When I was thinking about launching my new consulting business, I thought about and then rejected the idea of positioning myself as a social media consultant or a social media strategist.

A big part of the decision was based on the belief it might be difficult to carve out a business based on just social media given that many Canadian companies are still thinking about or just dabbling with social media.

In hindsight, it was the right decision because while I do some social media consulting, I’m doing far more work in helping companies with their marketing, communications and branding needs – some of it basic blocking and tackling before they can even think about embracing social media.

I was thinking about this decision this morning during a panel at BlogWorld Expo after listen to several speakers, including Sysomos’ Aubrey Podolsky, Radian6′s Amber Naslund and Techrigy’s Connie Bensen talked social media issues such as crisis management, customer service, community growth and sentiment.

My sense is that U.S. companies are embracing and using social media significantly more than Canadian companies. As a result, there’s more business for social media consultants, strategists and social media monitoring services. If you’re a social media consultant or strategist, you can probably make a good living south of the border.

In Canada, we’re enthusiastic social media users, which explains why Facebook and Twitter are so popular. And we’ve got a great and engaged group of social media evangelists who are more than happy to talk about social media, and the amazing benefits it offers. Hence, all the conference, meet-ups, etc. that are happening.

But we seem to be doing a lot more talking than walking in Canada. Canadian companies are either not thinking about social media at all, they’re thinking about it but not doing much, or they’re just doing a little but not much.

Maybe it has to do with the fact Canadians take longer to embrace new online concepts despite the fact we love high-speed Internet access. It took us longer to embrace e-commerce, for example. And we were arguably slow in getting on the blogging and Web 2.0 bandwagons.

So maybe it’s just a matter of time before social media really takes off in Canada and, specifically, among Canadian companies. When they’re ready, the good news is there’s a growing number of people who can help them navigate the social media landscape…including yours truly.