Keyword optimization is just one of countless ways to get traffic.

There is social promotion on Twitter, Facebook, et alia. There is article marketing and building up a niche. There are infographics, press releases, and yes, backlinking (on which entirely too much emphasis is placed -- my keyword-optimized articles on other sites get plenty of traffic without more backlinks than are supplied by tags and categories.)

Just like the student forcing words to fit rhyme or meter, it's possible to do a half-assed job at any of these forms of promotion. It is also possible to engage in a community like Twitter with enough attentiveness to learn its strengths, weaknesses, and customs. You can follow the rules and gain a following, or spam and run and leave only mild irritation in your wake. Use the rules and limitations of social media as armature not obstacle. Be careful. Be mindful. Contribute to the community; don't just exploit it.
But No One Will Read Your Poetry Unless...

It still has to be good. Google's Panda update and future search engine updates are all moving in the direction of will users be satisfied with this result? User behavior is being monitored to see which pages they like, which pages they actively dislike or find lacking. Recent Google updates, including Panda, are taking into account user behavior, feedback and satisfaction; this feedback will become ever more important as search engines learn to read us more accurately. Nor is excellent writing enough. An article must satisfy a visitor's needs, not just aesthetics. A poorly-written article providing vital, useful content can beat out a beautifully-worded masterpiece. The most successful page of all will be informative, well-written, useful to readers, and optimized to help its target audience find it.