Social media marketing has been around for many years and according to marketing leaders, it will continue to grow in 2012. As social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, gain even more of a following, it is important for marketers to understand the ever changing social networks and how they can be made useful for B2B.

So, how can we expect social media marketing  to change in 2012?

- Content Creation: B2B marketers are realizing the importance of content, so there will be a strong emphasis on content creation. It will continue to grow rapidly and spread to different marketing platforms such as Google+, LinkedIn, and Blogs. Google rewards companies that are creating new content by factoring this into a higher search ranking.

- New Marketing Platforms: Google+ was the largest social media based marketing platform to come out of 2011, but as we enter 2012 we wonder what’s next? Niche social media sites such as Pinterest and Push are now being used for business. Look for more of these platforms in 2012.

- Facebook Timeline: Facebook timeline will be rolling out to businesses soon and similar to Twitter feeds, the Facebook timeline will update constantly. Therefore, in order to stay relevant, marketers will need to post more often.

- Cross-Platform Linking: With so many different social sites and media platforms popping up it’s important to stay relevant in each community. 2012 will bring the increase in social media buttons and linking from platform to platform. Cross linking will bring fans of your Facebook page to your Twitter feed, so it’s important to have different and fresh content on each platform!