Search Engines, Marketing, Social Media and Optimization

4 disciplines that blend together and co-mingle when managing an online internet and mobile presence.CompeteSoft works with clients in each of the 4 disciplines to create the structure, tools and evaluation mechanisms needed to optimize your online "presence".  The parent department concerned with growing the firm's online community of clients and followers is generally Marketing; and the specialized skills utilized are generally called SEO, SEM and SMO. Buzz words, smoke and mirrors, promises of achieving the highest ratings in the galaxy seem to dominate SEO marketing claims.  And confuse more than they simplify.

From a managers perspective or looking at purely business considerations, as devoid of jargon as possible, we tend to view three segments of a firm's digital online presence within the community at large----all working together

• SEO = Search Engine Optimization....Get my message/name/brand out there, and get it in front of the most viewers in the largest number of ways possible. Make me more attractive (or appear that way) than my competitors when people are looking for our services.  Get my brand and name out as widely deployed as possible.

• SEM = Search Engine Marketing....Put our firm/message as close to "in the face" of search users as often as possible.  Target the person receiving our message and the message we send as precisely as possible. Think of the Barker in the carnival midway for a metaphor.  I'm also willing to pay to put my message ahead of my competitor, if that is what it takes.

• SMO = Social Media Optimization....Get the most out of my presence and interactions initiated via Social Media sites and other conecting techmologies.  Blend my company's business and capabilities with our interactions with those who know us, engage with us and follow us. And while we're at it, let's find ways to give them simple, easy to use, perceived value incentives to promote us to their friends and other associates as a form of thank you and appreciation for their promoting us digitally.                                                       

Community Growth --- Social Media Optimization:        The new face of Online Marketing!
Most web properties are designed to do SOMETHING once you get to the site.  And it should be obvious that every web property does NOTHING if no one ever lands on the site.  Traffic has always been the holy grail of any web property.  MORE traffic (in general) and more TARGETED traffic specifically, is the ultimate goal.   
SEO techniques are deployed to help maximize your site traffic but also to better target specific users from highly specialized communities or other social demographics where they can be found.

But getting people INTO your site is only half the equation these days.  Online business is as much about REPEAT visits and loyal customers and passionate avocates of your business as it is mass marketing and a numbes game.  Social Media sites and the volume and velocity of interactions they can provide (both positive and negative towards your firm BTW) make the ONGOING management of impressions and opinions about your firm/brand CRITICAL.

SMO, or Social Media Optimization, has emerged as the practice within the firm tasked with keepiong a pulse on the digital community at large and the interactions and messages delivered to the individuals and groups connecting with the company via Social Media sites.  And tools to maximize the interaction quality and frequency with social comminities have become quite important and valuable to firms who are willing to actively monitor and manage their digital "reputation" and "Buzz".

Managing your presence INSIDE Social Network sites has become strategically as important as managing the web and mobile touch points your firm provides to your customers, partners and prospects. The INTERACTIONS between your WEB, your MOBILE and your SOCIAL NETWORK presence can synergystically spawn improved search ratings, more and more frequent site visitors and most importantly viral word-of-mouth between loyal customers and others they influence.  Competesoft provides consulting and services to assist firms in establishing, maintaining and growing their Social Media Optimization capabilities and expertise.