Win the Game of Googleopoly

Chapter 6Social Media versus Social Media Optimization

There is a difference between social media and social media optimization.

Social media is all about being social. That is the point and the reason it is called social media—constant updates on what you are doing, what you are thinking, where you are going, what you are eating, and who you are hanging out with. This would also include wishing people a happy birthday, happy anniversary, or happy holiday, as well as random thoughts, fears, excitements, frustrations, loves, hates, and everything in between.

Social media is also about sharing content that already exists. People are 1+ing, retweeting, liking, pinning, and commenting all over the Internet. Major sites like MTV.com, FoxNews, CartoonNetwork, BMW, and U.S. Airways all have content that is shared.

Social media optimization (SMO), on the other hand, is the strategy of creating compelling enough content that other people want to engage and share, by:

• Liking
• Recommending
• Commenting
• Creating video responses
• Retweeting
• Revining
• +1
• Repinning
• Sharing
• Embedding your link(s)
• Embedding your video
• Embedding your picture or infographic
• Linking
• Promoting
• Telling people about it

Social media content can rank on the first page of Google and achieve POD.

The Social Component of Social

Social media is the number one form of communication on the planet, and Facebook itself is one of the largest websites on the planet. Social media has changed the world literally on a communication ...