In 2009 many of us learned to do more with less. In the agency world that translated to doing more work for our clients on slimmer budgets. Part of making that work has been figuring out inexpensive ways to both disseminate information and monitor/gather coverage and conversations. While agencies will continue to be pressed in 2010, it is critical that clients support their efforts with the right tools.

This is particularly the case because (effective Dec. 1st) the FTC has put a stake in the ground regarding transparency in the social media world, and while we will see over the next six months if they were just saber rattling or for real, companies ignore certain aspects at their own risk. One of the most potentially troublesome pieces of the new FTC regulations is the requirement that companies monitor and correct misinformation posted to social media sites about their products or services. That is a lot of liability in an enormous landscape.

As I think about the coming year, there are two things that I believe every company that is engaged in social media and/or public relations should be considering. Neither has to be very expensive, but companies that don’t implement them will be at a competitive disadvantage, and possibly high risk, in 2010.

1. Twitter search and Google Alerts (which are both currently free) are great, but they are not a guarantee that you are catching every mention about your company on the millions of blogs, forums, tweets and Facebook posts made each day. Invest in a credible monitoring service. It will save your team time in gathering posts and also provide a reporting structure. Some that we like and have heard great things about include Filtrbox, Radian6, Scoutlabs and Spiral16.

2. Set up your online press room. No more excuses. If you do not have a press room on your website, which is preferable, then go directly to pitchengine.com and set one up. It’s $50 a month for a dynamic, linkable, social press room. The web is where the media go first for info. If you don’t make it easy for them, they will find another company that will.

Simple, but I believe very important for any company still holding on to the belief that doing social media and public relations without the right tools is possible.