At the beginning of the year Tom Now, writing for StartUp Nation wrote an interesting post about the 20 hottest Internet Marketing Trends for 2009.

So was he right?  Did he pick the winners. We won’t know for sure for quite some time, but throughout the year I thought it would be fun to  look in on some of his predictions.  Today:  Blogging and Social Media.

In his original post he said:

Trend #5: Blogging – Look for blogging to continue its growth in 2009. The barriers to entry in blogging are so low, expect many more small businesses to launch their own blogs in the coming year.
Trend #6: Social Marketing
Small businesses have been relatively slow overall to embrace social marketing. With greater verticalization of social media and social networking websites, expect more small businesses to get involved in targeted environments where ROI will be easier to achieve.

I think he definately hit the nail on the head with these two trends for small business owners.   Why?  For small business owners, bloggs and social networks allow us to look bigger then we are, and reach our target when they are most likely to buy.   Relatively inexpenive to set up, the primary on-going cost, is time. Without the layers of bureaucracy, found in larger companies, we can move quickly, responding to trends and topics.

Six months ago, I suggested my clients add a blog to their website, and get invovled in at least one social network.  Now, it is mandatory!