Often I'm asked how I measure social media success. My response is generally, "Define success." Success could be seen as the increased number of clients you've gained since promoting your business online, or by the increase of your monthly sales/income. Or it could simply be the numbers of friends and followers you have. Success means different things to different people - all dependent on what your social media goals are in the first place.

Today I wanted to share with you something that happened to me over the past few weeks.

Blogging is an important piece of online marketing. You've heard me say this time and time again. It's an amazing venue to engage people in conversation and it helps to establish you as the expert in your field. But, alas, it does take some time to do, and it really needs to be scheduled in your weekly calendar. My blogging schedule is erratic and I really could use someone lighting the fire under me to write more often.

Towards the end of June, Denise Wakeman - The Blog Squad (blogging guru), posted this Facebook status update: "If you are looking for a blogging accountability buddy, please post your request here." It took me all of two seconds to reply and within about an hour I had two blogging buddies. A third one soon followed.

The first to reply was, Jaime, who is a stay-at-home mom living in Seattle. Jaime, as it turns out, was also interested in becoming a virtual assistant, and she had some talents which I needed to fill a gap in my own business. The Universe saw that we were a perfect fit and brought us together. We hit it off immediately... and we've already done business together.

Then came Erno, from Holland. His goal is to become the "Dutch Facebook Guy." He seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type of guy with lots of energy and ideas. A Facebook friend of Erno's, Kay, saw Denise Wakeman's post and connected with Erno. By the way, Kay is from the island of Mallorca in Spain.

I managed to coordinate our newly formed international blogging group for a Skype call this past week. What a great experience it was to connect with these new friends! We learned so much about each other during that first call, and now we'll be there, on a weekly basis, to support and motivate each other. During our Skype calls we'll be motivated and energized, and also get that 'atta-boy' virtual pat on the back we need in order to help make our blogging habits part of our regular routine.

It occurred to me that I should really tell Denise Wakeman what her one post initiated. I sent her a Facebook message, and she was thrilled to hear what we had done. She was so thrilled that she wrote her own blog article about us, also adding a link to my website.

We've since added a 5th blogger to our group. Miriam, a publisher, located here in the Inland Empire. I think that at this point, we can consider this a blogging mastermind group! To me, anytime you can get people together, learn from them and grow because of them - it's a success. What do you consider as social media success? Please share your stories with us!

Eydie Stumpf is a virtual assistant based in Corona who specializes in social media for business and e-mail marketing platforms. Send her questions via http://facebook.com/eydies.office, http://companies.to/Eydie/ or eydie@eydiestumpf.com.