I was recently asked to write a guest post by a fellow MUG member. Obviously I jumped at the chance as you are reading this.But what is the MUG you ask? I will get back to that in a moment.

A year ago about this time, I was a self proclaimed tech geek with a beginning obsession with the world of social networking. Beyond my personal social network and blog accounts, I had just opened accounts for my employer, despite their reluctance. What I saw in these newly popular, connect-to-customer outlets, was a way to connect with our customers on a personal level, an expansion of our established customer service, and the opportunity to create a personality for our company. This my employer did not see. None-the-less, with driving force excitement, I carried on and decided to see where the world of social networks would take us.

Throughout the first 6 months of our social networks, our fan base slowly grew. Customers started to interact, to share and to stay connected to us. As a result our web visits and SEO grew. Our website statistics reflected the mass click through rate that my efforts were creating. I wanted my knowledge and my social networking to grow. I wanted to learn more.

Then I was asked to join MUG, the Marketing Users Group. This group, the brain child of ACES (actually the AMT2 web development team), began as a means to bring Iowa-based, like-minded individuals together who work in the marketing and web fields. Honored to be asked, I attended the first meeting.

The meetings were set to gather the third Wednesday of each month. In our first several meetings our discussions evolved around websites, SEO and the marketing involved. We discussed marketing techniques that worked, some that didn't and picked each other’s brains for what seemed to be a short hour. As the months progressed, our conversations transitioned and started to gravitate towards social networking with an emphasis on the above.

These meetings and the conversations we had boosted my confidence in what I was doing at work. They confirmed that my efforts were viable and the results I have been receiving were tangible. These meetings provided avenues for growth, knowledge and teaching. Not once did I leave a meeting without a pile of ideas for improvements or changes that could be made to my established web-based marketing. These meetings allowed me to be excited about new developments and provided me an outlet to share what I know.

I truly believe that MUG is a large reason why today I am being asked to develop and pay more attention to our social media campaigns through work. They have started to recognize that these forums should no longer be ignored. From the things that I have learned in these meetings, I have gained the knowledge and confidence to further explore the world of social media management. Most of all, I have had the opportunity to meet some very incredible, knowledgeable people who together, make an incredible group.