SMO: SMO, or social media optimization, is the use of an number of social media outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, brand, or event. It refers to optimizing a website and its content in terms of sharing across social media and networking sites.
The types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news and bookmarking sites, as well as social networking sites, and video and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization, in that the goal is to generate traffic and awareness for a website.
Social media optimization is becoming an increasingly important part of search engine optimization, as search engines are increasingly utilizing the recommendations of users of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to rank pages in the search engine result pages.
Social media optimization is in many ways connected to the technique of viral marketing or viral seeding where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites.
SMO is considered an integral part of an online reputation management or search engine reputation management strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.
Social media optimization is not limited to marketing and brand building, as smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy. Additionally, social media optimization can be implemented to foster a community of the associated site, allowing for a healthy business-to-consumer relationship.