Social media is a phrase most of us in marketing have come to recognize, though its meaning is not always clear. In its broadest sense, social media means the coming together of people within a community (whether that's an actual online community or simply a section on a website dedicated to allowing the consumer to have a voice) to actively participate in the creation of new and/or the management of existing content.

This could mean allowing users to post their own photos or videos, to rate and review products, to create tags for content, to write or respond to blogs, to change existing content (like wikis), and more.

Social media has allowed consumers to feel empowered and in charge of their web experiences, but it can be far more than that for marketers. When marketers harness social media elements, they can use the "wisdom of the crowds" to great advantage to increase sales and to generate good will among visitors.

Optimization using social media is a way to allow your visitors to influence what you show other visitors. When done correctly, it offloads the work of determining relevance, so that rather than having to guess or use something like a recommendation engine to offer relevant content to visitors, other visitors essentially take care of that for you.