Online marketing, also known as e-marketing or web marketing, is the process of marketing and promoting products and services over the internet. The World Wide Web has become ubiquitous, and there is a greater level of competition between companies that have opened up online portals. The need for online visibility has grown by leaps and bounds, and many marketing specialists, consultants, and companies have opened up their services to this increasing demand and need for online visibility and presence.

Many online marketing strategies are employed by these online consultants including web analytics, SEO or search engine optimisation, SEM or search engine marketing, social media marketing, online reputation management, and email marketing. The utilisation of social media like twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, forums, blogs, etc., to make a market presence is referred to as social media marketing. Toronto, the largest city in Canada, is home to many such online marketing consultants and companies. These online companies have experts and qualified specialists with the necessary skill and expertise to offer marketing and advertising solutions to many businesses.

More and more people, both lay persons as well as professionals, are relying on social media for their communication and creative needs. This has brought about a sea change in which how companies conduct their business online. Blogging, forum posts, social networking on Facebook, Twitter, etc., is a very common thing and many marketing consultants have started targeting these outlets and communities to improve their client's reputations, visibility, and awareness. Publicity is generated to improve the brand name, product, service, or event using the various social forums in an optimised manner. This is referred to as social media optimisation or SMO. SMO or social media optimisation works best when the most effective and relevant social media platforms are identified and then associated with the unique business needs and strategies of the company, service, or product of the client.

The various social media and tactics that are involved in this process include RSS feeds, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., video blogging sites, relevant forum sites, social news and bookmarking sites. The objective of social media optimisation is same as that of the search engine optimisation or SEO. SMO aims to improve brand visibility and generate a steady stream of traffic to the client's website. Web analytic tools and processes are judiciously employed in order to optimise the web site and the content is shared across social media and networking sites.

Social media network marketing refers to the utilisation of the social media and networking sites for marketing purposes. Social media like Facebook and Linkedln gained ground because of the interest people have in interacting with one another and in building strong friendships and relationships. Taking advantage of the power and reach of these social media sites, many online marketing consultants and professionals have started networking through these sites and use them for promoting products and companies.