Social Media Marketing

SMM, or Social Media Marketing is a relatively recent category of Internet Marketing where social media and social networking sites are used as marketing tools.

How is it related to the more familiar SEO, Search Engine Optimization? SEO is a more mature discipline that focuses more on web page visibility to search engines, and how to optimize their visibility and improve ranking through various arts and analytical sciences. SMM on the other hand, faces two different challenges:

1. Social Media and Social Networking Sites are newer than websites in general. Websites have been around since the mid ’90s, some Social Networking Sites have been around only a few years.
2. Social Media is still on a quickly evolving trajectory. Facebook security policies are still in flux and Twitter APIs are only beginning to stabilize.

Consequently, all “rules” you hear about Social Media are transient. For example, early 2008 rules about LinkedIn have been superseded by the addition of an application platform called InApp that permits 3rd party apps to be featured inside LinkedIn.

What are the channels that Social Media Marketing uses to promote branding and amplify marketing communications — and how is each uniquely leveraged?

• Social Networking Sites: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace… all the major platforms where people congregate  and connect.

• Social Sharing Sites: Flickr, YouTube… where end users and companies will share images and videos for personal and professional purposes.

• Social Bookmarking Sites: Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Reddit, Stumbleupon… all of which allow people to share their bookmarks with others, using their own personal taxonomy. (See John Leavy’s article)

• Review/Ratings Sites: Yelp, ePinions, BizRate… where consumers get to publish their views and rate products and companies.

• Blogs: both personal and professional where user generated content (UGC) is king.

• Forums and Online Communities: Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, vBulletin Boards… where everyone gets to ask questions and share best practices — and worst experiences.

• News Sites, Portals, and Aggregators: MyYahoo, FriendFeed, iGoogle, Google News, Google Reader, Twitter… where people are sharing news items socially and extending the reach of news while amplifying its effect.

• Virtual 3D Networking Sites: SecondLife, ActiveWorlds… where there is big money to be made in virtual capital and branding. Many companies extend their brand and some education organizations even conduct training, virtually.

Next time: Why do Social Media Marketing?