Over this last year, we’ve seen the explosion of social media onto the “big screen” of businesses. Many have scrambled to create Facebook pages and put their customer service online while hearing constantly of the death of print media. Lots of businesses have pulled their traditional advertising to the point where many print media have folded, shrunk or downsized. We seen the complete acceptance of wireless / mobile devices and understand that there is no message downtime.

As the dust settles on this year we see the frantic scramble to get into social media normalizing. More businesses understand the new conversation channels or are at least trying to incorporate them in their mix. We understand that television and print media while changing will not go away. We understand that there is a conversation and that the customer truly owns the brand.

What do you see in your crystal ball for 2010?

We recognize that the U.S. is composed of a diverse population, with 38% of us being over 44 years of age; 37.4% of us being 18-44 years of age and the remainder under 17 years of age.

As marketing and business communications professionals, this means we comprehend each audience segment has preferred information channels. As we promote our services and products, we understand that a 21 year old will get their news from Google reader and that at 58 year old from most probably from either TV or print media. That there are some of us who, while in the older segments, use new technology, embracing mobile media as much as the younger generations. We also understand that not only younger generations care about social responsibility; that social responsibility is a required part of being in business. That when it comes to media relations, the media are just as stressed as other business segments and are trying to do as much with fewer resources. That our job is to work in tandem with them by supplying truly interesting information and sources to help them do their jobs.

2010 promises to be rich with opportunity for small businesses to act like big corporations when it comes to reaching customers through all the channels with a straight to consumer approach that is more about what the customer wants in their lives.

In summary:

• Marketing Communications
  • More segmentation of message—We’ll use Twitter, Facebook, the local newspaper as well as television, and increasingly, mobile technology.
  • Social media acceptance as one of the major message delivery vehicles
  • Social responsibility as a requirement of doing business
  • Blurring of the difference between advertising and public relations
• For PR
  • Video pitching
  • Social media acceptance as one of the major message delivery vehicles to media contacts and the consumer
  • Increasing message delivery direct to the consumer
  • We’ll turn more to multi media releases, using the power of video sharing, and pod casts to enrich press releases
  • Public relations professionals as major advisors for not only publicity but for advertising and marketing messages.

Share your prognostications with us. We look forward to learning from everyone how they see the new year shaping up for them.