Let’s talk about the success story of my friend and fashionista extraordinaire, Kimberly Wilson, who has employed some excellent social and viral marketing tactics over the years to build her businesses. Kimberly is a self-described teacher, writer, do-gooder, entrepreneur and eco-fashion designer who founded Tranquil Space Yoga in Washington, DC in 1999. Today, Kimberly is also the author of two books, Tranquilista and Hip Tranquil Chick, a fashion designer with her own clothing line, TranquiliT, and runs the Tranquil Space Foundation which provides opportunities for women and girls to develop leadership skills through creativity.

I met Kimberly Wilson eight years ago when she was teaching my yoga class at Joy of Motion studio in Washington, DC. It didn’t take long for me and many other Joy of Motion students to become devotees of her classes. She taught a select number of classes there, but lucky for us, we quickly learned that she was teaching additional classes at her own studio called Tranquil Space Yoga.

10 years ago, when Tranquil Space was just getting off the ground, Kimberly’s strategy for attracting students was organic and authentic. She created buzz about Tranquil Space by wearing "Tranquil Space Yoga" t-shirts to the classes she taught around town. She patiently built her business, step by step, by relying on her students to spread the word. She posted flyers on community boards in coffee shops. She had a website that clearly outlined her philosophy, class schedule and "brand". And, ultimately, she put her money where her mouth was by providing an excellent service and product that filled the need of many DC urbanites that were looking for a creative, challenging and vibrant yoga practice to balance their busy city lives.

All of these tactics helped the studio to grow from a few classes with a few students a week in her living room to what it is today multiple studio locations in the Washington metropolitan area with more than 75 weekly classes and recognition as one of the 25 best yoga studios in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine. The studio has also been the springboard for Kimberly’s other business ventures.

Back then, Kimberly hit the ground running to spread the word about Tranquil Space Yoga. Today, she’s still doing that with help from a full-time staff and viral communication tools like Twitter, Facebook, a blog, and podcasts. Kimberly understands that when these tools are used authentically - to engage, to start a discussion, to provoke thoughtful awareness, to spark an inspiration, to share a success story – they can be effective for growing a community.

As marketing professionals, we sometimes get so excited by the functionality of new interactive tools that we forget to ask the crucial questions: why and how do we use these tools to engage our communities and get them excited about our products, services and events? We could all take a page from Kimberly’s strategy book in understanding how the universal rules of authenticity, engagement and delivering on your brand promise can equal success and growth regardless of whether you’re in the business of yoga or tradeshows.