Social Networking as Part of Your Social Media Optimization Strategies

I’ve been covering social media optimization, starting first with what SMO is and how it can affect your SEO, then covering the importance of Social Proof as part of SMO — today I want to expand on the importance of Social Networking as part of your social media optimization strategies.  Social networking is one of those things that you can not be without as a blogger.  I know, I know, there are plenty of bloggers that don’t do social networking seriously and let me just tell you they are missing a huge opportunity to not just build quality traffic but also build quality relationships that lead to greater revenues.  Why?  People buy from people they know and trust.  Period.  This is the whole point of social media marketing.

Social Networking Key in Blog Marketing

In case you live in a cave, Social networking includes social-like activities on such sites as Facebook, MySpace, and within other communities.  The entire point is to network… through social interaction.  Social networking can be an important part of your social media optimization strategies, because it can not only help you with your SEO and building of social proof — it also helps you in building the type of relationships that can be profitable and rewarding professionally.  As a blogger, if you want to have any real success, you’ve got to step out of the box and generate traffic that is meaningful, not simply about numbers.

Don’t get me wrong, numbers are good — if you’re revenue is based on ads or affiliate income.  Great.  But, businesses, solopreneurs, experts, authors and everyone else on the planet that is blogging to build their business — pay attention to the quality of traffic over the quantity.  Using social networks in your SMO, can help you achieve all of the above

Social Networking with Influencers

Influencers are those people in your industry or vertical industries that influence the behaviors of others.  Not necessarily experts in the field, they can actually be a part of your target market as well.  One of the great benefits of social networking is connecting with influencers.  Why?  Here’s why:

• Influencers are incredible at helping you leverage social proof. When an influencers shares your blog, a blog post, or an activity you are doing — that’s the ultimate in word of mouth marketing and building social proof.  People listen to influencers.
• Influencers are an amazing resource in digging deeper into the relationships of your audience within social networks. Once you’ve identified influencers, you can typically follow their trail to get connected with your audience in ways your competition is not.
• Influencers can help you understand the behaviors of your audience better. How?  They tend to have a deeper understanding of your audience, because they are connected so well with them and engaging with them at more than superficial levels.

Connecting with influencers can also help you grow your blog readership.  Get them to share your stories and you’d be amazed at the loyalty you’ll gain from that social proof.  The list goes on and on.

Social Networking with Your Audience

The greatest benefit of social networking can be the type of relatioships you develop with your audience.  Remember, your goal as a blogger is to not only build trust but to also build loyalty.  Loyalty from your audience is what will pay the bills.  You have competition, but what keeps your audience from buying from them?  Their trust in you which brings loyalty — which makes your job of competing much easier

One thing that I noticed, which tends to kill the power of social networking is “following the crowd to much” on participation.  Meaning, most bloggers and solopreneurs are active on social networks where they see the most people marketing.  And, they participate as if they were shooting fish in a barrel.  I guess their mindset is, like throwing out a fishnet, the more fish in there and the bigger the net, the more catches.  Wrong.

Social networking is about the relationships and their quality, not their quantity.  It’s a much wiser use of time to develop real relationships with a manageable number of connections than it is to develop massive amounts of connections with people who never even recognize your name.  Why?  Read on…

Social Networking for Kick Buzz Word of Mouth

When you take the time to develop meaningful relationships using social networking, you’re actually including the likelihood of those relationships increasing the buzz and word of mouth about you and what you have to offer… because your connections will not recommend something from someone they do not “know.”  Not to say they know your entire life history and have hung out with you — but “know” as in recognize you, had engagement from you… making them more apt to spread the word about you.  The power of word of mouth can never be under estimated.  It’s a tremendous force in leveraging social proof as a factor in building your credibility and your audience reach.  What others say about you has much more impact than what you say about yourself.

What Does Social Networking Have to Do With SMO?

Remember, SMO is not just about SEO benefits, real social media optimization has to do with everything you do to leverage social media.  Leverage is key.  Leverage is how the big boys play.  Social networking allows you to leverage the power of word of mouth and influencer connections.

In the next post, I’ll be covering the importance of micro-blogging services like Twitter and Pownce, as well as multi-media micro-services like 12 Seconds and the like.

Great Social Networking Resources from Across the Net

How to Create a Winning Social Networking Profile with Nancy Marmolejo of Viva Visibility

A Look at the Value of Social Networking Sites with Janet Barclay

Keeping Social Networking Simple with Lena West

Social Media Matters in a Down Economy with Wolf 21

Photo Credit:  PixelPosition on Flickr

Update:  Great Resources From Across the Net

The Best Digg Tools to Use and Get On The Front Page

Blog Carnivals and Blog Memes For Targeted Traffic

Related Diva Posts:

• Social Media Optimization is Key to Blog Marketing
• Social Media Optimization for Blog Marketing: Get that Social Proof
• Doing Social Media Marketing Right with Nancy Marmolejo
• Ping, Pinging, and all Things Ping for Your Blog Marketing Efforts
• BackType The Twitter for Comments AND a Potential Valuable Resource

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