I recently started looking back on the blog posts I have written over the years, and one of the things that struck me is that many are still relevant and current for today’s modern marketer.

One such blog post is one that I wrote for the AMA Baltimore in 2011. In the past, brands used focus groups to get consumer opinions; but with the advent of modern social networks, brands could gather a huge amount of intelligence just by monitoring social media. I wrote:

Social media monitoring is a primary and necessary activity for every brand marketer. Aside from the customer service implications, it can work hand-in-hand with other marketing mediums and strategies to enhance, engage and measure brand activities. More than ever, social media is the new focus group.