Roundtable on the future of online says it’s all about social media

May 13, 2007

A roundtable from e-consultancy (declare: they are a partner) reveals that future thinking of some of the digital industry’s forward thinking players. What strikes me is that throughout the summary, there is constant referral to social media relations.

The obvious one, is the statement that, ‘There is a blurring of the lines between SEO, social marketing and PR’

There has always been a close relationship between online PR and SEO (search engine optimisation), but what interests me is that this relationship is now extending across mobile, online advertising and behavioural marketing. It is not so much that this is explicit in the web 2.0 world, but that it is now being taken seriously. And not just as another ad/marketing channel; as a new level of engagement, a new discipline. Key points in the reports suggest

There needs to be an understanding levels of influence in a certain thematic space and interaction with the online community
There is lack of case studies around social media optimisation
Behavioural marketing is becoming more tribal than demographic targeting
Companies still think of their websites as a destination but the reality is that content and brands are being consumed in other places
Companies have to accept that if they allow people to play with their brands, ‘some people will play rough’.

My question is: does that mean digital marketing companies are likely to team up with PRs in the know on social media, or are they going to start competing in this space. I would love the former, but my gut feel says it will be the latter.

Latest Posts

If you work in social media, staying informed isn’t optional. It’s part of the job. Trends, platform changes, cultural moments, crises, memes, conversations, they all shape what we publish and how it’s received. Being aware of what’s happening in the world helps us create content that’s relevant, sensitive, and credible.

A B2B buying decision rarely happens with one person. It’s usually a buying group with different roles, risks, and opinions, and the deal moves when your champion can explain the choice internally. That’s why forwardability matters more than engagement.

Design and disability are so often discussed in terms of basic “accommodation” and “access,” yet my visit to the V&A’s Design and Disability exhibition completely shifted that perspective. Rather than framing disability as an issue to be fixed, the exhibition presents it as a culture, a rich set of identities, and a radical design force shaping practice from the 1940s right up to today.