SMO = Social Media Optimization

Social media optimization is becoming an increasingly important factor in search engine optimization, as search engines are increasingly utilizing the recommendations of users of social networks such as Reddit, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ to rank pages in the search engine result pages. The implication is that when a webpage is shared or "liked" by a user on a social network, it counts as a "vote" for that webpage's quality.

When used effectively social media can be one of your greatest assets for improving your site’s organic search results. By connecting with people in various online venues, you extend the reach of your business and increase opportunities for people to link to your main business page. Social media optimization helps connect all of your social media accounts in a cohesive, consistently branded network that points your potential customers where you want them to go.

Rules Of Social Media Optimization:

• Focus audience - Checking your analytics to see what days and times your fans are most likely to read and interact with your posts. Focusing on using post formats your audience prefers, such as images versus videos.
• Create shareable content – The better your content is, the more people will want to share it with their entire social networks whether they link it, like it or share it.
• Make sharing easy – Once you have shareable content, it has to be one-button-easy so people will do it with minimal effort or thinking.
• Reward engagement – Today the real goal is around conversation or engagement – this is the behaviour that matters most in the social web and the one that we should all focus on rewarding when it happens.

Here are  social media and SEO tools you might find useful:

1. howsociable.com – Social visibility score
2. knowem.com – Profile building tool
3. Social Media for Firefox – Build a powerful social profile on social news & bookmarking sites
4. semrush.com – Find competitor organic search rankings
5. Google Insights – Keyword demand trends
6. Page Inlink Analyzer – Analyze inbound links, their Delicious bookmarks & keyword tags
7. majesticseo.com – Historical back-link tracking
8. socialmention.com – Real-time social search & scoring, social keyword research
9. bit.ly – Search friendly URL shortening with analytics
10. analytics.postrank.com – Track social engagement with combined Google & social analytics