As we round the corner into the home stretch of this year, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at which vaunted predictions of internet marketing’s up and coming trends came true in 2009, and which failed to materialize. Kudos to those who called it, and to those who didn’t, well, there’s always next year!

1.    “Social Media Advertising Will Come of Age” – eMarketer

A spot-on prediction, eMarketer! With the explosive growth of Twitter, Facebook, etc. making major headlines, advertisers were bound to take notice. Example: Facebook is on track to surpass a 70% increase in ad revenue over 2008. Anecdotally, I’ve never sat in so many meetings with so many different clients, where people are openly discussing advertising opportunities in social media – it makes my heart sing with joy!

2.    “Microsoft will change MSN/Live/or whatever it’s called to something else that nobody can remember” – Mediapost

Half-congrats to MediaPost on this 2009 prediction. While they nailed it on the name change, who could forget Bing’s first take on its launch campaign? Or Microsoft’s latest effort, “Bing: Vampire Decision Engine”?

3.    “Exclusivity trumps accessibility. Having thousands of friends becomes ’so 2008′ and defriending becomes the hot new trend, driven by overwhelming rivers of newsfeeds.” – Charlene Li, of Altimeter group

Nice one, Charlene! Some of you may ask how this predicted trend relates to internet marketing? Well, it seems Burger King was listening when Charlene dropped this gem, and responded with their infamous “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign. Facebook is unamused.

4.    “Mobile search will increase massively.” – Mark Johnson, Latitude

A tip of the hat to Mark Johnson at Latitude. While mobile search may not be on the tips of tongues right now, consider the reflex action that occurs whenever you ask an iPhone owner a question they can’t answer – “One sec, let me check Wikipedia”. With smartphones becoming increasingly common, can mobile search’s time in the spotlight be too far behind?

5.    “The Internet Assistant will be born. Think of this as your own personal technological concierge that can integrate all your disparate data and put it to work, probably via your phone.” – Mark Anderson, Strategic News Service

Last year, Mark scored a whopping 96% hit rate on his predictions, so we can probably give him a pass for this one. He might not be too far off, though, and as far as excitement factor, for me personally, this one’s off the charts.

What do you think? Did you make any marketing predictions that either came true or failed to materialize in 2009 (c’mon, be honest)? Let us know in the comments!

Many of you may have read the post I did on Friday about the #Beatcancer social media experiment that was aiming to set the world record for most widespread social network message. For all of you who read, and then tweeted, updated your facebook status, or sent information to friends – thank you. You were part of the 209,771 mentions of #beatcancer in a 24 hour period – setting a new world record.

The over 200,000 mentions originated from just a small number of blog world attendees who then shared with their networks and watched as the message spread. In the end, it is estimated that the phrase #beatcancer had over 100 million impressions, especially after being tweeted by celebrities including:  P. Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, MC Hammer, Kim Kardashian, Alyssa Milano, and Alicia Keyes.

The best part is that the social experiment raised more than $70,000 for cancer charities. On behalf of Bailey Gardiner, I’d like to thank all our readers for getting involved and being a part of proving, once and for all, the power of social media for social good.

During a heated Blog World keynote about the Death and Rebirth of Journalism, a CNN journalist told Blog World attendees to include the hashtag #beatcancer on all their social media updates for the next 24 hours. The request is part of a goal to distribute the largest mass message in social media history, which will be monitored by Radian6 and recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records.

So why should you participate? (other than to be part of a pretty sweet experiment…) Well, it turns out that PayPal/Ebay and Millers Brewing Company have each pledged a penny for every use of #beatcancer. All the money raised will be donated to non-profit cancer organizations accredited by the American Cancer Society. These organizations include smaller foundations such as Alex’s Lemonade, Bright Pink and Spirit Jump. The experiment will show everyone, skeptics and enthusiasts alike, the power that social media has for doing good.

#Beatcancer aims to prove once and for all that social media can be more that just a tool for marketing or inane conversations.

As of right now, 1 PM on October 16, the #beatcancer has reached the top spot of trending topics on Twitter and has been mentioned over 17,098 times. If you’d like to see the growth of the movement in the remaining 19 hours, you can track the number of mentions on the official #beatcancer website.

Personally, I love this experiment. I cannot wait to see the reach of the PR professionals, marketing directors, advertising executives, bloggers, social media enthusiasts, techies and new media influencers, who are attending Blog World.

So please, dear readers, utilize your Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Myspace, anything, to share this message with your friends, families and colleagues. Together, we can work to #beatcancer and hopefully inspire others to use social media for good.

