What Is the Difference? The Secrets of SEO, SEM, SMM and SMO Exposed!

By Johnny Rivera

Fortune 500 corporations and small businesses alike realize that their brand must have a strong online (internet) presence in order to remain profitable. 

According to Nielson, In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.

The impact social media has on traditional print and TV media is almost massively fatal. Advertising in newspapers  magazines and on TV is almost a thing of the past, like vinyl records and cassette tapes. You do remember cassette tapes? It is... best left in the past.

Social media, once discounted as a passing fad, has taken over as the consumers' medium of choice. Here they get their news, read reviews on products and interact with other consumers, exchanging ideas and information. Even civil wars are broadcast almost instantaneously on Twitter! Twitter gets fresh news before CNN has a chance to cover it. 

Ladies and gentlemen, that is massive power. And it is free to harness, employing the correct methods and techniques
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Pause a moment and imagine having the audience of billions of consumers globally. And they are paying attention to your message. Imagine your new clients ordering your product or service from England or Japan. Don't be afraid to DREAM BIG. In order to make your dreams reality, you have two options. You can learn business strategy, social media and all its components, sacrificing 18 hours a day - time that would have been wisely spent on fun, family or enjoying the fruits of your labor. OR you could hire an experienced company with time tested and proven methods that have made/saved its clients mucho money. Do you like the thought of mucho money stuffing your bulging pockets? 

The following is a basic understanding of key methods used to drive real traffic to your website, Facebook business page, enhancing the visibility of your brand: 

• SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the method used to optimize your website though the use of various techniques to improve your website's ranking in search engines (such as Google and Bing) thus attracting more visitors and/or potential clients.
• SEM - Search Engine Marketing works with paid advertisements which are placed with search engines. They are created with specific keyword and short and long keyword phrases; also known as Non-Organic (paid) Search. This is the expensive approach but less effective of the two methods. Consumers tend to shy away from paid advertisements and give more credence to organically grown SERP. Do not confuse SEM with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads.
• SMM - Social Media Marketing is the method - much the same as SEM - employed using  paid advertisements which are placed within social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and YouTube. Note: many "specialists" use SMM and SMO interchangeably.  This is not correct. SMM is the non-organic, paid solution (and the least cost effective) to drive traffic to your website and/or business profile. A specialist will tell you that this is the quickest way to drive consumer traffic to your site - it is not. Again, consumers generally ignore paid ads. 

As of this writing, Facebook and other social media platforms are testing custom made paid ads tailored to the consumer's profile. In the future, businesses can pay for direct marketing ads that will reach consumers who have expressed interest in the business' niche, through liking pages or commentary  This certainly will help mold their products' branding technique  Look for this method to take off in the near future. 

• SMO - Social Media Optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media platform, online communities and community forums/websites. The focus is on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO. 

Business owner, now you possess information that would otherwise be hidden to you. ThinkRivera Technologies introduced General Motors to social media marketing. Its methods are still in use by GM today. 

This is what Raymond Wilkinson III, former president of Poughkeepsie Chevrolet Cadillac, New York wrote on LinkedIn  about ThinkRivera Technologies:

Johnny performed excellent service developing, maintaining, and marketing my business website and maintaining all IT functions at a considerable savings to my business

We can help make your company more profitable. 
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