New year. New social media trends and technologies. New opportunities to connect with a wider and wider range of potential customers and clients.

Social media marketing seems to evolve at breakneck speed, but let’s take a look at just a few of the larger trends we expect to see in the upcoming 12 months.

More Mobile

We talk about mobile a lot because, well, it matters a lot. A whole lot. For example, according to CNet.com, approximately 300 million smartphones shipped in 2010. This past year, that number jumped to around 468 million. In 2012, it will likely jump again to 630 million users.

In other words, don’t put off developing your company’s mobile web capabilities. A sizable chunk of those smartphone users will take advantage of the increased access to social media that those marvelous little boxes in their pockets provide. Make sure you have a mobile website design ready when mobile social media brings them to you.

More Social Media Advertising

TV and radio audiences are declining, which means that companies are going to be increasingly looking to advertise where all those eyeballs have gone — social media. In other words, social media marketing won’t just provide the standard opportunities to connect with potential customers and clients that social media provides (for free). But, increasingly, you’ll be able to buy prominent space on social media networks as well.

More News

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are excellent ways to follow the news — you simply follow news outlets or people you respect, and get alerted every time there’s something new worth reading. So more people are going to be using social media as a way to follow the news in 2012. This matters to businesses because the more uses people find for social media, the more time they’ll spend there.

More, More, More of Everything

Facebook could top a billion users this year across the globe — let that number soak in for a second — and growth could explode even more if it’s ever allowed into China. Even if some people get sick of the whole experience and begin pounding out letters on typewriters again, social media still has plenty of room left to grow. It’s not going away, so it’s a good idea to figure out ways to make it work for your company.

Let us know what social media trends your company is expecting to see in 2012 in the comments below. Happy New Year!