Just A Few Thoughts About Social Media Acromyns…

We all have social media terminology continually being exposed to us.  By my own admission, there are some terms I know; others I do not know.  When reading posts and articles, I find myself having to research what these terms imply, how they are used, and the potentiality of helping my business.  As an educated man, I still have trouble catching on to all of the terms.

As business owners, we are all at the helm of steering our businesses in what we believe is the correct direction and with the tremendous challenges and responsibilities of our duties, it is a tough and critical undertaking grasping all of this information into a simplistic, coherent understanding.

With that said, I have generated a list of what I believe are the most commonplace terms I have seen, and have attempted to define their meanings.  There are terms that clearly I have missed, and naturally, there are individuals who will comment to that effect.  I would welcome the feedback for those individuals who are new to the social media platform – for they will surely appreciate a better understanding of these terms.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization 

This is the process of getting traffic from the listings on search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc).  The search engines are areas where web pages and other content (videos, photographs, local listings, etc.) are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users.

SMO – Search Media Optimization 

These strategies are used to attract visitors to specific pages and communities, whereas the methods used therein include blogging, carrying out polls, participating in discussions, creating groups and sharing information.

SMM – Social Media Marketing 

This using social media for marketing purposes – being connected to activity in websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, Wikipedia and YouTube. The creation of corporate blogs and promotional blogs also falls under the category.

EM – Email Marketing 

Subscribed users receive informational e-mails concerning products, services and special offers from a company.

FB – Facebook

Facebook is a community, allowing users to connect to other individuals.  Facebook can be an optimal tool for marketing specialists due to the options to create groups, fan pages, discussion forums and product presentations.

Using the 80/20 rule, these are probably the most common terms we see 80% (or more) of the time.  I hope this assists those individuals new to the social media experience.  It is my hope that we all can contribute to the effort, or cause if you will, of educating our fellow colleagues and professionals.  I will thank all of those individuals in advance for contributing and taking a moment to help someone they may not know obtain a better grasp.  For all of those who have a firm grip, there are an equal amount who, metaphorically speaking, are wearing oven mitts – they have a general idea but are having some challenges wrapping their arms around the concept.