Last night was a big one for Bailey Gardiner.  It was the Oscars of San Diego Public Relations, if you will, the 2009 PRSA Bernays Awards.  Sitting amongst some of San Diego’s most celebrated Public Relations professionals, the team was honored to take home four prestigious awards and one chart-topping achievement for the company’s COO.

Indra Gardiner Bowers was awarded one of four special awards, the Eva Irving Award for Community Service, and well deserved it was.  Indra is currently Vice Chair of the National Conflict Resolution Center.  She’s the Vice President of Sushi, A Center for the Urban Arts, but prior to this, she’s sat on countless boards, countless committees and raised countless dollars for social good.  She’s a giver in its truest form and an inspiration to any leader. I won’t go on and on, because Jon just did in a recent post about Indra (and rightfully so) when she was honored as a nominee at San Diego Magazine’s Women Who Move the City on Wednesday.  It’s been a busy week for Indra.  Then again, what week isn’t?

It’s the leadership at Bailey Gardiner, like Indra’s, that led the company to win hard-earned awards.  Last night, BG took home four:

In the Bronze category of Media Relations, Consumer Products, BG’s work for Se San Diego took home the Excellence Award for a hotel launch that filled the clip books with national placements that make any hospitality Public Relations Pro drool.

For the company’s work with Seaport Village, BG was awarded a Bronze category Merit Award for a feature story placed on the front page of the LA Times Arts section about the art of street performing, coinciding with the annual Seaport Village Spring Busker Festival.

For promoting reputation and brand management, Bailey Gardiner was awarded the Silver category Excellence Award for its work with the San Diego Association of REALTORS®.  The team successfully promoted association President, Erik Weichelt as an expert in the real estate industry and SDAR as the leading association in the area.

Now pat yourself on the back, you’re a wise one, reading an award-winning blog.  www.dontdrinkthekoolaidblog.com was awarded the Award of Excellence in the Bronze Blog category for its effective and creative inception and continued content.

Congratulations to our award-winning clients, to the Bailey Gardiner team and to the San Diego chapter of PRSA.  In the world of Public Relations, there was much to celebrate last night.

As co-leader of one of San Diego’s most creative PR, advertising and interactive agencies, Indra Gardiner deserves to be honored (if I do say so myself).  And San Diego Magazine agrees – at their annual Women Who Move the City event last night, Indra was honored as a nominee for her outstanding work both in the office and in the community.

She shared the spotlight with some pretty amazing women, all of whom have made a huge difference in our communities and are leading others to do the same.  We were especially moved by the story of Lori Sorbo, a survivor of multiple cancers and treatments, who told her personal story of survival and perseverance.  After her emotional speech, event emcee Monique Marvez called on the audience to help raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation – we all got out our checkbooks and hope you will too.

But back to our star, Indra. Over the past several years, Indra has served on more than a dozen boards of non-profit organizations, and is currently Vice Chair of the National Conflict Resolution Center and Vice President of the Board for Sushi, A Center for the Urban Arts.  Her dedication to both these organizations is steadfast, and we witness her contributions at the agency regularly as she hosts meetings, directs staff programs, and leads board discussions on various topics. Plus, there’s a fire or two to put out now and then (ahem).

Not only that, Indra is a recognized leader on the national PR front, leading discussion groups and seminars for the Public Relations Society of America’s Counselors Academy, as well as Chair of Program Development for Pinnacle Worldwide, a consortium of independently owned agencies of which Bailey Gardiner is a member.

Indra rocks the house at home too. She and her husband Paul Bowers are fantastic parents to their cool son Jesse, who will probably grow up to solve the puzzle of cold fusion, bring about world peace, and entertain the masses with inspirational and eclectic performance art.

Plus, Indra bakes a mean blueberry crumble — what’s not to love?  We’re just glad San Diego Magazine agrees.  Indra really does move the city.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been on hyperdrive it seems – a landslide of client and work-related events has kept my calendar full of lunches, meetings, coffee get-togethers, conference calls and cocktail parties. And aside from feeling overwhelmed and falsely popular, I had an epiphany.

As a advocate for social media and a regular speaker, tutor and blogger on the subject, my world depends increasingly on relationships formed digitally. I have made friends with people I have come to know and respect — completely online. Friendships I have enjoyed for years have grown and taken new importance through social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, and @carondg, @prprosandiego, @jaybaer, @specialksd and the hilarious @troymjohnson have all become friends I look forward to “talking” with daily.

