This year is slowly coming to an end and folks are already planning their new and exciting conferences and events for next year. I’ve been contacted by a few people who want to know what I think some of the hot topics in the social media space are going to be for 2009. I definitely think there are a lot of interesting and “hot” topics, some of which are currently pressing issues of this year. With that said here are a few of what I consider “hot” topics in the social media space for 2009:
- Budgeting for social media. Who pays for it and why? Should social media be it’s own department that generates it’s own departmental results?
- Video marketing and distribution. No doubt the video space is hot and will be hot next year. How can companies utilize video marketing and distribution channels to reach their audience and drive company goals and objectives?
- Social media tools. What should companies be using and why? What are the new tools and platforms that are making their way into the spotlight?
- ROI/Value/Measurement, whatever you want to call it, companies and executives are going to want to know what they can expect and how they can measure it.
- Executive and employee social media education and training. How can companies go about changing the corporate culture to encourage social media usage? Do they want to? Why or why not?
- How do corporations deal with social media obstacles. For example if one person complains on a blog and a company gives a refund does the company now owe a refund to everyone who complained? How can corporations manage their users in a cost effective and efficient way?
- Communication, both internal and external. What are the possibilities with social media? What are the different ways that companies can use social media to build relationships with their users and with their employees and stakeholders?
- Mobile social media and mobile marketing. What does the horizon look like? Is it still too early for mobile? What are the successes and failures?
- Advertising. Who are the social media network advertisers? Does advertising on social networks work and to what degree? How do you advertise on social networks?
- Scalability. How do companies implement social media strategies across various platforms, domains, geographical locations? Can a company scale a social media campaign globally? How? What resources are required?
- Case studies and results. Companies are going to want to know about the successes and failures from 2008.
- Integrating social media and traditional media, can it be done? How?
These are a few of the topics that I think are going to be hot for 2009. Some of them are hot topics in 2008! I’d love to hear from all of you, what are some of the issues/topics that you think are going to be hot in 2009?
Great list (haven't seen a list like this yet for social media topics for 2009). I really think that a lot of companies are going to have to do a lot of scratching of heads when Christmas is over: so many opportunities with social media.
Lots to chew on here. Where social media goes from an advertising standpoint is one of my biggest things to watch. There are lots of folks out there screaming that social media advertising is in trouble and I tend to be a little more optimistic than that. At Watercooler, we're still getting as many RFPs as we were many months ago. Whatever the case, i'm hoping 2009 is the year when advertisers finally realize there's more to life than reach and frequency. We're doing our best to educate them and they're slowly coming around.
Measurement of social media marketing campaigns.
Integrating SMM plus SEO plus SEM – all under one roof. Digital agency providing one stop online servicing solution like optimizations, online advertising (banners and adwrds) as well as online public relations.
hi eamon, ya lots of opps, but business are going to have to be able to measure results too 🙂
thanks for the comment!
hey bryan, ya there are a lot of topics and issues out there. wow, it's great that you guys are still rocking out over at water cooler. 2009 will be an interesting year for the social media space, who knows what will happen!
on that note if you guys ever want to collaborate on social media or seo stuff, let me know 🙂
hi moksh, absolutely, measuring is going to be killer and integration is always a hot topic. im curious to see how companies are going to integrate social media with traditional media.
thanks for the comment!
Well for me I am already looking forward to 2009 as great opportunities await me there.When I am there I just want to sit back and look on my success and failures for 2008 and what i can do to better it in 2009.!!
Well for me I am already looking forward to 2009 as great opportunities await me there.When I am there I just want to sit back and look on my success and failures for 2008 and what i can do to better it in 2009.!!