Recent changes in the way we communicate through the web have been less about habitual broadcast media and more about interactive, two way communication. As this type of communication progresses it will undoubtedly affect the way search engines run and by default the process of Online Marketing.
Traditional media “broadcasts” a message to the planned audience, whether it is in the form of a paper or an advertisement (physical or digital) which exposes the reader, listener or watcher to a message. The communication is one way and the proposed audience is told something, in essence “talked at”.
Conventional methods of Online Marketing carried out by the marketing fraternity and more recently the relatively new genre of Search Engine Optimisation companies (SEO Company) are targeted at the way that Google (predominantly) accesses web pages. This is a type of broadcast media not too dissimilar to a newspaper albeit with digital trickery to make the occurance more interesting.
Is this all about to morph? Are the accepted Search Engine Placement services about to become less important? Assuming the internet continues to expand along the same lines as it has for the last ten years, we can expect to see the use of the net becoming more embedded in our day to day real time lives. It will grow to be more of a delivery platform as opposed to an information provider, a concierge as opposed to a librarian. If we are using the net in real time that bond will become two way and transactional, broadcast methods will offer a one-dimentional experience and become a thing of the past.
Once a buyer can engage with the seller of the product or service through two way communication just reading a website will be less than gratifying. At this point usual Search Engine Placement services become obsolete and Online Marketing becomes about making connections not recognising content.
The astute SEO Company will be looking at how that communication can take place in an atmosphere that is so crowded with information. If at all possible, a buyer is exposed to a seller (or a number of sellers) in an situation where he can dynamically interrogate and compare their offer, ask for detail and maybe even tailor the product or service to his needs before he makes the conclusion to buy.
Instead of offering website optimisation for a fixed broadcast, online marketing may be about promoting connections and may take place on Twitter, chatrooms, forums even within games where product placement is already starting to take place.
