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When Online Worlds Collide

July 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

“My worlds are colliding, Jerry!” says George Costanza on Seinfeld.

The internet has never been easier to test Seinfeld’s theory of colliding worlds. Our public identities are mixing with our personal identities as we add bosses, co-workers, and clients to join us on social networking sites. Most people are not really sure about the etiquette either. Will it be reflected poorly if you choose not to add your employer as a friend on Facebook or if you block a co-worker from following you on Twitter?

Welcome to my personal life.

Online Schizophrenia It may be easy for many people to draw the line and separate their online lives. But for those of us with jobs based around SEO copywriting and online marketing, it gets really tricky. Take for example the recently posted job from Best Buy. Best Buy was looking to fill the roll of  “Sr. Manager – Emerging Media Marketing Job.” In addition to the basic social networking experience and criteria, one of the requirements for applying to the job was that the “applicant must have 250 or more followers on Twitter”. Could that be his personal 250 friends and family members or, do they want 250 strangers? And does it even matter what the Best Buy applicant twitters about? Apparently not -at least, not according to the job post.

Ready to be an online spokesperson?

Large companies, in the race to outrank their competitors in Google searches, are trying to find creative ways to take advantage of social media. Coca Cola, a company renowned for its marketing genius, is among thousands of companies inviting people to become product fans on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t always work. For all the Coca Cola lovers in the world, there are only 4,505 Coca Cola Twitter followers as of the date of this post (I’m sure that there are at least that many employees worldwide).  Tweets like “Coca Cola wishes you a happy weekend” and “Coca Cola loves you the way you are” can only go so far.  Many people may like to drink Coca Cola, but why would anyone want to be bombarded with marketing messages? Of course there are always giveaways and contests, but you still have to get the word out.

In order to really pull off social networking to its full extent, companies must rely on professionals who, not only master social networking skills, but who also may have access to a large audience. In some cases, employees are expected to act as online spokespeople on behalf of their company. While this makes sense for those who own their own business, it gets tricky for freelance copywriters and full-time internet marketing employees -not to mention the companies who hire these people and trust them with the integrity of their brand.

Mixing content and double dipping…

Writing online content is the easy part, but when it comes to link building and SEO, the most important part is online publishing. Most blog and article syndication sites require writers to have a personal profile. So, do you use your own name and bio or do you come up with a name that reflects the company you are writing for? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. To be on the safe side, I like to use my real name and also give credit to the company. “April Lentini writes for Apartmentguide.com“. (Cha Ching, yet one more backlink for my employer -and I’m not even on the clock!)

If you use your real name on personal blog accounts, is it okay to post other articles for other companies on the same site? (Again, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.)  Also, some article sites like associatedcontent.com or eHow.com allow you to earn money for your articles. Technically, if you are writing these articles on company time, should you be allowed to keep the money? Opinions vary, and in many cases, companies who hire SEO writers have not yet thought through these details.

It’s an exciting time for online copywriting. There are so many creative opportunities for branding, internet publishing, networking, and buzz marketing. SEO writers are not just writers, we are also online publicists pushing keywords, social networking, and link building. But as the lines continue to blur between our own professional image and the brand we are paid to represent, we must all proceed with caution.


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