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As we head into the New Year, Americans are faced with the prospect of diminishing returns, thanks to the so-called fiscal cliff.
The same can be said for PR pros, who have been doing more with less since the economy tanked in 2008. So, in 2013, communicators will be looking to optimize their PR output while keeping costs down. A increasingly popular way to do that, from a digital standpoint, is enabling Google and other search engines to put your company’s content at the top of the results page.
To most companies SEO is a must, but there's one area within the discipline that remains a mystery: social media. As Jennifer Dunphy points out in an Econsultancy blog post, effectively linking SEO to social media is an opportunity that many PR pros are missing.
An SEOMoz 2012 industry survey found that more than two-thirds of online marketers generated content for social and search efforts. This content included blog posts, press releases, social posts and whitepapers, for example.
By leveraging compelling content with the viral forces of social media, Dunphy says, communications execs can boost website views and enhance customer engagement.
So, if you're looking for a trend to explore in 2013, the link between social and SEO should be one of them.
At the same time, as 2013 kick into high gear it’s incumbent upon PR pros to explore and discover beneficial relationships among myriad PR channels, whether online or offline. Considering the accelerating rate of change in media distribution, PR pros can ill afford to overlook any new communications tactic.
Follow Scott Van Camp: @svancamp01
So many times I come across companies with the mindset that “if we build it, they will come”! The same websites just put links to their social “presence” and expect to get thousands of followers/likes…but that’s only a start. The relationship between SEO and social goes a lot deeper as you so aptly encourage! Creating/sharing great awesome content is where the link happens!