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I spent this weekend camping in Wales and while there I went with friends to visit the caves hosting the King Arthur Labyrinth. What's all this got to do with social media and online PR?

Well on site there were a number of small shops, each specialising in different materials - wood, glass, jewellery, crafts, leather, candles etc. In each there was huge selection of gifts you would typically find including clocks, ornaments and necklaces, all made out of different materials.

Customers were treated to a vast display of clocks made out of glass, wood or leather. Not one of these gifts could be considered better than any other. It really was a matter of taste. What does the customer want? What suits there needs? What would look better on their living room wall?

Walking around those shops was like walking around the marketing industry with many different types of 'shops' out there - PR, digital, SEO, media buying, advertising, social media - the list goes on. Right now each of these shops is fiercely selling social media, with many claiming to be 'experts'. Each version of this packaged 'social media' is slightly different but, just like the clock, not one of them can claim to be better than another. It's really a matter of taste. 

Back in February, I followed a debate on Twitter between a number of people about which type of agency is better placed to manage reputation online. Subsequent posts by Stuart Bruce and Pete Young looked at the issue from different view points and both posts are worth a read. Personally I agreed with both parties. I firmly believe that PR is all about reputation yet by not acknowledging the importance of SEO, PR agencies are losing out. Quite simply, it doesn't matter what is written about your client if it can't be found through search.

This is just one debate highlighting what has become a crowded battlefield in the war to win social media. All kinds of agencies are claiming to 'own' social media, explaining why they are best placed to carry out work in this emerging field. Well no-one today can own the concept of a 'clock'. Neither can they own 'social media'. Just like TV, radio or print, social media is a platform where we can conduct our marketing business on behalf of our clients using the skills we've developed within out respective industries. Some clients will prefer to focus on the SEO aspect of social media to drive them up search rankings, some will prefer to place a targeted and personalised advert on Facebook while others recognise that managing online reputation is more important to them and so look to PR. 

No one industry can win this battle. Each type of agency needs to focus on adapting the skills they've already developed, learn from other industries and recognise that integration is the key to delivering campaigns for clients that achieve remarkable results. We're already seeing PR agencies bring in SEO experts and vice versa while other agencies from a variety of disciplines merge or buy each other out. There's no doubt this will continue as agencies continue to explore the world of social media and attempt to incorporate as many skill sets as possible under one roof.

So if you are a client, you need to ask yourself: 'what do you want your social media to be made out of?'