Small- and medium-sized businesses have evolved to meet new challenges and thrive in a constantly changing environment in past years, and this year is no different. While businesses have used social media marketing in previous years, their use of it will grow and intensify in 2011.

Here are some of the key ways that Internet marketing will be used by businesses this year:

The Time for Experimentation Is Over

In the past, small- and medium-sized businesses have gingerly tested out tools such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. However, those experiments were akin to a child poking an unknown food with a fork. This year, companies will begin to use these new media tools strategically. Metrics and tactics that encompass all available social networking tools to generate new business and continued customer engagement all solidify into much more serious use.

You Will Hire Your Friends

Or at least the people who contact you via professional networking websites such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals, and allows businesses to gain a deeper look into who they are considering hiring. You can see not only who a potential employee has worked for, but who they are connected to in your industry, which may be more interesting. Thanks to niche groups based on industries as specific as "real estate investing", small- and medium-sized business owners will know who the most knowledgeable people are in their field and area.

Where You Are Becomes Who You Reward

With the advances in geo-tagging technology in cell phones and smart phones, such as the popular Android-powered Droid and Apple iPhone, customers are demanding more and more location-based information. This means that small- and medium-sized companies will be turning more toward location-based social networking tools such as FourSquare, Bizzy and Shopkick to reward visitors for frequenting their business. This could mean online-only coupons to all who check in or for those who check in the most in a given time period.

Websites will Become Dynamic

Social media blogs have been growing in mainstream popularity, and the growing popularity of news aggregators such as StumbleUpon, Reddit and Digg mean that if a company posts good content on its website, it may be able to garner wide exposure. Essentially, these sites are replacing standard search engine optimization. Social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook also will be used to spread these posts and drive engagement with potential customers.

2010 was an astounding year for the online world. In the last 12 months, we've seen the initially mocked (at least for its name) launch of the iPad, a hit movie about Facebook, the huge growth of Foursquare and more. What will the next year bring? Here are my predictions, based on little more than spending far too much time on the Internet.

The Beginning of the End for Public Relations

There once was a time when the only way for a company to get its message out was to hire a public relations firm. In exchange for a hefty monthly retainer of thousands of dollars, business owners would get the writing skills and, more importantly, the database of someone who promised that maybe a reporter might file a story. Today, thanks to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, those same business owners can put their message out on their own and often achieve better results. After all, it doesn't take much sleuthing to search out the exact reporters you want to reach directly.

I am not perfect nor have I ever worked for an organization that does everything perfectly all of the time. Try as I might to be as fantast as pre-incarcerated Martha Stewart, I just sometimes blow it. And, odds are, this happens with your business on occasion, as well.

The days of a phone call, letter or email from a disgruntled customer being ignored are in the past. Social media is a great equalizer. People with gripes, both legitimate and not, can broadcast their personal unhappiness with your business to hundreds or thousands. It is important to have a strategy to deal with complaints or criticisms via social media.

There are many ways that you can maintain a positive relationship with your clients and handle social media storms of negativity but these four tips are a great place to start.

Ah, the heady days of San Francisco in 2003 when the flash mob phenomenon began to take hold. It wasn’t long before what allegedly started in New York City by a senior editor with Harper’s Magazine swept the country and then the world.

Today, flash mobs have died out to a great degree, with the mobs turning into flash riots being partially to blame. But, through the use of Foursquare, it’s possible for small- and medium-sized companies to use the same concept to promote their business.

One of the most coveted badges (emblems that users can earn through checking into participating venues) is the Swarm Badge. The requirement seems simple enough: Be one of 50 or more people who have already checked into the same place within three hours. However, outside of checking into concerts or sporting events, being someplace with that sizable number of Foursquare members can be tricky. That’s where you step in by creating an event at your company almost guaranteed to draw you dozens and dozens of customers.