Tell me something about SMO?

[Sandesh Saini]

Social Media Marketing
With the growth of social media technologies on the Web, more and more companies are starting to think about their presence in the social media environment. For a startup company, getting listed on the front page of Digg.com can offer instant credibility and drive additional visitor traffic. It can also significantly increase brand recognition for an established company.
What is Social Media Marketing
The social media phenomenon is very much different from discussion of old-fashioned websites so it's worth mentioning the main features of social media sites.
With social media, users can do a lot of things with content:
1.generate content (create blog or micro-blog posts and articles, comment on existing entries, submit wiki articles, post questions and submit answers, post media content and more);
2.moderate and discuss content (update wiki entries, post comments);
3.rate and review content (submit votes and write reviews on products and services);
4.share content with others (bookmark content and make the bookmark collection public, share links to favorite photos, audio files and videos on social networks, etc.).
Wikipedia defines Social media marketing as "the process of promoting a site, business, or brand through social media channels by engaging and interacting with existing consumers or potential consumers."

Social media channels may include blogging systems, social bookmarking sites, photo and video sharing sites and other technologies that support social interaction on the Web.
Being an Internet-based methodology, social media marketing is tied closely to non-Internet based methodologies such as offline word of mouth advertising. The commonality between the two lies in the viral marketing approach and establishing engaging relationships with the community. The difference lies in the medium in which the methods are applied: with social media marketing, word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social networks and websites.