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2010 is set to be the year that social media marketing graduates. The year when it will be included, as a matter of course, in 360 communications plans. We have seen many brands in the last year turning to social as an answer to stripped down budgets. And only to be surprised that creating an engaging voice in the social web is not as “free” as first assumed.

The 2010 graduation will bring with it a host of changes - technical, communicative and cultural. All of which will contribute to the marketing mix becoming ever more integrated. However, that true integration is not only dependant on the structure of agencies and businesses but on cementing a true social media approach in both PROs’ and clients’ attitudes.

As the web becomes ever more “real time” the inevitable question is what will happen when it can anticipate our movements, thoughts, feelings and wants before we actually have them. Brian Solis started discussions about the “Predictive Web” this month on his blog, and he may well be hitting on a point of interest for 2010. Services such as PlanCast, that allow us to update followers ahead of time about what we will be up to, are likely to be a focus of 2010 and beyond.

2009 was about getting involved with social media. Many brands were grappling to develop their online presence by tacking social media amplification at the end of a campaign, rather than adopting a fully integrated strategy. 2010 is the year of measurement and social media’s full integration into communication plans.

As users will require ways to access all of the sites they are involved with from one place and manage them all at once. This will lead to the rise in the popularity of lifestreaming tools and the management of online presences.

The popularity of applications, widgets is rising as consumers require easy-to-use tools to navigate the social web. Brands are increasingly likely to adopt this way of interacting with consumers by producing something of use and interest to their customers.

Sending a DM tweet to a contact whilst out for lunch and updating your Facebook status on the way home from work is nothing new. However, the idea of being in contact wherever and whenever is set to reach new heights of popularity this year as more and more people choose internet enabled mobile devices for staying connected 24/7 with GPS and location based capabilities to tie into new services such as Four Square.

We are incredibly passionate about the campaigns we are involved in and our hard work and dedication, going hand in hand with our innovative and dynamic clients, has resulted in a fruitful 2009. In no particular order, here are the top client campaigns that have excited us, inspired us, and achieved fantastic results:

Barbie’s 50th birthday broadcast project (Mattel)

2009 marked the 50th birthday of the world’s favourite doll and Mattel asked Ogilvy PR London to help kick off the party in Europe with a big bang at the International Toy Fair, Nuremberg in February  this year. We combined visually compelling broadcast content with innovative digital tools, including a social media press release, to provide the media around the world with an engaging story package of Barbie’s birthday.

Future Focus digital campaign (IBM)

Ogilvy PR supported the series of ‘IBM Future Focus’ events for mid-market businesses through a social media campaign. This campaign was a first for IBM in the UK, bringing together social media interaction, video content creation and live publishing across multiple platforms. Through a programme of harnessing key influencers to contribute to the content, and integrating social media in to the onsite activities, through video, live blogging and micro blogging, IBM was able to bring an audience with relatively low social media engagement into the heart of a social campaign.

Corporate digital survey project (LexisNexis)

In order to raise the profile of information service provider LexisNexis as a corporate sponsor of the Online Information 2009 event, a survey was conducted examining people’s perceptions of the importance and influence of online information in determining their purchasing decisions.  The survey results served to establish LexisNexis as a thought leader in the online social media space. We achieved positive coverage across multiple outlets, such as Brand Republic.

Rightmove iPhone app launch (2Ergo)

This trade campaign for mobile technology provider 2ergo involved working with a select number of key online influencers, technology press and mobile analysts to give them a preview of the product before it went live at an exclusive event. We also created a YouTube channel to host video content.  As a result of the coverage generated about and the app, the Rightmove iPhone app shot up to first place on the UK downloads chart within days of its release. You can view some selected trade press articles on the Mobile Choice and IT Pro websites.

The Brazilian food journey campaign (Brazilian tourist board Embratur)

The campaign aimed to endorse Brazil as a tourist destination via one of its most unique cultural offerings; its food. We invited a restaurant reviewer to experience the Brazilian restaurant scene at first hand by setting up a trip to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with an itinerary that took in a mixture of top-end restaurants, markets, juice bars and bakeries in order to show the full spectrum of Brazilian eating. As a result of the press trip to Brazil, coverage was generated in the Financial Times, Guardian online and Evening Standard twice.

The examples above provide a small insight into the type of work we have been involved in during 2009.  Here’s to what promises to be a fantastic 2010!

Earlier this month the B2B travel industry event World Travel Market (WTM) provided an outstanding opportunity for Ogilvy PR and its travel clients like the Brazilian Tourist Board to meet and network. For our travel PR specialists a particular event highlight was the Travel Blog Camp, a knowledge session on online PR and social media. It offered bloggers, journalists, travel industry and PR professionals the unique chance to discuss the impact of social and online media on the travel and tourism industry.

Run by Darren Cronian of Travel Rants (www.travel-rants.com), the Travel Blog Camp was first and foremost a forum for travel industry leaders to voice their opinions and share experiences on all things social media. As social media pros, we were pleased to learn that many of them have already embraced the new medium and its progressive possibilities.

Yet, what emerged during the session was the recognition of what social media in essence stands for – an extremely powerful and contemporary form of word of mouth marketing. With some serious commitment for generating positive word of mouth and best practice procedures in place, travel brands needn’t shy away from incorporating social media into their overall marketing strategies. As much as social networking sites like Twitter allow countless visitors to see a customer complaint, they also offer a democratic platform for eye-witnessing companies’ proficiencies in dealing with disgruntled customers. 

For more information on word of mouth marketing hot topics, visit the websites of Ogilvy PR’s global 360 Digital Influence practice head John Bell who is the President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) (http://womma.org/main/). He’s in fact opening the WOMMA Summit 2009 today. The Summit Buzz Room (http://womma.org/summit09/) is a great way to keep up-to-date with all the latest word of mouth debates.

So what did the Travel Blog Camp teach us? No matter if one is an advocate of publicly displayed criticism or not, the means of travel industry communications are changing fast. But the basic principles of customer service, right at the heart of all travel and tourism businesses, remain unchanged. Social media is another, and indeed very powerful, platform through which travel brands communicate with their consumers.