Earlier this fall, I had the privilege of participating in an online survey sponsored by Vocus, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand marketing and PR software, to look at "PR Planning in 2011." Yesterday, Vocus released the their white paper entitled “2011 Strategy, Social Media Comes of Age.” There are many interesting points and stats in the survey results but, what struck me most was the point “PR will be more challenging in 2011. 60% of respondents said PR will be more challenging in 2011. The dynamics of social media and budgets were among the top reasons why.”

I believe this validates many of the points we’ve made previously on this blog about the power of social media and why we, as PR practitioners, should be embracing this change and integrating it into our communications plans for our clients on a consistent basis. The marriage of social and traditional media is a winning match in today’s public relations arena.

Let’s take a look at the chart below from the white paper.

80% of respondents see social media as being more important in 2011 than in 2010. But, seeing it as being more important and then acting on that importance is where we sometimes see the disconnect. It’s not enough to simply say that a company needs a strong social media presence, or haphazardly set up a Twitter or Facebook account. Instead, it's important to actually follow through on the commitment to support it. Supplying the necessary content that is informative, engaging, relevant and sometimes edgy to any of these new channels is what really makes for a successful social media effort.

So, with 2011 right around the corner, we are all peering into the PR crystal ball. We must look to develop strategic integrated communications offerings that support our companies and our clients. It's no longer enough to look at social media as a "nice" tool to have, but rather as a "must-have" in order to achieve a winning strategy.