by Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter

We launched our first-ever Inbound Marketing newsletter this year and watched as teams across the industry tested, proved and popularized this strategy. Not only has our newsletter grown, but business investment in inbound tactics is also on the rise.

For example, inbound budgets are headed upward for many teams, according to the MarketingSherpa 2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report - SEO Edition:

• 60% plan to increase their social media budgets


• 60% plan increases in landing page optimization


• 57% plan increases in SEO


• 41% plan increases in content marketing

Now it's time to look at the ground these teams covered and where they're headed. We also want to say "thank you" to all our readers. This newsletter has been popular since its first issue in Jan. 2011, and it would not be possible without you. So thank you. We promise to continue sending top-quality case studies, research and reports on your successes.

In the meantime, let's look back at the most-tweeted inbound marketing articles from 2011 to help your team get a strong start next year.

Social Media Marketing: No longer a 'theory'

Marketers have experimented in social media for years, but 2011 may mark the turning point where "theory" became "results" in many companies. What was once considered impractical and silly became a defined marketing channel with dedicated staff.

Social Media Marketing: 8 tactics to measure and improve Facebook results - Once marketers started using this social network in droves, we outlined tactics to measure the results.

Social Media Marketing: How SAP identifies and replicates successful tactics across a global company - We showed how this B2B team identified successful social marketing in one part of its company and worked to replicate the strategy across its global offices.

Social Marketing: Increasing interaction with Cheezburger's huge audience - We showed how the Internet-culture insiders at the Cheezburger Network used tools to manage and monitor a rapidly growing social audience.

SEO: Smothering fires and seizing opportunity

An overhaul of your SEO program can yield great results. But once good architecture and solid best practices are in place, many teams shift to maintaining performance, combating threats, and grabbing opportunities.

Search Marketing: How to avoid and remove Google penalties - This year's most-tweeted SEO article featured one company's work to combat a penalty from the king of search.

SEO: How to launch a website redesign without hurting search rankings and traffic - This popular how-to article described tactics for launching a redesigned website without undermining your SEO results.

Search Marketing: Capture future seasonal traffic lifts by preparing today with these 4 SEO factors - This final SEO article shows how one team anticipated and leveraged seasonal lifts in search traffic.

Content Marketing: Quality and consistency pay off

Inbound marketing would not be complete without the champion king of everything: content. Companies throughout 2011 gave away helpful blog posts, videos, reports, webinars and other information to attract and nurture prospects.

Inbound Marketing: Small business builds YouTube channel from the ground up, expands to 40 countries - "Helpful content" does not always mean "boring content," as proven by the marketers at Orabrush, who launched an entertaining YouTube channel and drove tremendous results.

Content Marketing: Unbranded company blog boosts B2B agency's revenue 15% - If you think you need a ton of resources to generate content, look no further than the example set by Build-a-Buzz. The lead-driving B2B site was created and maintained by a single person.

Content Marketing: Inbound strategy pulls in 25% more revenue, 70% more leads - See how an effective inbound strategy works from end-to-end in this B2B case study.

Useful links related to this article

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MarketingSherpa 2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report - SEO Edition

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Content Marketing: Focus on value, noct length

SEO Tactics Chart: Creating content is the most-effective tactic — here’s how to get started

Inbound Marketing: How to pull in customers without pushing ads

Inbound Marketing: Looking back on a year of Great Minds articles