But here’s my epiphany — all those meetings and live conversations I’ve had recently were WAY MORE REWARDING AND ENJOYABLE – because they were live. And it jerked my chain hard.

The feeling of actually being social, without the media part, was refreshing – and it reminded me that for all my advocacy of social media marketing (and I believe in its strengths more than ever), nothing beats a good ol’ fashioned face-to-face conversation once in awhile. No digital winks, no LOL, AYFKM, WTF and #fillinwhateveryouwanthere.  Just honest facial expressions and words with meanings attached that you can read on someone’s body language.

There’s been a lot written about the ubiquity of social media tools and how we are becoming increasingly dependent on them. A lot of theorists and scholars – people way smarter than me – are engaged in dialogues about how to harness the power of social media, how to shape social media use for the common good, how to measure its effect, what it means for the future of marketing, and more.

For me, it’s more simple. Mixing social with social media is the combination that works best for me – when I can overlap real, live, in-person conversations with those 140-character bursts of spontaneity and occasional tidbits of wisdom. I like people, and I’m a sociable kinda guy.

The funny thing is — all those live, in-person meetings and conversations and musings over cocktails I enjoyed so much? All we talked about was social media the whole time.

Ironic, huh?

Back in February, California passed a $10,000 new home tax credit.  This was a big deal for potential homebuyers, yet it’s rules were misunderstood. There were very few resources willing to put aside industry speak and break it down.

This lack of information in the general marketplace provided an opportunity for Brookfield to brand itself as a leader by providing the information people were seeking out.

Steve Doyle, President of Brookfield Homes San Diego, followed the news carefully and immediately upon the official word, wrote a blogpost clearly defining the details of the tax credit. Now pay attention because this is where we take full advantage of the opportunity: the same day, we purchased a set of keywords (i.e. CA new home tax credit, 10,000 tax credit) and developed relevant ad text which clicked through to his post. With the traffic from organic search and the complimentary paid search campaign, we were able to achieve outstanding results:

In a two week time span, the ad group achieved an average of a 6.2% clickthrough rate, and blog traffic increased by 250%, 80% of which were new visitors.  And our average cost per click was well under $1. These are truly outstanding results.

Here are some key takeaways:

• If you are an expert in your field, share your knowledge, especially in times of confusion.
• There is remarkable synergy in providing information (which is already good for organic search) and then paying to drive people to it through paid search.
• Don’t be afraid to spend money on a branding campaign.  You might not convert the visitor today, but you have made an invaluable impression in their minds about who you are in the marketplace.
• The more quickly you react, the less search competition you will have (both organic and paid).
• Be available to this new audience to answer questions and continue the dialogue.

Although the campaign was short-lived, we were able to successfully position Brookfield Homes as the expert and gain exposure as a leader in the industry.

Moms are some of the most influential people in our lives and in the last decade or so, moms have taken their influence online to create what has become one of the most talked about online communities: Mom Bloggers.

It’s a demographic us PR pros long to find a way into….hard when you’re not a mom. Think of what power a group of moms…with blogs…can bring to a family-friendly event, a new baby product, or a cause affecting millions of kids?  They have outlets, they have connections, they trust each other, they talk and they listen.

But as with any blogger, pitching our clients to be featured isn’t easy. So webinar after webinar we discuss the proper way of reaching bloggers.

I was lucky enough to bypass the chatter and connect with a few San Diego mom bloggers last week.  @ADramaticMommy, @SanDiegoMomma and @VirtuelIMC coordinated this year’s Mom’s Nite Out, a national event taking place across the country with groups of moms gathering to bring their online communities face to face.  I put them in touch with our client Seaport Village to host their evening at Buster’s Beach House.  When I stopped in to say hello, they were accommodating enough to spend time with me providing insight into the world of mom blogging, why they do it and how to best reach them.  So here’s some sound advice straight from mom.

I walked away from Mom’s Nite Out with much insight into who these women are behind the sites.  In sum, you can find what I learned below.  To my mom bloggers, I hope you’ll comment with some additional insight; let’s clear the path between PR pro and blogger.

• Treat a mom blog as more than a publication, because it is.  It’s one woman’s insight into her life.  Hopefully the information you want to give her interests her.  If you’re not positive, read her blog to be sure.  Along the way you’ll get to know mom, so no need to hide that.  Relate to her, befriend her, share your information and keep an open dialogue.

• If you really like what she’s doing, consider advertising and remember that if she accepts your advertisement, that has added value, because it’s not all about the money for these women.  It’s about the endorsement.

