In the rush to become social media experts, and to grab the largest slice of its revenue, responsibility and thought leadership pie, public relations pros are at risk of missing the main digital game: that of providing meaningful, resonant and useful content for corporate websites that is search engine optimised and customised to the needs of organisational stakeholders.

But, hey, make my day! Prove me wrong.

I raise this question (because this really is a question from me, rather than a full-blooded assertion) not as an out-and-out expert, but as someone who has observed, for the best part of this year, a swelling tide of – albeit fractured rather than concerted or integrated – commentary from the chattering digital/marketing classes on website content and its importance to communication and engagement between an organisation and its stakeholders.

Are we in living in fear of what is all of a sudden, gulp, dogma that says: do not challenge the deity that is social media!?

Of course, if website content and social media cannot co-exist peaceably, nay, profitably, then what hope is there for professional communicators?

So, over a couple of posts and with the insight and assistance of communication professionals – digital, SEO (search engine optimisation), marketing, public relations (oh such a delirious sisterhood) – I am going to explore a number of issues…

Public relations and providing website content

• Where is the thought leadership and guiding strategic hand in providing direction on what approaches should we take to generating corporate website content?
• Where does public relations fit into the dynamic of service providers involved in providing and delivering content for corporate websites?

Why is this an important topic?

David Meerman Scott says that corporate (or organisational – I use the terms interchangeably) websites are the new centre of the informational digital universe. He purports that when useful content (for organisational stakeholders) is placed there, and it has reasonable technical/coding SEO backing it up, then that is where those searching the web will go.

This is due to high organically-driven Google rankings, firstly, and secondly, that the content draws them back and they advocate it to others.

But there are others that purport social media is the centre of influence from a digital communication mechanism perspective. And there are yet others who say that the digital manifestation of traditional media, due to both its objectivity and professionalism (I know, try not to laugh), is the most influential mechanism.

Yes, we are getting reductive here. Different issues and different modes of communication need to be focused on, and utilised, for different stakeholder groups, but we are talking in general here.

Anyway, this is just why this corporate website content thing is important. This is not the point of this post.

Why content may indeed be king for public relations(hips)

The internet is, in many cases, the main (or at least an extremely important) means people use to find out information in numerous parts of the world. People will rarely look past the first half a dozen organically ranked search results.

Ipso facto, getting your preferred website (virtually) top of the list is critically important. So if you want your organisation to get a chance to influence stakeholders, then it needs to have great SEO.

How do you get great SEO?

1. The current school of thought says the primary influencer is website content
2. This must be supported by very good technical/coding/backend ITish type twiddling
3. Backlinking: getting other sites to link into your organisation’s site.

There are also a range of other factors that Jeff Bullas writes eloquently about, such as keyword use, diversity of link sources and trustworthiness of the domain linking to your site.

So, leaving the techie stuff to the backroom IT boys and girls, relevant content that is engaging for organisational stakeholders is a profound, fundamental priority for communication professionals. It needs to be updated regularly, as well, or at least the pages that are being visited do. Google’s search spiders get bored if this doesn’t happen and then your SEO rankings fall away into search oblivion…

Again I ask, so why hasn’t there been a stronger focus on the strategy behind website content design and generation by the public relations profession?

PR controlling influence…by sharing control

Organisations have an opportunity to get in front of, or at least be in the shooting match, with all the other sources of information out there (especially the digitally diseased ones). Meerman Scott pretty much states that if organisations are smart they can themselves become the new version of the old media – where you go to when you want up to date, interesting, compelling information about and relevant to an organisation.

You know: thought leadership, value-adding, free content (see Meerman Scott’s interview with Seth Godin and Tom Peters: making change..very cool) that is complementary to an organisation and DEFINITELY useful to its stakeholders.

This information needs to take a non-high handed approach. It cannot be condescending or obtuse. It must be customised to the micro-second attention span of digitally evolved (repurposed!?) human beings.

And guess what? Organisations are going to, at some stage, have to acknowledge perspectives (maybe even on themselves…) other than their own. If they can’t do that, then how do they expect their stakeholders to take them seriously..take them for real?

Now, if public relations is meant to be the profession that is queen of relationship building, where are we in this? Why are we ignoring this whilst lionising social media? Are websites not the hub and social media the spokes?

(Um, there have been a few variations on this one said before. I’m just not that clever. Although, generally, it is the blog positioned as the hub and other forms of social media as the spoke. I am thinking that now it is the corporate website as the hub, though the blog has an integral role to play.)

I’m going to talk more about this. As in what strategic approach should be taken? What are some tactical tips that are useful to integrate? And more. I have some real experts putting in their five cents worth, so join in and have your say. ‘Fess up: PR is on the junkheap at this game right now, isn’t it?

PS: I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

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