For quite some time now I have harboured a dull, quiet fear for SMO (Social Media Optimisation). I think it is fantastic how powerful social media is becoming and it is a pleasure to see it develop into such a ubiquitous tool. That fact you can now search a word, phrase or term and find global conversations regarding the search is just amazing.

However, I fear for the bastardisation of this most innocent system. For search to work, there have to be rules. The rules are often advanced algorithms that are designed simply to index search results.

Knowing that rules can be broken or bypassed and knowing how these algorithms work means you can put them to work for you.

At Lucky 6 Marketing we believe in great content. We operate our social media service on a content first system. If the content is good and if the content is valuable to your audience then it will naturally be seen by others. Basically, your content has to be amazing!

We feel that an SMO first policy leads to poor content. Rather than being written for the target market, social media updates are written for computer algorithms. They are written for the sole purpose to contain key search words.

I do understand that a good and competent marketing agency can achieve both of the above simultaneously. However, I believe many do not. It is my worry that many try SMO and do a bad job. Offering a social media management service that is sub-standard can often damage a client’s reputation.

For us, this management style falls within the same category as those that buy fake followers. A practice operated just to make a social media profile look good because it has a large following. However, this large audience is often lacking any value as most of these paid for profiles are fake.

I suppose what I am getting at is that we believe social media should not be gamed. It should be honest, contain quality and has integrity. You should do it the hard way. Build a reputation, connect with real people and use it for the long-term.

Are my worries unfounded or do you feel the same? Your opinion is very much welcome.