What is SMO? Advantages of SMO ? SMO SITES LIST.

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is an important part of online marketing. Social media sites like Facebook, twitter or linkedin are getting very famous and popular now-a-days. SMO is similar to SEO (search engine optimization) in that the goal is to drive traffic to your Web site.
If the goal of your online business is to keep pace with current online trends and development or maintain and increase product/ service visibility to a wider network of potential customers, then SMO is what you need.
RSS feeds, blogging, adding comments etc. are the best SMO practices considered. Using videos and photos is the best way to attract customers or visitors to your site. An SEO expert integrates all these parts or marketing plans in a single plan to promote your business.

Increase Traffic

SMO is unlimited marketing and easy way to get traffics to your site. One research shows that social media optimization works as follows:

Site visit increase 30%
Page views increased 30%
New visitors increased 15%

Search engine traffic increase 30%

Three Pillars of social media

The first step is to pick the social media site that works for you.

Facebook is good for almost everyone. No matter what your online venture is, there is a category for creating a Facebook fan page for it. Managing a Facebook page is very similar to maintaining a blog.  You need to post interesting content at least a couple times a week to build up fans and you should always respond to comments left on your page.

Twitter is popular because tweets are limited to 140 characters so follows get updates in quick bursts. Another advantage of Twitter is that it is very easy to pick up followers. The more you tweet, the more people will start following you.

LinkedIn is more of a professional networking site. LinkedIn is good for experts in a particular field and service providers who want to network with others in their field. Linked now Offers Company pages which allows users to find companies they would like to do business with.

Features of Social Media Optimization

The changing nature of social media optimization create the need for tools whether for research, marketing and promotion or analytics. Here are social media and SEO tools you might find useful.

Social Polling tools
Social Networking sites
RSS Feeds
Like button
Social Bookmarking Sites
Sharing Button
Comment box
Promotional facilities
Video and image sharing
Friends following options
Community forums
Profile creations
Page creation
Blogging facilities
Participation in group discussion

The Major Purpose of Social Media Optimization
Social media campaigns come in all shapes and sizes and every campaign is unique. If you haven’t taken the time and effort to think through what you’re trying to achieve, the audience you want to engage with and what success looks like not your chances of success are going to be slim to zero.

Make Tagging and Bookmarking
Reward inbound link
Help your content to travel in different sites
Get community Connected
Get More Traffics
To build public profile
Increase number of Inbound Links
Be a User Resource
Increase Valuable Users
Participate with readers
Know how to target your audience
Create contents
Be real.

Advantages of Social Media Optimization

By using internet every marketer can connect with our unique customers. Offered by a company by means of social networking or social media sites like twitter, facebook etc, his or her targeted audience in a dynamic and large level which cannot ever be gained by conventional methods of marketing.
SMO improve the SEO quality
Reach Millions of online users
Helps tap into your target audience
Market product and services
Increase your brand awareness
Create fans
It will build the strong individual relation
Get more readers or clients
Help to increase sale
Supports in link building
Get future readers
The best form of SMO (social media optimization) comes naturally from networking with other people, it is an enjoyable way to find new contacts to help you achieve your goals. Appcotech providing all solutions social media optimization service solutions across the globe.

