.
  • You decide what content to be on your site - users can capture breaking news photos or videos in real time and upload them to the site from web or mobile devices, and you moderate the content as needed.
  • The Opus platform allows to add title, description, tags, keywords, and categorize the media.
  • The Opus platform is integrated with Google Maps.

I like Fusco's summary, "SMO benefits vary depending on your goals. Most sites and blogs can profit from some form of SMO, but a successful SMO strategy must spring from rock-solid business and marketing goals." Reality Digital has solutions to help with SMO strategy, but our customers need to defined rock-solid business and marketing goals to be successful.


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