Media & Marketing:  The web is a media channel where marketers can get ‘editorial’ coverage How many marketers and PR managers are using the fourth major media - the web - to reach key audiences? How many marketers and PR managers are aware of how much Australians have come to rely on the web as a source of news and current affairs, and to research and evaluate products and services? A study undertaken by Galaxy Research, and commissioned by Network PR, publishers of PR Influences, shows that Australians are turning to the web in increasing numbers. Consider these figures: More online Australians (79 percent) use the internet as a daily source of information than television (68 percent),  radio (52 percent) and  newspapers (33 percent). When online Australians want information or an update about news or current affairs 66 percent turn to the internet compared to television (23 percent), radio (7 percent) and newspapers (3 percent). Eighty-five percent of online Australians say they use a search engine to find what they are looking for.  Fifty-five percent use them daily and 93 percent once a week. Note:  Eighty-six percent of Australians aged 16 and over have internet access from any location - the second highest access in the world (Source: Nielsen/NetRatings -‘Information Economy Index 2006 - Australian Department of Communications). Consumers are also heavily using the internet for researching products and services according to the study. 70% use search engines and internet to check an item to make sure it meets their needs 63% look for reviews of items they are considering buying 60% look for the lowest prices 44% check out advertised items The most heavily researched products and services are: Travel and accommodation - 92 percent Personal electronic - 90 percent Motor vehicles - 81 percent Furniture and appliances - 72 percent Finance and insurance - 70 percent So what relevance does this have for marketers and PR? Simply stated, search engines on the web have begun to resemble traditional media.  The listings in the centre of a search results page are like traditional media ‘editorial’, while the sponsored links, normally in the right hand column, are paid for and thus are simply ‘advertising’. Therefore getting your product or service on the first page of Google or any other major search engine is as much a PR responsibility as getting on the preferred page of the Australian Financial Review or the Sydney Morning Herald. And it’s done by using the normal PR tools - researching how your area of interest is being covered, writing copy/editorial that is targeted at the end audience (in this case the keywords employed in searches), but doing it so the copy is ‘search optimised’ so it can be easily found and ranked by search engines such as Google.  Also it’s necessary to distribute media releases and other materials to online news sources and aggregators read by search engines. The Galaxy Research demonstrates that consumers already recognise the importance of ‘editorial’ in the search engines.  In fact it shows that online Australians are increasingly able to identify paid advertising on search engines with 71 percent recognising ‘sponsored links’ as paid for by organisations. As a consequence, when using a search engine, 85 percent of online Australians click on the ‘natural search’ listings as opposed to only 15 percent who click on sponsored links.  This is similar to the way in which people view a newspaper page, with most concentrating on the editorial rather than the advertising content. In fact around 90 percent say they trust natural search more or find the information from this source more relevant to their needs than from paid ‘sponsored links’.  Again similar to research done regarding editorial and advertising in traditional media! So the challenge is there for marketers and PR managers to begin to see the web as just another media channel - but an important and growing one that is equally as important as the traditional media they always think about. Further Information Whitepaper ‘Being Found in Web Searches via Natural Language SEO’  ‘Australian Online Search Habits 2006’ - Executive Summary  (both reports are free and downloadable) Disclosure: Network PR, who commissioned the survey, produces PR Influences Did you enjoy this article? Bookmark it at del.icio.us  and Digg it Network PR is the first pr agency in Australia to apply research-based web content, media, publishing and distribution strategies to give organisations the optimum ranking in ‘natural’ listings on key search engines.   To enquire about how to incorporate web media in your PR plan and to get a higher ranking on search engines contact us.

PR Influences Newsletter Network PR Article The Web is a media channel where marketers can get 'editorial' coverage