There are some of the Social media sites Lists check them :-

Free Social media Sites List                             

http://pinterest.com/ - PR-8

https://www.facebook.com/ - PR-9

https://twitter.com/ - PR-10

http://www.linkedin.com/ - PR-9

http://www.myspace.com/ - PR-8

http://digg.com/ - PR-8

http://www.stumbleupon.com/ - PR-8

http://www.reddit.com/ - PR-8

http://www.yelp.com/ - PR-7

https://delicious.com/ - PR-8

http://technorati.com/ - PR-8

http://www.scribd.com/ - PR-8

http://techmeme.com/ - PR-7

http://www.kaboodle.com/ - PR-6

http://www.epinions.com/?sb=1 - PR-4

http://www.care2.com/ - PR-6

http://www.fark.com/ - Pr-7

http://www.hi5.com/ - PR-6

http://www.43things.com/ - PR-5

http://www.bebo.com/ - PR-6

http://www.dailystrength.org/ - PR-6

https://www.flickr.com/ - PR-9

http://www.friendster.com/ - PR-6

https://plus.google.com/ - PR-9

http://identi.ca/ - PR-8

https://www.ning.com/ - PR-7

http://www.orkut.co.in/

http://www.plurk.com/top/ - PR-8

http://www.xing.com/ - PR-9

http://friendfeed.com/

Have any queries please mail me at bharathbhushanseo@gmail.com

Facebook Permissions: What Marketers Need to Know

Do you use Facebook apps to collect data from prospects?

Do you understand the pitfalls?

This article will explore the ins and outs of Facebook permissions and reveal five key points marketers need to keep in mind.

So What Exactly Are Facebook Permissions?
Facebook Permissions are a Facebook feature that allows the social network and businesses that use Facebook for marketing purposes to collect information about users.

When a user agrees to “allow” Facebook, or a business, to broadcast a user’s Likes or other information, the user has granted Facebook permission to do so.


By the way, Facebook Permissions are not only on custom apps. Any time that you connect to Facebook from an outside website—such as Strava, a fitness training site—you’re giving that website permission to access your basic information on Facebook.

Strava is a fitness-tracking website that allows users to use a GPS device to track activity, then view the activity on the Strava website. Strava allows users to sign up using Facebook, and users are prompted with Facebook Permissions they must accept to sign up.

Using Facebook to Mine Data

With each data field a business asks for online, the opt-in rate drops by 10% (I heard this from a Facebook product engineer).

That means if gaining access to your app requires customers to tell you anything at all, you could lose 10% of your potential users right off the bat.

Ask for an email address and lose 10%. Ask for a birthday and you lose another 10%. Ask to access their friend list and another 10% are gone.

The quick math here? Ask for five pieces of data and you could lose half of the people (or more) who are at least interested enough in your business or brand to check out your page and your app(s).

Why Marketers Need to Take Note

These facts are not only relevant to developers who are creating the apps: they matter to any business owner who wants to collect information about users via Facebook apps, including contests and promotions.

Collecting data from users is a key reason that businesses run Facebook contests and promotions. Data collected can be used for later marketing outreach.

Today, social media is being used for customer research on a daily basis.

However, with all of the news about privacy, identity theft, hacking and in-boxes being filled with unwanted email, it’s no wonder that Facebook users abandon forms on custom apps when they ask for an exceptional amount of personal information.

Unfortunately, some of the data that the business owners try to collect is marketing-driven and has nothing to do with the app.

So it’s not surprising that none of the discussions are favorable: consumers don’t like it when a brand asks them for personal data, especially when the user can’t see how it will be used.

With that said, marketers and business owners on Facebook are still able to gather information from their users and avoid these abandonment rates.

While researching this topic, I discovered that there’s a lot of information about how consumers can protect their privacy, but next to none about what businesses need to know about this issue. I believe it is a two-way street.

If more marketers were careful about how they collect data, consumers would be more comfortable sharing the information that is the most helpful for businesses.

To collect any data from users, outside of what is available via Facebook Insights, businesses must use a third-party provider to create a custom app. It’s here that Facebook Permissions come into play and businesses can make sure to choose a third-party app that allows them to customize the permissions, turning off access to data that they don’t really need.

So in that spirit, here are 5 things marketers need to know about Facebook Permissions and asking for customer data.

#1: Collect the Minimum

In most cases, knowing a customer’s or prospect’s name, gender and email address might be all you really need.

Don’t ask for their home address, marital status, birthday and so on unless you’re asking them to sign up for your birthday club and want to give them a coupon for a free sample at a neighborhood restaurant.

If you simply must have more than the basics, incentivize it.

For example, give them access to your monthly email newsletter if they also give you a home address.

