It is truly amazing how quickly the social Web is changing – and how that is changing the business of Web marketing.
Yet, if you take the time to learn the trends, you will be better equipped to maximize the results from your online marketing efforts. 
Here are some of the recent trends I'm noticing.
Observations
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is being seriously challenged by SMO (Social Media Optimization). This is one that we saw coming, so there should be no surprises here. You should have strategies in place for maximizing your presence with both.
- Of all of the social media networks, Facebook is presently turning the social media world upside down. Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore is even suggesting we consider Facebook optimization!
- Twitter is still the king of real-time search. You can gather data through real-time search engines such as Collecta that Google has most likely not indexed, if it every will.
- And let's not rule out Foursquare as a future contender with their geo-location capabilities that provide up to the minute LBS (location-based status) updates.
- LinkedIn is proving that it has plans to remain a player in the game of social media networking and marketing. Today it added a new feature today that allows you to follow companies. You can now better monitor companies you compete against, wish to do business with, or work for.
- Blogs have surpassed websites as content drivers. If you are serious about marketing, you need a blog and a viable strategy for using it to build your business legacy.
- And lets not forget Email marketing. It is still very effective, provided you are able to dial down the frequency and be crystal clear about your call to action. Email marketing is still interruption marketing, so you have to respect the permissions your list members have granted you. As we all know – many don't.
- I would not normally consider Apple in this mix, but their continued innovation never seems to abate. I am especially interested in their plans to build advertising into apps to keep the cost low or free, while also giving the developers a source of revenue, and you and me a rich experience for new product and service offerings. Here's a video of Steve Jobs explaining iAds.
Conclusions
- While a great deal has changed, much has remained the same.
- The top social media networks have been LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and they are all still well positioned to carve out a defensible niche on this social web. You will be wise to continue to maintain a distributed presence on all three, while also keeping an eye out for the new contenders – which of course may get absorbed by these major players.
- With respect to Google search, blogs continue to dominate websites as sources for relevant data due to their frequently indexed updates and inbound links.
My Recommendation
You web marketing strategy should continue to incorporate a balanced presence.
If anything, this is more important than it used to be. We never imagined that Google could be supplanted as the king of the Web. And while it looked for a while that Twitter would be the one accomplish that feat, Facebook has shown some moxie to currently take the lead.
Just as wise investors will carefully diversify their investments, you and I should strategically do the same to build and maintain a balanced presence for our small business Web marketing.
If you missed yesterday's post, you still have a chance to win a free advance copy of Delivering Happiness – the story of how CEO Tony Hsieh used this human technology to build Zappos from a small business into a model of success.
