You measured the eyeballs and ears with social media. What about the hearts and minds? We asked David Alston "What are key social media marketing trends for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". David Alston leads the Marketing and Community teams at Radian6, a social media monitoring, measurement and engagement platform used by PR, marketing and customer support specialists.

David Alston

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"Conversing with your community is the new now and the future."

David Alston's Marketing Prediction for 2010

So what will 2010 bring? Well, first off, I think as the US market comes out of recession the budget funds withdrawn from the multibillion dollar interruptive advertising spends of years gone by will instead be invested in relationship-based initiatives - enter social media. No doubt this will cause further bankruptcies in the publication and broadcasting world. Secondly, by the end of 2010 I foresee that at least 35000 people will have the words "social media" in their current job title on Linkedin. There are over 6500 now and that's probably up from under a thousand from a year ago. Finally, 2010 will see the role of social media listening and engaging move from the single entity or team to a distributed, enterprise-wide model with front line co-ordination team. Social media is a two-way communications channel and like the phone belongs on everyone's desk and integrated with many of the enterprise's existing systems.

David Alston's Marketing Action for 2010

So if you are a marketer and you aren't listening to social media then definitely start now. You'll probably have to invest personal time to get things going but be assured there will lots of folks to choose from when you finally do get the budget to build a team. And speaking of budget, can you really say that that all your traditional marketing spend translated to increases on the bottom line? Sure, you measured the eyeballs and ears but what about the hearts and minds? Social media is about investing in relationships for the long run, as opposed to campaigns, regardless of the fact that the word "media" is in the title. In a world where brand is the sum of all conversations, the days of talking 'at' customers is so 1990. 'Conversing with' your community is the new now and the future.