Finally, the third installment brings us to Social Media Optimization. If you’ve missed the first two (Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing) – don’t worry because you can always go back and check them out.
After reviewing some of the response to this series (through comments + Twitter DMs etc.) it became quite clear to me, that most of our readers were interested in this section of the series-post.
So, I shall try not to disappoint!
Social Media Optimization
Social Media Optimization is exactly as it’s title suggests – optimizing your content for social media. Social Media Networks such as Digg, Reddit, Technorati and more recently – Twitter can be one of the most powerful tools to reach an unprecedented number of web-surfers.
Yet, like any other way you would promote your blog – you need to work on several key aspects of it.
Building Your Network
Personally, I think this is where most webmasters fail when it comes to Social Media. Many are under the illusion that you can make a Digg account, submit and article and just watch the traffic flow in. Or, more recently; many people expect to be able to open a Twitter account with some followers – tweet for a bit and then get a constant flow of traffic.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Just like everything else, you get out – what you put in. Social Media Networks rely on everyday web-surfers, just like, whom helps to put the spotlight on interesting content. So, you need to spend a lot of timing building your profile because without anyone to recommend you – you won’t get far.
Understand The Importance of Titles/Descriptions
When it comes to Social Media – everything depends on your title & description. Just like your submissions, there will be a million others competing for your reader’s attention.
How will a surfer judge which submission to read about? He/She will go with the one with the most appealing title. That’s just common sense – because if you don’t have anything else to base your decision on – go for the one that appeals to you the most.
Don’t just slap on a phrase to fill in the required field but instead actually take some time to come up with an interesting Title + Description. Just take a note; the title is your best weapon against the over-lookers.
Make Tagging / Bookmarking Easy
There are a countless number of plugins/scripts that make tagging & bookmarking easy – and it’s critical that you use at least one. A popular WP plugin that I would recommend for this aspect of the optimization would be; ShareThis.
When visitors come to visit your site and they read a piece of content that they like – it’s your responsible to equip them with social Bookmarking/Tagging tools. How often do you spend time directly visiting a Social Media Network – then logging in – then submitting someone’s awesome content? Not often, I assume because not many people will actually do that – I mean, why would they?
They have nothing invested in promoting your blog – other than the fact that they might want to spread the word on useful information you have provided. So, make sure your bookmarking / tagging tools aren’t that far away from the content-rich areas of your blog.
Offer an Incentive
This is a bit harder to acheive, but if you can offer an incentive – people are more likely to help you out. By putting an incentive up for grabs; you are encouraging people to blog about it, Twitter about it and even tell their friends about it.
A very common (and popular) example of offering an incentive is a Twitter contest. Simply; a Twitter-er will offer an incentive to all of his/her followers, and this will encourage people to follow him/her. It could be anything; from a free eBook to even some “under the table” advice 
When it comes to Social Media; word-of-mouth is the essential key to success. If the people like it; you will make it.
Help Your Content Travel
Little things like asking for a Digg or a RT can go a very long way. So, take the time to help your content travel by doing your part too.
Ask people for help and in return, you should do the same to them. You can’t give nothing and expect to receive everything. So, Digg good articles and Stumble interesting pages – in the end, your success on Social Media Networks depend how active you are in those communities.
You are now Optimized.
It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve completed the series-post on Blog Optimization. If you really want to reach as many web-surfers as you can, it is important that you capitalize on all three of these promotion techniques. They complement one-another and together; form a formidable alliance!
If you missed the other two or want to recap you can check them out below;
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Janith, the series has rocked.
Looking forward to more like these
Farrhad A’s last blog post..3 Keys To A Money Making Blog
Thanks for the comment Farrhad, glad you found it rockin’
I’ll definitely be writing more series-posts in the future!
Great article. I agree with Farrhad.
Make Money Blogging’s last blog post..What is a Canonical URL and How Can it Be Fixed
I’ve started a series-post earlier, but haven’t had the time to continue. I’ll be getting back to that later this week – so hope you and Farrhad, along with others – find it useful
Awesome article! However, while you recommend ShareThis, I would recommend something that doesn’t require the “extra click”..like having the particular icons you want right out there.
Yea I know, how lazy can people be? Well…..
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
That’s so true, it can be uprising how lazy people can get – but you can’t blame them. I mean it’s not like they get a medal for it or anything
#1 Motto – make things as simple as possible. Considering the size of the blogosphere, we really do need them more then they need any one of us…
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
Building your social network is very important, this is the key to social media to me. Like when you talk about Digg. Try to see what kind of results you get by being just you and waiting for people to come and Digg your stuff… compared to the results you get when you have a 1,000 friends with who you share your Digg with
…
Nicolas Prudhon’s last blog post..Would You Like to Always be the First to Comment?
Exactly my point Nicholas. Many of us Digg articles and just wait till it gets higher up on the ladder. It won’t get you far; you actually have to work on it – get loyal Diggin’ friends that are willingly to help you out.
It’s the only way! BTW – What’s your Digg profile URL?
Thanks for the awesome article. Great way to finish up the series. Can’t wait to see what’s next. And keep sharing those Thesis tips!
Jeff Rose’s last blog post..How To File a Complaint Against Your Broker
No worries Jeff, appreciate your comments
Like I’ve said above; I’ll definitely be looking into series-posts more often, because I’ve enjoyed writing them myself.
I might even write a post on why people should write series-post – they have a few useful benefits
have you looked into any of the “series” plugins? i’ve heard they can be very handy in organizing series posts on the blog.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
Great tips to help bloggers in socially optimizing their site. It is especially important to make social promotion of your articles as simple as possible.
~ Kristi
Kikolani’s last blog post..Post Vacation Productivity
Interesting!
I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Social Media Optimization.
That is so true Edward, in the last few years infact (since, the day I started if I can remember correctly) – everything has been about Social Media. Everyone seems to benefit from Social media networks, so let’s all just use them =]
Having said that, there are still some “old-school” webmasters that only work with marketing and make a killing doing so.
End of the day, it depends on your personal preference and your goals; whichever works for you – go ahead and do it
Nice article series. I add you to my follower and looking forward to more hot stuff like this!
Best regards,
Volksphone
http://www.twitter.com/followolli
Volksphone´s last blog ..Usability-Schnelltest für die eigene Firmenwebsite