Here are the seven ways in which journalists can benefit from using Pinterest:

1. One of the best benefits of the social media site is that you can be able to show or post your works or stories online. Many companies now have already been doing this to promote their stuff like USA Today showing gift ideas and TIME showing its weekly covers for their magazines. It is also a great way to share your stories online with other people.
2. You can find ideas for any trending stories that you may want to tackle or discuss for your journalism activity.
3. You can post pictures and videos in Pinterest to show everyone what is happening elsewhere. This is good if you want to show someone and you’re far away from the person. If you are a journalist, this is good to deliver fresh news through pictures and videos.
4. Since the site is picture based website, you can look for images if you want to your story to have an image.
5. Photojournalist can post and sell their works via Pinterest. Just put a price and the website where it can be purchased.
6. Pinterest can be an online storyboard. If you are trying to make a news story. You can create a storyboard either by using online images or posting your own pics and videos. You can also do research for your story project via Pinterest.
7. You can make your own story or magazine by getting fresh articles or stories and combining it with top pictures or images at Pinterest.

The use of social media is very widespread. Because of this, many entrepreneurs have grabbed the opportunity of it in promoting their businesses. Two of the most famous social media sites are Facebook and Twitter. The use of these social networks in business has been tremendous for business owners for a variety of reasons.

Cost efficiency is one of the many benefits of social media. For any entrepreneur, a huge income means a successful business. Of course, a great way to have a large income is to minimize expenses. Social media helps entrepreneurs minimize expenses because there are no fees involved. You just have to make your own site for your business, and make it public for everyone to see. There is no need to pay for suppliers to make you banners, flyers, business cards, etc. Social media networks can display your advertisement with no limited time unlike on other ad approach. Entrepreneurs who used social media for their marketing said that their business had an amazing result in terms of business operations and income.

Another benefit of social media is ease of use and efficiency. Since computers and internet are easily available nowadays, the use of social media for marketing is easier and more efficient. Entrepreneurs can be able to handle time management well because they can make and publish their marketing promotions at their own convenient time and place. This is especially effective if you are a computer literate who knows how to make advertisements for your business. Social media is not just advantageous for the entrepreneurs but for the customers also. Through this, they will learn about your business without having to go to your shop.

One such feature, multiple admins for company pages, is going to be necessary. Your average small entrepreneur or freelance worker may be able to get away with being the only ones administrating their own pages, but bigger companies or companies that pay to have their social presence managed, are going to have problems. Do they want other people to have access to their personal Google accounts? Do they want multiple people with password access to an account? Google needs to get that aspect fixed in a hurry.

When it comes to spending money with an online marketer, do people want to spend more money on an outlet that won’t give them as much of a return as Facebook right now? As short sighted as that may sound, many business owners have to think like that. The only thing that might give Google a leg up is whether these Plus pages factor into their search results. If so, then you could find the time and money investment to be more worthwhile. Of course, Google has been unclear on what ranking effect these pages may have.

Bottom line is the pages are certainly worth exploring, but you may want to avoid spending too much time working on them right now. It would be a good idea to wait and see how effective they are before you put the full weight of your online marketing department behind it.

1) Explain the importance of only “friending” kids that they know. Only classmates, those they play baseball or soccer with, kids who are within their proximity on a regular basis. Explain the dangers of adding people who they do not know and are not familiar with. This is just like anything else, parents. If you keep the lines of communication open with your children, they will be more likely to not only listen to you, but alert you if anything happens that makes them feel uneasy or uncomfortable.

2) Teach them the art of discretion and tact. There are far too many people who over share on Facebook. When things like this happen, people open up themselves for judgment and cruelty. Let your child know that Facebook is just a fun way to connect with friends and should never be used to tell secrets, spread lies or create gossip. When things like this start, it can quickly catapult into online bullying which, as recent news stories have told us, can be incredibly harmful, potentially leading to depression or anxiety.

