I read a great article yesterday by Ben Elowitz on the rising importance of Social Media Optimization or SMO.  In this article, Ben predicts the death of SEO as SMO continues to rise to power pushed along by the partnership between Facebook and Bing.  So, is Search Engine Optimization actually dead?  Is Google shaking in their boots as reactive (vs. predictive) searching falls by the wayside?

Well, probably not quite yet.

Credit to Sumolabs

Before you throw your SEO strategy out the window in favor of SMO I would caution you that a blended approach is probably the best bet for now.  If you’re doing neither SEO nor SMO, you may be in trouble (contact us!)  If you are doing only SEO or SMO, you are likely leaving value on the table.

The reason I think Ben is a little premature in his prediction of the death of SEO is that SEO is still HIGHLY MEASURABLE where as SMO is still HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE.  I’ve never known a CFO yet who will trade a sure ROI for a potential one.  Why do you think so many companies still send all that direct mail?  It’s measurable!!

To really get in front of the curve you need to find a way to blend the SEO and SMO techniques together and measure it as much as possible.  [shameless plug coming up] That is exactly what we do with our product InnoBlogs.  We utilize the power of social media and interlace a hard-core measurable SEO strategy into the core.  Enough of that – if you want to know more, drop me a comment.

In the mean time, I would encourage you to continue to stay the course with proven marketing techniques while bringing in the new stuff in a controlled manner.  Do you have a proven ROI on direct mail?  Ok, keep sending it but watch out for declining ROI.  Do you have a good SEO strategy?  Great – keep refining it.  If you are in a business that would benefit from Social Media, Worth of Mouth marketing, Buzz marketing…etc. then begin tying your SEO and your SMO together and measure everything you can.

Good luck and let me know how it’s going.

Related posts:

1. Favorite 2009 Blog – Social Media Today – Five Reasons Companies #Fail at Social Media
2. Social Media Marketing – how big is it and how to use it
3. Report shows social media adds to financial performance of top companies in this down economy
4. Social Media = Green(Recruiting + Marketing) Earth Day 2009!
5. AMA Special Interest Group on Social Media Marketing Columbus Ohio

Facebook ROI Seach Engine Marketing Search Engine Optimization SEM SEO SMO Social Media Optimization