#2: Ask for Everything You Want (but Make it Optional)

Let’s say you really want 12 bits of data from your customers, but would be satisfied with five. When you ask for their data, make the first 5 fields required and then the next 7 optional.

The last thing you want to do is lose the valuable information you could be getting from those first 5 fields. Who knows, they might give you 10 out of 12. That’s a lot better than nothing at all.

This app asks for information beyond the basic name and address fields, but some of that additional information is optional, which increases the likelihood that users will enter. Some users may even fill out the optional fields.

#3: Use What Is Available

There’s a lot of information you can use for your marketing efforts that’s already available on Facebook Insights.  You can learn the gender, age and location (cities and countries) of your fans or Likes. And you don’t have to ask them explicitly for this information.

Facebook Insights gives page admins a good overview of their fan base without ever having to serve an Allow prompt or use a form to collect data.

#4: Make it Worthwhile

Enthusiastic fans of a brand or business will willingly give up all sorts of data if they believe that what they’re getting in return is appealing.

Maybe you offer a great prize, or offer a coupon for free shipping, or give access to a new ebook that you just wrote.

If your customers value what you have to give/sell, they’ll give you what you value in return. Don’t present them with a big form to fill out and offer nothing in return. Not many people have that much free time.

In the image below, Say It Social is offering a complimentary white paper to fans so they make sure to ask for relevant information pertaining to the what they’re offering.

#5: Do Your Customers a Favor

I hear all the time from businesses who use apps with a Facebook Permissions prompt that they do so to “save the customer time.” But in many cases, all you do when you use the Permissions prompt is make your potential users click away from your app.

You already know your users’ gender, age, location, Likes, interests, friends, etc. It’s up to you to decide how much value there is in collecting information beyond that.

Remember that if a user is not willing to fill out the most basic information—i.e., name and email address—he or she wouldn’t have come to your page in the first place.

Most requests start out with the marketer saying, “I just want to fill out their name and email address for them so they don’t have to type it.” Then the conversation turns into “Well, while I have their attention, I’d also like their friend list, so that I can invite them to the app.” Then inevitably, “Oh, if I could access everything they’ve Liked in the past six months, that would be great too.”

You see how slippery the slope gets? You don’t really want to save your customers time, you want to market to them and their friends. Savvy marketers may truly need this data for advanced apps, but they should also know how to use it correctly and not abuse it.

When you collect only the information the user gives voluntarily, this can lead to more users of your app.

Top Reasons Your Fans Are Hitting the 'Unlike' Button

Getting a lot of people to like your Facebook page can be gratifying, but losing their loyalty can be equally devastating. You’re usually left thinking “what did I do wrong, was it something I said?” That’s if you’re keeping track of your fan numbers close enough!

This is the unsettling reality for many companies and independent pages who are struggling to find ways to retain fans after enjoying an initial boost of popularity. So what is causing your fans to hit the infamous unlike button, and what can you do to stop more fans from doing so?

The Human Spam Filter Effect – Posting Too Frequently

If you’ve ever used an email client before you know about spam filtering – it’s an automated mechanism that identifies spam-like content and throws it straight into the trash bin. Many Facebook users are so in-tuned with internet browsing that they’ve developed their own built in spam filter and are quick to discard overbearing, unwelcomed, and useless status updates. In fact, people get so aggravated by a high frequency of posts that they don’t even want you having access to their wall anymore, and subsequently they unlike your page.

So how often should you post?

This is no rocket science and there is no magic formula. Each business is different so it's all about A/B testing. Besides, your emphasis should be on quality not quantity. The general rule of thumb is that if you don’t have something great to post, don’t post at all. With that said, if you’re taking the time to research your market and pay attention to the requests, opinions, and interests of fans, you should be able to produce at least 3-5 good status updates per week to start with. Increase the frequency if you see a positive response and increased engagement from your fanbase. Again, test different scenarios and don't be afraid to fail at times...

Lack of Incentive - What Have You Done For Me Lately?

