Social media has become the new frontier for businesses to implement their marketing strategies. With a low barrier to entry and multiple platforms to utilize, social media offers unparalleled opportunities for companies to reach customers and establish brand awareness. However, using these platforms to their full potential isn’t always easy and carries a unique set of risks. Twitter can be a useful platform for companies with a steady flow of news flashes or links to share with followers. For businesses with a regular stream of image and short video content, Instagram – now owned by Facebook – enables a visual style of storytelling and boasts a huge audience of users. Outside of these behemoths of social media, other platforms can offer marketing opportunities for the right type of businesses. Pinterest has a steadily growing, predominantly female user base for its visual, “scrapbooking”-style content; LinkedIn is popular among freelancers as a networking tool to find clients. Hackers pose another threat to businesses on social media: an attacker can take over a company’s page or feed and share false information that can quickly go viral. Even large, respected businesses have fallen victim to hackers; small businesses need to take security precautions when creating passwords and sharing password information with employees. Writer Bio
