Over the past few years, we’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to understand this new “Social Media”. Like most new industries, social media is becoming mainstream after a series of big successes.

Now everyone want’s to go social, but before you jump off the proverbial cliff, here are a few myths about social media optimization (SMO) we thought we’d clear up:

1. Social Media Optimization uses places like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, but those are only networks. Any campaign should utilize these sites, but these sites are not the point of the campaign. These sites are simply useful because they have traffic, and people can easily pass around information.

2. Nobody wants to join a community. A community forms around common interests.

3. Likewise, nobody wants to read your blog. They simply want information or entertainment.

4. Never create a viral campaign around your product. Products are not exciting (with perhaps a few exceptions). Instead, create content that will get passed around, and then start to tie your product offering into it.

5. Focus all of your efforts on 1-2 pieces of content. It is very unlikely that multiple pages will get enough relevance on any individual network (Digg, YouTube) to make it to the top. Focus as much relevance as you can on a few messages.

Written by Jalali Hartman