Welcome to the first best-of-2009 (so far) compilation. This year will feature expanded, finer-grain categories (such as separate best-ofs for Twitter- and Facebook-related posts) and some renamed categories ("social media marketing" will replace "social media optimization," which, in turn, replaced a varied basket of terms before it).

In the posts and articles below, discover how to map your social media communities, how to monitor your company's social media buzz on a budget, a dozen common social media mistakes to avoid, the essential elements of a social media strategy and more.

As always, if one of these posts happens to be yours, feel free to grab the graphic above for your site and link back.

7 Social Media Predictions for 2009 by Search Engine Watch

Erik Qualman produced this list of predictions in January. Granted, perhaps none were particularly daring, but his clairvoyance has proven remarkably accurate to this point. "Social media continues its rapid growth"—check. "Marketing budgets will continue shrinking"—yup. "Many free services will become defunct"—hmm, not yet, but there are still three months of 2009 to to.


Social Media and the Enterprise Customer – Wired PR by uber.la

John McElhenney lays out a process for mapping your social media communities, then capitalizing on their structures by letting your customers and partners tell your story for you.


What The F**K is Social Media?

Marta Kagan has put together possibly the best single presentation on social media ever. Not sure how to explain the potential and elements of social media marketing to your boss or client? Borrow some wisdom from Marta's slide deck:

What The F**K is Social Media?
View more documents from Marta Kagan.


20 Totally Free Buzz Pocket Mining Tools by aimClear

Want to know what's being said in social media circles about your company, competitors and industry but don't have the budget for a tool like Techrigy SM2 or Radian 6? The inscrutable Marty Weintraub reviews 20 free tools for monitoring social media buzz, including StumbleUpon Recently & All Time Most Popular Hot Tags, Facebook Lexicon. Twitter search engines, Google Advanced Blog Search and a few you've probably never heard of.


7 Reasons Your Social Media Marketing Failed (and how to fix it!) by Stuntdubl

Todd Malicoat advises marketers on how to avoid social media marketing failure by outlining seven reasons results may fall short of expectations, including "you chose the wrong channels" and "your content sucked."


5 Social Media Mistakes To Avoid by ZoopMedia

In another post on the theme of social media mistakes to avoid, Justin Wright offers up five surefire ways to fail, such as spamming the networks with only your own content and not taking full advantage of the messaging and SEO potential of social media profiles.


The Six Fears of Facebook and Other Social Media Channels by Internet Marketing Strategies and Secrets

Bob Cargill analyzes the fears that keep some people out of the social media realm. These are individual fears (e.g., fear of rejection, loss of privacy, time commitment) rather than the social media ostrich type fears that prevent businesses from taking advantage of it.


How to Make Money Off Social Media (originally titled: Selling Social Media to Your Clients) by Webdesigner Depot

Despite the spammy title, this is a very worthwhile piece for corporate b2b marketers or those who work with them. Most helpfully, for those just getting started with social media (or not sure if they've started correctly), this post provides a "Suggested Social Media Package" with a list of must-haves (e.g., a WordPress blog, Twitter account, Facebook page) and nice-to-haves (e.g., a YouTube channel and Live Help component on your website). One caveat to the advice given in this post: for businesses, a Facebook page is generally a better option than a Facebook group.

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Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom