The New Turf War: Social Media, SEO and PR
Posted on Tue, Dec 22, 2009 @ 06:03 AM
Three disciplines from 3 different eras in marketing history.
Public Relations (PR); the established cornerstone
of the brick and mortar marketing services industry trying to extend its
practice online, Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) – the practice of getting found online with 1.0 roots and 2.0’s new kid
on the block, Social Media, touting “engagement” as the future of the Internet.
Let the turf war
begin
The Internet Marketing pie can only be split so many ways as
PR firms, SEO gurus and Social Media pros are going to constantly be infringing
on each other’s turf as they compete for client marketing dollars. Here’s the problem: all three will claim,
with their services, they can increase traffic for your website by getting clients
found by more people online. The proposals
will look a little different, but will generally shoot for the same results.
This goes for employees too.
I was recently in a meeting and when a social media specialist was asked
what his job responsibility was he replied “anything to do with prospect and client
engagement online”. A red flag went up immediately. Isn’t everything we do in Internet Marketing ultimately
about engaging prospects and customers online?
The answer is yes; everyone practicing Internet Marketing from website management
to e-mail marketing to link exchanging is going to claim some form of online
engagement and interaction. I have to
agree; then social media may be “everything” as almost every online marketing discipline
touches it.
After identifying a blog that talked badly about a company,
a PR professional suggested a social media professional handles the blog response.
Who will win the turf
war?
There isn’t room anymore for specialists in Internet
Marketing. The practice is rapidly
becoming generalized and service providers should be expected to handle a
number of disciplines today claimed in pieces by SEO, Social Media and PR. The real proposition clients are looking for
are typically sales leads and clearly, a generalized Internet Marketing practitioner
will have to deliver it. I believe clients will demand it soon enough.