As the old saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss.   As a proud, newly minted member of Social Media Group, I am confident that there’ll be no lichens sprouting on my sides any time soon, because this company is on the move.

Why Social Media Group?  There are many reasons, but my primary motivator was the fact that SMG was clearly interested in engaging clients at a much deeper, strategic level than most of the firms I spoke with as part of my search.  SMG’s consultative approach to helping global organizations align themselves to meet the challenges and opportunities afforded by social technologies was an irresistible opportunity because it means helping clients with business issues that extend beyond communications.

SMG also offered me the potential to build upon the invaluable experience I gained establishing Social Currency™ at Northstar Research Partners.  I originally joined Northstar because, in my view, the manner in which social media “listening” was being conducted lacked true rigor and heft.  Too often, anecdotes were being passed off as insights and I thought that partnering with an organization that specialized in consumer research made for a valuable and compelling value proposition.  In the end I believe I was right as the listening market has now split between social media monitoring and research.

Looking beyond Northstar, what I really wanted to do was pair my solid research foundation to develop innovative, smart, and compelling social strategies and campaigns for top tier clients.  And after working here for just three days, I can already see the potential.  In a pitch meeting on my very first day the prospective client asked:  “So are you guys an agency or a consulting firm?”  Maggie’s answer : “We’ll resist being put into a box because we offer the best of both worlds –  the research based practice of business consulting with applied, market tested social media campaign experience.”

My heart swelled, and I knew I’d made the right decision.

Cross posted from PatrickGladney.com