Social media is becoming increasingly important for businesses, but where should you start? As with all marketing, the best starting point is always to map out a strategy. With social media, your strategy should incorporate the very different—and rapidly changing—statistics about who’s using what. Currently we see the following:

• Only 5% of Americans use Twitter, while 48% use FaceBook or MySpace
• Males make up 60% of Twitter users – 40% of the traffic is from the U. S., while 60% is international
• 51 % of Americans don’t use FaceBook, Twitter, or MySpace
• 52% of females have a FaceBook or MySpace account, compared to only 45% of males
• 24% of 55+ year olds have a FaceBook or MySpace account (Surprised?)

Wow. This was a Quick Tip we provided in 2009, when businesses were first taking social media seriously. How much things have changed! The constant here—what hasn’t changed—is the importance of building a strategy based on who you want to reach and where they are.