First post on a new blog- whew! I’ve been blogging in various places for several years and have watching communications change in the process; change completely and forever. Social media has gone from a fringe novelty to a communications layer that connects virtually everyone on the planet in real time. As a marketer who has been aggressively using social media to build a business over the past year I can attest to the almost overwhelming power of this medium. Who would have thought that something like 140 character messages on Twitter would turn out to be an incredible lead generation tool? That a niche blog (Hi Connie!) could turn its author into an internationally recognized authority? That a social network like Facebook would add users at the rate of 20 million a month?

This blog is about the real world application of social media marketing as the primary marketing medium going forward. Even the word marketing is limiting when it comes to social media: SM can drive product development, customer support, reputation and brand management- even build global market share. I’ll be sharing real world stories, interviews and examples of all of these applications. Though my business, WTSsocial, is focused on social media monitoring and engagement in higher education, I won’t limiting my focus- everything is connected in social media.