05_smpr.jpgJust last month, Dee Barizo wrote a post here at Smart SEO Blog about the importance of the social web.  As the concept of Web 2.0 grows, so does the marketing approach that goes with it.  Remember a few years ago when SEO was the buzzword all over the net?  It’s still an important factor when it comes to your rankings, but since last year a new type of SEO is emerging and everyone’s blogging about it.  It’s called Social Media Optimization (SMO).

Now, SMO doesn’t intend to replace SEO.  In fact, it’s simply a subset of a bigger SEO universe.  With social media becoming more important each day, SMO is becoming more and more integral to a site’s popularity.

What exactly is Social Media Optimization?

Based on PR expert Rohit Bhargava’s definition, social media optimization is implemented on a site for the following reasons:

  • to make it easier to link to
  • to make it searchable on social media engines (such as Digg, Technorati, and StumbleUpon)
  • to make it included in related blog posts and podcasts

Press Releases vs. Social Media Press Releases

In the old notion of SEO, a press release was simply in the form of a written article which was keyword optimized and distributed to high ranking sites.  Just a few days ago, Shift Communications released a template for a new type of press release that was more attuned to the social-driven web.  Here is a list of what makes it different from the old press release format:

  • It’s a straightforward, no-BS release.  All the fluff is gone while the necessary facts remain.
  • It includes several multimedia elements such as video, audio, photographs, etc.
  • Quotes, contact information, and links to related stories are in sections that are easy to identify and access.
  • An RSS feed subscription button for the company/organization news feed is present.
  • At the bottom of the release, you have the option of adding the story to Technorati, Del.icio.us, Digg, and other social bookmarking sites.

What does this have to do with increasing your site’s rankings?

Clearly, a social media press release will gain more attention than a regular press release, especially since few companies/websites have taken this approach when it comes to their releases.  The point of the social media press release isn’t so much that it can be found via traditional search engines, but that it contains straightforward facts and can easily be linked to and shared.  So the next time you think about issuing a new press release for your website, think again.  A bee produces more buzz than that.  If backlinks are the foundation of your rankings, and social media search engines can get you the readership you need, getting backlinks through a social media press release would be a better choice than attempting to do the same with the old press release format.

One Comment to "Social Media Optimization and the Social Media Press Release"

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