I like to get to parties on time, even a little early. My wife has taught me that there can be some distinct advantages to being late: you get to make a grand entrance, the food has been served and you won’t be bored waiting for the fun to begin. I have similar good news for any company convinced they have missed the social media party. It can be great to be late.

Here’s why:

1. While you were waiting, your audience grew to 1 billion The number of Internet users surpassed 1 billion when you weren’t looking. Twitter hit one billion tweets.  Facebook has 10 billion photos stored, and has became the most trafficked social media site. That means there are more vertical and horizontal audiences to choose from, so you won’t get lost in the numbers.  You won’t get lonely.
2. Social media has had time to grow up Twitter was launched in July 2006. Facebook is almost five years old, Digg is just over four years old and Twitter is two and a half years old. It can still get wild, woolly and confusing, but it’s a big improvement over the always-in-beta early months.
3. There are more tools to make it more efficient, effective and strategic Take Twitter for example. Launched in July 2006, there are now hundreds of tools designed that create shortcuts to post, organize and measure.  Here are 35+ social media tools  you’ll appreciate.
4. Social media has gained acceptance by consumers 70% of consumers now consider social media sites to be sources of information that influence their purchasing decisions, according to research data in MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide.
5. The real party is just getting started And now the biggest reason of all. With all the noise and storm and one billion users, Web-watcher Donna Bogatin shows that most of the world is still just watching and reposting existing content. Only 1% of users are actually creating fresh new content. That’s your opening — the grand entrance you’ve been waiting for.

By bringing fresh content to social media, rather than re-tweats and a list of links, your brand can become the life of the social media party. Congratulations.