The Hype on SMO

What is all the Hype?

By Shannan DuShane

November 18, 2012

 

I recently received an email blast from a well-known national company that focuses mainly in domain names and site hosting; they were advertising such services as search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine submission (SES).  While that is all good and well, when I looked closer they were actually trying to sell social media account creation as search engine submission. I will tell you straight out that there is no such thing.  They are tricking the common business person with no knowledge of search engine optimization and submission.   Now you can optimize your social media accounts, but not necessarily submit them as under normal circumstances for a website pertaining to Google, Yahoo, Bing, ect.  The process I am referring to is termed creating an account to a specific social media platform and optimizing that account; but you cannot just submit your website to a social media platform (ie: Facebook, Twitter, Blog, ect), so do not fall for the hype.

When we talk about submitting a website, we are submitting the domain name or URL to Google and the other worldwide search engines; while the process of submission is simple the process of optimizing takes three abilities 1. Time 2. Talent and 3. Technology; all which are not free and to receive real and measurable results you need to hire a professional, even if only for a consultation.

A quick note on social media and optimization and the implication is that when your page is shared or "liked" by a user on a social network, it counts as a "vote" for that page's quality, so the number of outlets that utilize social media to generate more awareness to heighten the awareness of their brand and products will generate more “likes” and interaction within that page will receive a higher quality score among those specific search engines.   My next post will extend on these thoughts more.

If you allow these companies to supposedly submit you to these accounts; they sign you up for an account and never touch them again, half the battle is to post and interact with you audience and customers – just creating an account gets you nowhere.

A final word – SMO is similar to SEO in that the goal is to generate traffic and awareness, SEO in terms of a website and SMO in terms of your social media account.  You have to create an account with that specific social media platform, keep it up to date and optimize it, if you cannot put time aside or assign this task to someone then don’t start this; you can’t submit it like a traditional website. It is just not possible.

 Shannan DuShane is the Marketing Director for Jemco Logics. She is a social strategist, marketing enthusiast, internet specialist, female entrepreneur and networking fanatic. You can normally find Shannan at numerous local networking events and conventions, or in the office working diligently. Feel free to connect with Shannan on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.