Pinterest is typically seen as a site for promoting cooking and crafts to women, so it may not shout “business” to you. But many businesses have found Pinterest to be a place to connect with consumers and generate traffic to their website. In fact, Pinterest drives 7.1% of web traffic that sites receive, making it second only to Facebook at 21.25%, as reported by Business Insider.

Tweet, retweet, hashtag. This could sound like a foreign language to you. But most likely you have at least heard these terms in some context since there are over 271 million active monthly Twitter users.

Twitter is not for everyone. It is a fast-paced social network and has its own world of terminology, but it can offer immense resources for you and your brand. Take some time to determine if Twitter is right for you. 

If you’ve decided to give Twitter a try, the following are tips for you to consider.

500 million Tweets are sent each day. That’s a lot of conversation. Should you be a part of it?

Twitter can be a useful social network for companies and individuals. It provides opportunities for brand building, brand awareness, customer service, driving website traffic, content sharing, and more. But how do you know if it is the right social media platform for you and/or your company?

Like with anything on the Internet, social media does not come without its risks. We’ve discussed identifying the risks associated with social media use, as well as the risks of your employees on social networking sites. But if you allow these risks to stop you from engaging in social media, what will you be missing out on? Are there risks associated with NOT using social media?

As the use of social media continues to grow exponentially, the line between professional and personal life tends to blur. Most likely, many of your employees are using social networks for personal use. They have connected with coworkers and clients. They may also help share posts from your company’s social networks to their own personal ones. The employee’s network of friends and followers probably begin to associate the individual with your company. This can be great. Employees can become some of your most effective brand advocates.

However, being aware of the potential risks is important.

Over 300 million people use LinkedIn. And the membership is constantly growing. In fact, there are 2 new users every second!

Are you using your LinkedIn account to its fullest potential? There are a multitude of resources available to help you learn about LinkedIn. We’re highlighting 5 tips we find incredibly valuable to effectively develop your professional network.

If you are just getting started on LinkedIn or are a seasoned veteran, it is still important to keep your profile updated and stay fresh with best practices.

Every minute of the day, Facebook users share 2,460,000 pieces of content. Twitter users tweet 277,000 times. YouTube users upload 72 hours of new video. Over 120 users sign up for LinkedIn. That’s a lot of action!

The benefits of social media use for businesses have become clear. It helps with building brand and awareness, managing reputation, crowdsourcing, customer service, gathering customer insights, recruiting, driving website traffic, and the list goes on. But with these benefits come risks. The first step to managing the risks is to recognize them.