While many consumers have spent the first two weeks of January getting re-acclimated after holiday time off, exchanging gifts and taking the first steps to deal with their added holiday weight, businesses have been solidifying their budgets, confirming revenue targets and making sure everyone is on board with the company’s 2013 goals. A big part of that includes what they’ll be doing marketing-wise in 2013. With the constant growth of social media tools and applications, and more creative ways to market a business being developed every day, we have our eye on a few marketing trends we think will be a big part of 2013.

Here are our top four:

When you think “social,” don’t just think Facebook. Facebook may be the largest social media platform, but it’s not the only one that’s good for business. A recent survey by Shop.org shows that companies are attracting and retaining more customers from their Pinterest and Twitter efforts than through Facebook, and that in most cases Facebook isn’t as effective for converting sales. We think that 2013 is the year that more companies will stop putting all of their ‘likes’ into one basket.

LinkedIn is the new Facebook. For years, LinkedIn was almost exclusively used for networking and job searches, but in recent articles, such as this one in Search Engine Watch, marketers are talking about the greater role it now has in their marketing efforts. It has new features, such as the endorse button, and has given B2B companies the ability to enhance their product pages in a more personal way, in an effort to build brands that appeal to both consumers and corporations at the same time.

Mobile will win the war against the desktop. Ericsson estimated that there will be over 50 billion connected devices by 2020, and many firms, such as Gartner, have estimated that 2013 will mark the first year that mobile access will surpass desktop and laptop online access.Despite the recent launch of the new iMac and Samsung’s Series 7 all-in-one PC, companies are going to start using a ‘mobile-first’ approach more than ever before. This includes optimizing websites and newsletters and investing in mobile ad campaigns more heavily than they have in the past.

Big Data will rule marketing. We are ruled by the algorithm whether we realize it or not, be it Google, Amazon or even Netflix – all companies that use unique algorithms to collect data to understand your transactional preferences for the future. Keywords, search history and other data are processed by major search engines to customize ads that pop up everywhere we go online, driving the customer. And Google has even gotten itself into some hot water from the FTC for allegedly using its search dominance to drive traffic to its own products. Big Data’s key role in marketing will grow exponentially this year as companies get better at using gathered data to understand business trends and manage product strategy, pricing and customer support.

Though social media, Big Data and mobile have been around for years, the way that marketers utilize each one is going to change as new features emerge to enhance the customer – and company – experience. We’re looking forward to what promises to be an exciting year for marketing.

Have you noticed any noteworthy marketing trends for 2013 not mentioned here?