Many social media marketers expect to go deeper in 2012

About 37% of social media marketers are looking to move past the "experimentation" level in 2012, according to a survey. Key factors that lead marketers to seek a deeper level of social media marketing include better understanding of social media's benefits, establishing a firm social strategy and having well-defined outcomes, the survey found.

What social media technology are you most excited about for the coming year?

Integration between social platforms:     36.99%
QR codes, augmented reality and other real-world-based tools:     23.29%
Established social networks on mobile devices:     13.70%
Location-based social networks:     11.64%
Niche social networks:     8.90%
Open-source social networks:     5.48%

What trends in social media are you excited about for 2012?: Many SmartBrief poll respondents indicated that they're looking forward to greater integration between social channels in the new year -- although a fair share also are excited for technologies that will bring physical and virtual social spaces closer together. Share your hopes for 2012 in SmartBrief's SmartBlog on Social Media.

What does going "viral" really mean?

"Viral" products common in a variety of flavors, each of which entails its own strategy, writes Uzi Shmilovici. Some products, such as social games, rely on automatic notifications to create awareness, while more traditional word-of-mouth efforts draw on the special relationship between a product and its user to fuel conversation. No matter which type you pursue, results can be measured by charting the number of people affected by the campaign and the time it takes a viral action to convert a new user, Shmilovici writes.