Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the brother of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)- they are both attracting customers to their website content, except SMO is attracting visitors to a company’s web site by using its social media pages or profiles on sites like Twitter and Facebook. In addition, creating a SMO-friendly website means making social media a core component of how users interact with content.

There are several different things companies can add to their site to make it SMO, thus increasing traffic and building links. Some of these include:

1. Adding RSS feeds and making subscribing to RSS feeds by email easy (like the Feedburner Subscription box on the sidebar of The Social Robot.)
2. Adding social media share buttons (like those found on addany.com or sharethis.com)
3. Plugins and components that allow users to rate and comment on posts and content
4. Widgets that pull in company tweets or facebook updates
5. Easy customer engagement, like the ability to upload videos with their company feedback and thoughts.

In addition, there are also some social media optimization tactics that work as a ‘pull’ method to get users to come to the site.

1. Guest blogging on other’s blogs with a link back to company website
2. Commenting on relevant blog articles and including website address in the URL or comment itself (but only if it is topically relevant- otherwise would be spamming)
3. Answering questions related to company’s industry on LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo! Answers, in addition to forums and message boards. Include link to company website in signature, if applicable and allowed.

Here’s some great posts on social media optimization from around the internet:

13 rules of SMO
social-media-optimization.com
16 rules for SMO revisited
The beginners guide to SMO

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing: An Overview
2. How to get your social media profiles crawled by search bots
3. Content Marketing and Social Media Should Go Hand in Hand
4. How Social Media Can Save You Money
5. Upcoming Social Media and SEM Conferences