Does SMO Services Benefit Online Business?

The social media optimization (SMO) services acts as a complementary factor to SEO. It is a sub-function of the social media marketing niche.

SMO services involve usability of social networking platforms like Reddit, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, YouTube and Twitter.

If you see the AddThis plugin for WordPress, there are about 300+ social media platforms to practice SMO.

Post-2010, SMO services have turned into a qualified way to earn organic traffic and traction for any business blog or website.

Do Online Businesses Need SMO Services? 

There are two main reasons why every online business needs to use social media:

(1) Time Spent on Social Media

Recent reports suggest that out of every 6 minutes a user spends online, 1 minute is spent on social media platforms.

Here is a graphic representation I took from VerticalResponse.com. The Infographic clearly illustrates social media users are maximizing its positive aspects, highlighting the least and most time-consuming factors.

There has been a 4 time increase in SMO budget.

 

Courtesy of: VerticalResponse

The integration of social media with e-Commerce activities is fuelling this trend.

(2) Genuine References

Ever since the concept of business started, ‘Word of Mouth’ (WoM) marketing has played a prominent role. In the digital age, social media is the new method for WoM marketing that helps to create brands.

Compared to SEO services that help an online business to rank high on search engine, SMO services utilize the social media platforms to create a level of individual trust. Needless to say, the SMO services should be customized for every business.

For instance, a certain online business may find Twitter beneficial and another one may find Facebook beneficial for SMO marketing – social media marketing needs to be aptly customized.

Benefits of SMO Services for Small Businesses

Here I recapitulate the often implied benefits of SMO services for online businesses:

(1) Receive Direct Feedback

The post-2000 era focuses heavily on customer satisfaction. Earlier, direct feedbacks from buyers were limited because there was no digital age. But now, the digital media has become a two-edged sword. How?

Through direct feedbacks on social media platforms, a brand can rise or fall. Constant negative feedbacks will reduce the influence a brand has on the buyers and vice versa. This is one of the reasons why big shot companies took their time to adopt social media platforms for marketing.

However, for small-time online businesses, this is a good opportunity because the owner can directly come into contact with buyers, develop a group of niche buyers and gain direct feedback from the customers.

This will help the online business to improve itself, both in products and services.

(2) Old and New Customers

The world of social media is dynamic. To gain new customers and to retain the old ones, it is necessary for the online business to remain dynamically active on social media platforms.

There are innumerable small business owners who operate a large part of their business through the social networking sites only!

This is because (a) social media is free to use (almost!); (b) it is easy to customize social media; (c) social media is where the public is and a business has to go where the buyers are – a very basic rule for any business.

(3) Cost Effectiveness

This is a debatable topic.

There are online marketers who believe social media is a waste of time because one cannot decide how much to invest monetarily and what Return on Investment (ROI) to expect.

A reference here would be General Motors pulling out their million dollars investment on Facebook advertising a day after it released its IPO in 2012 because there were no returns.

Still, as an online business owner, it is not necessary to start spending money for SMO. If you have the time and dedication, start by building profiles of selected social networks.

Try to network with people and if you feel that the social media will be potentially beneficial for “your” business, you can hire or outsource for SMO services.

Source:http://ow.ly/Ew7ic