In today's environment, marketers and corporate communications professionals face two realities: 1) the audiences they need to reach -- customers, prospects, partners and influencers — have migrated to social networks and online communities; and 2) the budget they have to fund lead generation and branding programs continues to be stressed.

Where will dollars now be found to invest in social media and digital marketing programs?

For the past two years it has been primarily fringe budget -- those modest sums remaining at the end of the quarter that must be spent or forfeited back to the corporate kitty. This financial approach was smart thinking as social media and digital marketing was relatively new and experimental. If a program hit big, then it was kudos all around. If went bust…well there wasn't much invested in it.

According to a recent forecast from the analysts at Forrester Research, corporate marketing is now pulling from the resources reserved for traditional promotional activities to fund social media and digital campaigns.

Moreover, Forrester projects accelerating growth in social media investments due to marketers seeking lower cost, more accountable channels which are also widely used by their customers.

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