For us marketers, social media opened up a new way to engage in real dialog with our consumers. We could listen to our customers in real time, develop products that solved immediate needs, and tailor messages to consumers in such a way that they looked forward to hearing from us.

As social media evolves it continues to improve the relationship between buyers and sellers. Earlier this week, we hosted a mobile marketing webinar that looked at how the rise in mobile usage was helping to drive authentic conversations between brands and customers.

A quick look at how social media, local and mobile marketing have evolved in the last 18 months or so:

1. Who are you?

It started with an answer to that question. Brands no longer had to guess where to find entrepreneurs in California, working moms in Chicago or CTOs in New York. The rise of social media meant that consumers were voluntarily providing this information. The result? Brands spent more time reaching the right people and consumers heard from brands that were relevant to them.

2. What are you doing?

Then there were status updates. Twitter sought to find out "What are you doing right now?" Smart marketers are using status updates to talk with customers at just the right time. If you say you're planning to buy a house, a smart homebuilder will ask you to stop by a model home. If you say you're reading reviews of servers online, a smart hardware provider will reach out to you. If you say you have a toothache, a smart dentist will reach out to you to set up an appointment.

3. Where are you doing it?

Now with all of us carrying mobile devices on our hips or in our purses, the conversation gets even more interesting. GPS technology, smartphones and check-in services like foursquare are converging to allow consumers and brands to have conversations not only in real time, but in "real space." Now, if I'm touring a college with my parents, another college in the same city can reach out to me to stop by for a visit. If I'm having dinner downtown, a neighboring bar can invite me over for happy hour. If I'm at a trade show looking at security software, a competing software product can invite me over to its booth for a demo.

What does this leave for the future? Surely, social media will continue to evolve and grow - exponentially. Will this create further avenues for markers to interact with consumers? Probably, although it is unlikely that any such avenues will be created directly. Marketers will always have to be innovative and creative.