You may have forgotten how you got all of those fans to begin with; you probably offered some type of incentive. Maybe it was a discount, some exclusive content or app, some genuinely helpful information, or some wholesome entertainment that made them come back for more. Whatever it was, you’re obviously not doing it anymore. Keeping fans on Facebook is a lot like keeping fans with any other type of media. If a television show is no longer entertaining, viewers stop watching, ratings decrease, and eventually it gets taken off the air. If you’re noticing a steady decline in fan numbers, you need to take action immediately and reintroduce the incentive-based status update strategy. A good way to let your fans know that they’re appreciated is to use a reveal tab/fan gateway to give them access to exclusive content that only fans can see. This will make your fans feel valued and motivate them to keep following your statuses to avoid missing any upcoming contest or giveaway. It will also encourage non-fans to join your page out of curiosity.

Failed Initial Targeting

Maybe the reason why they’re unliking you is because they were never really your fans to begin with? It could be that in your rush to get as many fans as possible in the beginning, you may have neglected the process of carefully targeting your audience. There are lots of ways to get fans on Facebook, including buying them from marketing gurus that are equipped with all the latest tools and tricks. However, if you don’t make an effort to ensure that your fans are properly targeted you could find a large percentage of them losing interest down the road.

So how do you do a better job of targeting your true fan base?

One of the best "organic" ways to attract fans that are likely to stick with you for the long haul is to advertise your fan page EVERYWHERE you can. Think beyond your website, e.g. email signatures, business cards, flyers, invoices, brochures etc... Another great way to attract targeted fans is do joint ventures with other fan pages in your niche. The concept is simple – you find already successful fan pages that have a lot fans who would probably be interested in your page, then you contact the page administrators and ask them what it would take for them to post a link to one of your statuses in their next update. However, the most efficient ways to attract laser targeted Facebook fans will require you to put your hand in your pocket: Facebook Ads! Using Facebook Ads you can target people by location, age, sex, marital status and most importantly INTERESTS. This gives you the ability to display your ad only on profiles that are likely to become fans and/or customers. Coupled with a fan-gated contest or giveaway, Facebook Ads is ridiculously efficient! Try different ad rotations and targeting options to ensure you get the best bang for your buck.

Your Posts Just Suck

There really is no better way to say it. Your fans are unliking your page for the simple reason that they are tired of reading substandard posts that lack useful information or entertainment value.

How do you fix this?

In essence, you need to learn how to post status updates that are captivating and share-worthy. Adding a dislike button to each one of your statuses using Status Magic (as explained in the previous link) might be a good way to find out what your fans do not like before they get so sick of your antics that they completely unlike your entire page.

Use media to your advantage.

If you don’t have the resources, time, or skill to create your own quality media content, find it elsewhere on the web and introduce it to your fans. Sometimes being a known resource and sharing content that has already been created is all it takes. You’d be surprised how many people will stick around just because they know you always bring the best of the web to their fingertips. Think of websites like Digg or Reddit to find potential "viral content" that is relevant to your niche.

Use news and trends to your advantage.

Again, you don’t have to be a world-class journalist and conduct interviews or author breaking news. You just need to point out the latest trends and occurrences that your fans are likely to be interested in, and maybe add your own spin or opinion on the matter. Remember that your fans are basically subscribers; keep them up-to-date and involved.

Be interactive and engaging.

When you’re posting a status about an upcoming promotion, recent news, or a popular trend, make sure you pursue the input of your fans. Hold a poll, ask them to leave a comment, and give them the opportunity to engage in open dialect. Getting your fans involved is a good way to keep their mouse cursor away from the unlike button, and it also creates a buzz. 

And finally...Have a personality and be personable!

Don’t be afraid to be funny, witty, and unique. Stand out from the crowd by acting like a human being, and not a status updating advertising robot. There is no preset formula that will make people like you. Facebook is a digital platform but it still operates in the real world; people like other people simply because... they’re likable. What’s the point of starting a page on a social network if you’re just going to be antisocial?

