While many brands are gobbling up oodles of precious time and money gunning for Google’s coveted, number-one, unsponsored, search result listing, a handful of progressive, pioneering brands are moving on to the next thing-a thing so new that it has yet to become an acronym.
Advertising’s, acronyms abound. B2B, B2C, CPM, TSA, DMA, ROS, TAP, PPC, SEO and, of course, ROI, to name a few. And while it’s fair to say the “alphabet soup” of advertising terms has all the characters it needs, it could be that some may need to get out of the way, if not out of the pool altogether, and make room for a few new savvy characters—namely the letters S, P & O.
In this basic form, these three letters mean very little. So let’s unpack the acronym SPO and reveal that for which it stands.
Starting at the end and working our way backward, the letter “O,” as you may have guessed, stands for “optimization.” Which literally means, “to make as effective, perfect or useful as possible.” It’s a character and term many have come to know quite well. Perhaps too well, as the S & P suggest. (No. We’re not talking about the stock market.)
“S” is for “sharing” and “P” is for “platform.” Together, they create a term that is widely used. However, when you add the word “optimization” to “sharing plaform,” you get a term that no one has ever used before—Sharing Platform Optimization.
Due to the widespread use of the Internet search engine, “SEO” represents what has become a quintessential cog in the marketing machine. But with the advent of the “sharing platform,” optimizing company websites for search engines could be a waning necessity, while optimizing a brand for optimal “shareability” is undeniably waxing.
Take, for example, Svpply.com, (no, that’s not a typo) a sharing platform that allows users to collect images and links of everything from shoes to clothing and gadgets to artwork. Svpply integrates with Facebook and feeds users a stream of products that they’re friends like. Svpply is also allows users to search for “any kind of thing” they want.
The platform is in its infancy but will almost certainly evolve into a robust community of individuals sharing their penchants for a plethora of products
The star of Svpply isn’t its users, though. It’s the content they share. And by sharing it, they are promoting it. The people are literally advertising the products they share. So, if you’re a retailer and the imagery you use to showcase your products is of poor quality, small and/or embedded into a flash site or digital catalog, your band is not Sharing Platform Optimized.
Great imagery isn’t the only way to increase shareability. Timely, relevant, up-to date information is also very shareable. As is video, editorial content, customer reviews, etc.
Shareability isn’t just about content either. It’s also about making sure that any time someone interacts with your brand, they can quickly and easily let their friends know whether they like it or not. Which means having hyper links to share your content on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn, and (maybe) Google +.
The Internet is evolving. And where it will be 10 years from now, no one knows. For the time being, the Internet is one big Sharing Platform. And if your brand isn’t easily shared among its users, you’ve got some catching up to do.