• Take this seriously.  Consider famous mom blog, Dooce, she makes an approximately $40,000 a month, supporting her entire family with just her blog!

Thanks to my mom blogger interviewees!

Deb Anderson – www.sandiegomomma.com
Melanie Sheridan – www.meladramaticmommy.com
Joan Hunt – www.dagoddess.com

Jon and I work with Simon Vetter, a leadership coach. He has coached us individually and worked with our team in groups. It’s been a phenomenal experience that has helped us clarify our vision, share it with our team and become better leaders (at least that’s the feedback we’ve gotten and I choose to believe it).

Much as I love having secret weapons that help us thrive and slay the competition, I love sharing great ideas and people more. To that end, I interviewed Simon today so that you can get a glimpse into what leadership coaching is all about. Tell me if some of the themes seem like best practices in social media to you. They were strangely resonant to me.

1. How do you define successful leadership?

Successful leadership requires two kinds of people – people who lead and people who want to follow. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner say leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow.

• Do you really want to follow that person?
• Would you want to go through the fire for that person?
• Do people stand behind that person?

Answering yes to these questions points to a successful leader.

Remember you can’t have everyone follow you, so who are you leading? Have you found the right people to lead?  We have a lot of different constituents. How do we engage the different stakeholders so that they are all engaged? Great leaders figure this out.

2. Do you think leaders are born or taught?

I believe they are taught. Anybody can learn effective practices to be a good leader. Some may have natural talent or dispositions that make them a more natural leader but even those people have to learn and refine their skills.

Leadership is not objective. It is a subjective experience to the people who are following. In leadership it’s not as obvious as, for example, listening to a piano player who you would know right away whether you respond or not. True leadership has a lot to do with personal perception and emotional response of the people around the leader. That’s hard to measure and can change over time.

Everybody can learn skills to be a leader, even people who are introverts. The ultimate measure of a leader is credibility – do people believe in that person? We gain credibility from our actions and congruency between what we say and what we do. So based on that, I can be an introvert but in my own authentic way through what I say and do, become an effective leader.

3. What are the 3 biggest mistakes you see people in leadership positions make?

Let’s talk about people in managerial roles for this question. I think that is most applicable.

1. They will say things to appear a certain way or, for example, they often think they should know all the answers rather than ask people for help. They become inauthentic. People feel and detect that. That diminishes the leadership impact. Be true to yourself – be authentic and sincere.

2. Lack of trust. Managers do not engage with their constituents enough or get to a trusted level and that creates an atmosphere of doubt or suspicion. To be effective, spend time connecting with people, build trust and rapport. Show that you care. Engage their hearts/emotions.

3. Lack of strategic direction. A key mistake is not spending enough time on big picture thinking – where is the organization going? What are the trends? How do we adapt? How do we position within the marketplace? Make time for strategic questions/issues. I often see mangers who do not spend enough time sharing strategic vision with their team. We get too caught up in action, budgets, interruptions and the daily to do list. The key is to set a high priority on the long-term vision. Keep going back to that.

4. What advice would you give to someone looking to grow their leadership skills?

Do a perception check. Understand what people around you, your constituents and stakeholders, think and say about you when you’re not around. One way to do that is to get candid and honest feedback. Anonymous 360 surveys are good for this. Hire a coach (like Simon!) and have him/her talk to the stakeholders so they have a neutral environment.

5. Can you share a favorite quote about leadership?

If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.
- Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner

6. Any books you suggest people read to learn more?

The Leadership Challenge – Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner
What Got You Here, Won’t Get you There – Marshall Goldsmith (side note – I was reading this book when I met Simon and, since life is strange that way, turns out that Marshall is Simon’s mentor).

7. Final thoughts

I believe, ultimately, leadership starts with the person and leadership development comes down to self development. If you want to be a strong leader, start with yourself. Be aware of your behavior and how you come across. What feelings do you leave people with? How do others experience you? Get an objective view of yourself and start improving your behavior. You will see the change you desire.

Simon Vetter works with professionals and managers who want to make positive measurable changes in behaviors and create an authentic STAND OUT brand. He has trained and coached managers at Agilent Technologies, Callaway Golf, Calpers, Microsoft, Siemens, UBS, US Steel, and others. Simon is the author of STAND OUT! Branding Strategies for Business Professionals. He grew up in Switzerland and has lived in San Diego, California for 12 years.

Contact Simon at 858 793 6279, simon@simonvetter.com, or visit www.simonvetter.com