Recent changes in the way we communicate through the net have been less about traditional broadcast media and more about interactive, two way contact. As this type of communication progresses it will undoubtedly affect the way search engines run and by association the process of Online Marketing.
Traditional media “broadcasts” a message to the intended audience, whether it is in the form of a tabloid or an advert (physical or digital) which exposes the reader, listener or watcher to a concept. The communication is one way and the intended audience is told something, in essence “talked at”.
Usual methods of Online Marketing carried out by the marketing sector and of late the relatively new genre of Search Engine Optimisation companies (SEO Company) are aimed at the way that Google (mainly) accesses web pages. This is a type of broadcast media not too unlike to a newspaper albeit with digital trickery to make the incidence more fascinating.
Is this all about to alter? Are the accepted Search Engine Placement services about to become less important? Assuming the internet continues to develop along the same lines as it has for the last 10 years, we can expect to see the use of the internet becoming more entrenched in our day to day real time lives. It will turn into more of a delivery platform as opposed to an information resource, a concierge as opposed to a librarian. If we are accessing the net in real time that connection will become two way and transactional, broadcast techniques will offer a trivial 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 fulfilling. At this point usual Search Engine Placement services become obsolete and Online Marketing becomes about making connections not appreciating content.
The clever SEO Company will be looking at how that communication can take place in an atmosphere that is so swarming with information. If at all possible, a buyer is exposed to a seller (or a number of sellers) in an environment where he can dynamically interrogate and compare their product, ask for detail and maybe even tailor the product or service to his needs before he makes the decision to buy.
Instead of offering website optimisation for a fixed broadcast, online marketing may be about promoting associations and may take place on Twitter, chatrooms, forums even within games where product placement is already starting to happen.