Facebook cracks down on fake "Likes"

* New automated system will remove fraudulent Likes

* Less than 1 pct of Likes on any page likely to be removed

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.

Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.

"Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes," Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.

"While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes," the post continued.

Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time - a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social network, which has 955 million users.

Many of these Likes come from bogus Facebook user accounts rather than genuine users of the social network.

Meanwhile, various spam-like programs on Facebook deceive users into unwittingly liking something when they perform another action, such as clicking to watch a video.

Facebook said the cleanup will benefit both users and companies that maintain pages on the network, by giving a more accurate measurement of fan count and demographics.

Ensuring the integrity of Likes is serious business for Facebook, which depends on advertising revenue from large brands and other businesses. Many of the ad campaigns that companies conduct on Facebook are designed to garner Likes - a sign that their marketing message has resonated with consumers.

"It's their currency," said Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at research firm Altimeter Group. "Facebook is playing the Federal Reserve, to take the counterfeit currency off the market to ensure that there's quality in the marketplace."

The problem is not unique to Facebook, say analysts, who note that Twitter and Google Inc also grapple with fake accounts, spam and other techniques to game the service.

But for Facebook, the pressure to show that activity on its social network is genuine has grown as concerns have mounted on Wall Street about the company's long-term profit potential.

Shares of Facebook set a new low on Friday, falling as much as 5.3 percent to $18.08, after brokerages cut their price targets on the stock. Facebook has lost more than 50 percent of its market value since its initial public offering in May.

Facebook estimates that 1.5 percent of its users are "undesirable" accounts set up for purposes that violate its terms of service, according to its most recent 10-Q regulatory filing.

"I think what they're intending to do is get a handle on it before it gets really out of control," Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner, said.

"You can imagine no business wants to pay for advertising to fake accounts."

for More Info Follow Our Page ...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Media-Marketing-Networking/178586418900326

Google Continues to Trim Service Offerings

Larry Page is determined to make Google more streamlined. It looks like maybe Yahoo’s new CEO, Scott Thompson, has caught the same bug. Hey, it’s good to keep moving and not keep services around that are not performing or simply don’t have an audience. Unfortunately, there is the human side to this type of “spring cleaning”. Yahoo announced that thousands would be laid off as a result of their efforts but that’s not part of Google’s efforts thankfully.

Social Media Tips for Small Business Marketing.

Social media, popular Web-based technologies that let people socially interact with one another online, has changed the way small businesses communicate with customers and market products and services. Social media lets many businesses -- especially small businesses that cannot afford to launch private online communities -- interact with customers in a more personal way to build better customer relationships.

One thing a small business owner should know is that using social media for marketing is a time-consuming task, and there is definitely a right and wrong way to deal with customers in online social spaces.

While your efforts may be derived from a marketing perspective, your online social interactions with customers needs to be honest, open and provide value to be successful. You need to focus on building relationships more than blasting customers with marketing messages and sales pitches.

The following top 10 social media tips for small business marketing will help you understand how to interact with customers in online social spaces and also guide you in building better, smarter relationships with customers on social networks.

1. Plan Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

As with any small business marketing campaign or business strategy, you have to create a plan and stick to it in order to be successful. Outline the goals and the steps you will take -- in addition to the tools you will need -- to meet your marketing objectives.

Your plan should outline how your small business will integrate social media marketing into existing marketing strategies. Some social media-specific issues you will need to think about include:
Delegating the daily tasks and updates to an employee with marketing and social media experience
Deciding on whom within your organization will create profiles and accounts and which individuals will have access to the accounts
Choosing tools that will help automate the social media marketing process and finding social analyticstools to help you track success
Reviewing your current small business marketing strategies and deciding where an expansion into social media will be the most beneficial
2. Find Your Customers

With so many social networking platforms available to consumers, it can be difficult to choose a social network for your business to use. Before you randomly log on to Twitter or Facebook to start your small business marketing campaign, research to find out where your customers already congregate online.

