One of the more interesting things to happen since the launch of ME Consulting in January has been the relatively modest amount of social media-related business. For the most part, my clients have been focused on more basic marketing and communications projects: branding and message, refreshed Web site content, new marketing collateral, and the creation of better stories that can be used to pitch the media and bloggers.

This is not to suggest everyone has been ignoring social media because it has been part of the overall marketing mix, but it hasn’t been the biggest strategic priority.

In the last few weeks, however, I have seen a surge in interest about social media with a steady number of companies looking for meet to talk about what they should be doing. The theme has changed to “when” to get into social media as opposed to “if“.

In thinking about what has changed, one explanation is that social media has become an established part of the landscape, particularly among companies looking for new and different ways to keep and attract customers. Companies that may have brushed aside Facebook as a service for young’uns, and Twitter as inane chatter have now realized that have significant value if used properly.

At the same time, many companies continue to be cautious given the recession doesn’t appear to be going away. This means marketing budgets are still being tightly controlled. As a result, there’s more attention on social media as a low-cost marketing activity with the potential for strong ROI.

It has also helped that a growing number of social media success stories – Dell, Starbucks, Naked Pizza, etc. – have captured a lot of media attention – providing tangible evidence that social media can have huge upside.

All this may explain why there’s growing interest in talking about social media, and how it can be used to jump-start communications, marketing and sales activity.

Any thoughts on what you’re seeing out there?