By Charlie Laughtland
BDA blog editor

Industry analysts pegged 2010 as the year social media came of age.

Time magazine named Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg its Person of the Year. Film critics raved about The Social Network. And marketers jumped headfirst into the digital world to engage with consumers through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, wireless devices and other non-traditional promotional medias.

So what will 2011 bring? As the global economy struggles to correct itself, marketing experts seem to agree—2011 is the year to expect the unexpected.

Marketers will have exciting opportunities to expand their reach into new directions, and here are five trends we'll be keeping our eye on in the coming year.

1) When it comes to social media, quality trumps quantity.
It's now clear that companies need more than just tens of thousands of blog subscribers, Twitter followers or Facebook friends to build their business and engage with their customers.  But when social media is involved, it's not always quantity over quality. Increased emphasis should be placed on the brands true followers—those who are loyal to the business.

Facebook and Twitter should be utilized as a tool to predict behavior, to see how consumers interact with content and as a wedge to locate brand ambassadors who will be far more helpful spreading the message than large groups of connections who disappear after the first interaction. As companies continue to extend their brand across the branded online destinations, they must do so strategically, maximizing opportunities without compromising content and communications.

2) Mobile marketing is hot, hot, hot!
There are few who doubt that 2011 could very well be the year mobile marketing explodes. While still in its infancy, this platform stands to evolve into the marketing medium of the future. As branded mobile apps and marketing platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla continue to gain traction, brands will allocate larger portions of their digital media plan towards mobile to tap into arguably the most personal marketing medium.

3) Talking ROI? Prove it and give it to me now.
The economy is still struggling, which means that ROI will continue to be of paramount importance to both marketers and clients alike. Deadlines and expected turnaround times will continue to shrink and clients will increasingly expect immediate returns.

In order to combat the instant gratification trend, marketing should be asking: What are the key metrics we can measure? What are the keys to success? How do we measure and analyze success? Defining the answers to these questions requires establishing key benchmarks and concrete baselines that are crucial in calculation those all-important ROI figures.

4) Localized marketing will become a top priority.
Daily deal discount websites and local review sites make it easy for consumers to find information about businesses right in their own zip code. Groupon is setting the bar, as its model stands to fundamentally change distribution and the effectiveness and efficiency of promotional value offers to customers. Companies will sharpen their focus toward targeted, geographical campaigns as a new frontier.

5) One is the loneliest number.
Past marketing strategies focused on the newest way to reach consumers. With the influx of the social, brand-aware consumer, marketers are going to have to be more strategic. Instead of looking for the next best channel, it's going to be the year of combined efforts across multiple mediums. Expect companies to branch beyond traditional means—for example, did anyone notice Groupon is scheduled for a SuperBowl ad?

5) We couldn't put together a list without a mention of our craft. Now a $19 billion industry, branded merchandise is a proven marketing tool.
Mid- to large- customers are becoming brand partners. It's not just about selling product anymore. Our role is to show customers how to use promotional products as marketing tools: How to integrate these products within an integrated brand initiative and to develop messaging. We are developing analytical tools that give customers better access to total marketing communications and solutions on how use these tools to build incremental sales. We also go in together with the ad and brand agencies to figure out how to use all mediums to tie to the brand strategy and that's been a major change over the last few years.