Existing communities of customers will have formed the basics of the "social glue" that holds online relationships together. It takes less time and effort to join customers where they are, compared to creating multiple profiles and accounts in the hopes that customers will find you.
3. Schedule Social Time

Once you become a social resource for customers you have to stick with it and be there on a regular and frequent basis. Using social networks is time consuming, so schedule social time for yourself and your marketing staff.

You want to have enough time each day to monitor conversations, converse with customers, and to send out new messages. Splitting the time up throughout the day will be a benefit as it shows customers you care enough to check back and respond quickly.
4. Be Authentic and Human

People are more likely to create relationships with other people more so than with businesses. You can encourage customers if you use a "human" voice -- not a corporate presence -- when connecting in social spaces. You can do a few simple things like show a picture instead of a business logo on your profile, and assign one or two people within your small business to be your social voice.

Another big part of being human on a social network that businesses often find challenging is to "own up" to customers in public when they make a mistake or someone posts criticism. If a customer complains about your shipping, don't ignore it or follow-up outside the social network. Keep the conversation public; drop the corporate tone and converse with the customer on a personal level.
5. Be an Expert

One of the best ways for a small business to interact with customers is to be an expert in social spaces. By joining existing communities where your customers are, you can easily insert yourself into the community by being a voice of expert advice.

For example if your small business is plumbing hardware, find those online social communities on Facebook,Twitter, discussion forums and blogs and start answering questions and offering advice. Remember to let people know you are a business owner -- never pretend to be "just another consumer" when you participate in social discussions.


6. Learn to Listen

It's easy to fall into the "broadcast trap" where you spend too much time talking about how great your products are or how fabulous this week's sale is. In a social network you have to stop broadcasting and listen to what your customers have to say.

People use social networks to converse, and the best way to build strong a social relationship with a customer is to be a "friend" who can listen.
7. Be Social

A small business also needs to demonstrate good conversation skills -- after all responding to people is the best way to show you are listening. The point of a social network is to converse, and customers will get bored very quickly if you don't participate in the social flow.

You can demonstrate good listening skills and boost participation by responding directly to questions and comments in a timely fashion. Just like an offline conversation, you should also ask for opinions and direct questions to customers within your social group to make them feel valuable.
8. Respond Often

Successful social media marketing depends on your own ability to respond to customers in a timely fashion. You want to show customers that you are a "reliable friend," so stay active and participate in all conversations related to your company or area of expertise.

If you see new questions or comments, be sure to answer immediately. This is also a great way to "be social" by asking questions back to the customers to keep the conversation going.
9. Provide Value

You'll find that just your own conversation and participation is not enough to keep a continued interest in your social network, especially if you choose to create your own community instead of joining an existing one.

There has to be value in the interaction for people, and you will need to provide the reason for people to stay and participate in your social network. You have converse with customers on a regular basis, but you also need to provide ways for customers to connect and befriend each other to firmly establish your social community as a popular online destination.
10. Offer Exclusivity

Your social network should not just be about deals, but there is nothing wrong with making your fans, friends and followers feel special. One way to do this is to offer rewards or promotions exclusively to social networking customers.

Keep in mind that promotions are an immediate call-to-action, and while you may have short-term success it doesn't mean you will attract quality social customers. Instead of on-off deals or coupons you can try a rewards-type program where only your best advocates and best social customers qualify for the reward.


Do you have a comment or question about this article or other small business topics in general? Speak out .

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Updates

Security and safety are at the core of Facebook. We have entire teams dedicated to building tools that give people even more control over their account and specifically the way they access their information. In fact, many of our most talented engineers are working exclusively on creating a secure environment on Facebook. This October, as part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we are working with others in the community to help educate people about techniques and tools for securing your devices and networks. Additionally, we thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you about some of the systems working behind the scenes to keep you and your data safe.

Today, we wanted to give you an update on some new features we will be testing in the coming weeks - Trusted Friends and App Passwords - and remind you of the many user tools we offer to help keep you secure on Facebook.