Where do Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter users live? And how do you use this information to target them with marketing? Social media platforms provide all types of interesting opportunities for brand promotion. And the emergence of Groupon and LivingSocial have opened up new avenues to connect online with even smaller, community brands – hair salons, florists and museums.

Local market details really help marketers leverage social platforms to their fullest potential. They have reams of information about their users. Scarborough enables a deeper local analysis that complements in-house data. For example, the top two local markets for adult Facebook users in the U.S. are Salt Lake City and Atlanta. At first pass, this is unsurprising. These markets are more likely to be the home of younger

adults (ages 18-24) and they have higher than average Internet access rates – two key characteristics of the Facebook user. But the interests and purchase patterns vary based on the user’s home market. See the chart below for more.