Digital media is transforming how marketers engage with customers and prospects. Whether you’re marketing to business executives or consumers, it’s critical to monitor the fast-changing digital media space.

So what’s on the horizon for digital media in 2012 and what does it mean to marketers?

Three marketing experts shared their forecasts last week at a program sponsored by the American Advertising Federation-Cleveland. Here’s what these digital media pros see in their crystal balls and some insights for using digital media in your smart marketing strategy.

Top 10 lists are everywhere this time of year. One of the most interesting lists for marketers is the Top 10 Most Viewed Ads on YouTube, as reported on Mashable.com. These are TV spots people chose to watch online, by the millions. That’s an advertiser’s dream. But what makes these ads so popular? It’s not crazy gimmicks or over-the-top production techniques, though some of the ads have spectacular visual effects. I think it’s about storytelling. The most watched ads of 2011 engage viewers in a compelling story. Here’s why storytelling is such an effective advertising technique and how to tell stories in your smart marketing strategy.

The most successful social media marketers create and publish a high volume of original content through blogs, videos, white papers, and other vehicles.

But they also share quality content produced by others. Gathering, sorting, and republishing content from other authors that you believe your followers will value is called curation. By being a great content curator, you help customers, prospects, and colleagues find the “good stuff” online and know what to read. This not only makes you an informative and influential social media contributor, but it also helps attract new followers. Here’s how to find, filter, and share the best content with your social media followers in a smart marketing strategy.

Did you see the recent article in Adweek about efforts by major consumer marketers like Disney to establish brand preferences in children ages 0-3? The Next Great American Consumer by Brian Braiker provides a fascinating look at this development. Braiker says branding at birth is “a trend—fueled in part by the growth of digital devices—toward aggressively targeting a demographic that didn’t exist, in marketers’ eyes, until recently: infants to 3-year-olds. By getting their logos and iconic characters in front of babies—even those with still-blurry eyesight—they hope to establish brand-name preference before she or he has uttered a word.”

Is this a smart marketing strategy? Or is this the scariest thing you’ve seen all week? The answer to both questions is yes. Here’s why.

How many times have people at your company told you that they just don’t “get” social media – or understand why your company needs to join Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter? These aren’t just idle comments. Misconceptions about social media can hurt your brand and hamper your ability to compete in your marketplace by limiting your company’s participation in the social media dialogue. And if the people who hold those misconceptions also control the marketing budget, alarm bells should be ringing in the marketing department. Here’s how to get your company onboard with social media marketing and help everyone understand why social media is a powerful element of a smart marketing strategy.

Marketers everywhere are discovering the value of Twitter for sharing content and insights with customers and prospects and creating top-of-mind awareness. I used to be skeptical of Twitter but I’ve become convinced of its marketing power. As I approach my 1,000th tweet on Twitter as @jeangianfagna, here are 21 tips I’ve learned for using Twitter in a smart marketing strategy.

Clients of my marketing agency often want help with social media marketing. So I’ve been researching best practices and using my own experience as a blogger and social media marketer to help clients integrate social media into a smart marketing strategy.

And guess what? I’ve discovered a simple secret about social media: To achieve success, you need to think like a direct marketer.

Are you marketing to business decision-makers? Here are my top 10 recommendations for developing a smart business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy, based on the tried-and-true principles of B2B marketing and my experience as a marketing strategy consultant.

Blogging is one of the most powerful ways to market your company. But only a few of the 156 million people who are publishing blogs achieve a big following.

One is Chris Brown, owner of Marketing Resources & Results, a full-service marketing consulting firm in Northeast Ohio that helps companies attract new customers.

Chris has published the blog Branding & Marketing since 2006. She’s written more than 900 articles on marketing strategy, marketing tactics, branding, social media, and market research. Last week, she reached a major blogging milestone: 10,000 subscribers.

In this interview with Smart Marketing Strategy, Chris shares how she has used blogging to build her marketing agency and offers some lessons from her success.

Bloggers wield enormous influence in many markets and smart marketers strive to get bloggers to write nice things about them.

But outreach to bloggers can be tricky. Many bloggers resist overtures from marketers and other outsiders.

Here are five do’s and four don’ts when approaching bloggers to write about your company, product, or service, from my perspective as a blogger and a marketing consultant who advises clients on social media.