Overall, just remind your child that it’s supposed to be a fun thing to take part in but to always be appropriate and safe with what they post. Like I mentioned earlier, if something goes wrong and the avenues of communication between the two of you are open, the likelihood that they will come to you is high. This is what you ideally want in all circumstances involving your children, not just with internet security.

Having good, quality, tangible content is king and the more of it the better chances of success. Seems like a lot, but I want to convey the importance of content. A good example of content in the social space would be selling a car. To promote the car you you might have a series of posts talking about the car along with 3 or 4 pictures.  Front, back, and both sides, which give us an idea of the appearance.  Now consider another guy who is selling a car that is the same make, model and color as yours. However, he has 40 – 80 images, some videos of the car in action, and a nice continuous blog that posts stories of his love and affection for the car as well as trips taken with the car and why he is selling his beloved vehicle (new baby, just married, etc.). He is not only giving the potential buyers information through social media and making them better informed but he is also getting them emotionally involved. If you were looking for a car, which one of these people would you most likely buy from? That’s the power of social media. That’s also why you must be careful to use it correctly.

Social Media is also about the presentation of your content. Using quality content and much of it along with pictures and videos will make you effective. Not just saying, “Buy my car.” or “Eat at Joe’s” is going to be enough. People have a strong curiosity, and it must be satisfied. In many instances people are like children and a child often asks, “Why?” when told to do something, or informed about something. Providing answers is what your audience wants. Social Media is here to deliver using videos, pictures, online networking and much more. Remember, this is the information era, and if you cannot provide relevant information then you will have a very difficult time with gaining the reputation you need to be influential in the Social Media world.

Keeping in touch with people in your network is a proactive act, allowing you to pursue ties and maintain working relationships for future endeavors. Keeping your network active will open doors to many opportunities, whether in your personal life or professionally, and that will prove helpful and profitable for you in the long run.

Communicate with Colleagues—Maintaining contact with your friends, colleagues and professional associates can be valuable, especially if and when you need contacts to support your business. LinkedIn is one of the most popular social connectivity sites at the moment. In this website, you can showcase your professional status, letting your past and present colleagues know what you are currently up to.

Strategy 2: Join LinkedIn Groups

Welcome the New Members—

In order to have a Linked in profile that will garner enough positive impact towards your objectives, first you must browse through the newcomers section and break the ice with the new members. If you are looking to build new relationships or establish your own branding, introducing yourself is a good opportunity to start a conversation. You can choose to receive updates and alerts when a new member joins. When you see a new member, send a welcome message asking a question that would spark interest to start a conversation. You can also offer advice and expertise on questions that a newcomer might ask, so that you can encourage him to be involved in future discussions.

Strategy 3: Cultivate Network

Tips for Job Seekers-

In networking for business, the right introduction to the right contact is very important to establish a relationship. Your direct contacts may not hold the key for you to advance your career, but, they could be connected to someone who can. Introductions are the most solid foundation in making business networking significant. LinkedIn has made introductions to the right people digital and easy to complete with its “Introduction” feature. Profiles in LinkedIn have the standard introduction function that can help you contact your colleagues who might have connections in getting you the right job, or that promotion. Although there is a limit to the number of introductions you can make in a period, this feature is an effective tool to expand your connections and get to know the right kind of people to help you in getting your dream job. Your current connections may also be connected to an employer you wish to contact, and the LinkedIn introduction could get you the position.

Google is the common denominator for everyone. Tech newbies all the way to veterans all use Google. Organic search marketing is still vital in today’s marketing world. People need to be able to find your company organically, because that is where they do cold searches first. Despite the surge of Twitter and Facebook, the front page of Google is still very important to your online presence.

This is not to put down social media. Services like Twitter can create a buzz for your company. So can Facebook and LinkedIn. Again, it must be done right and with your audience in mind. If your customer base happens to be ironic with how they approach the social media, putting a cheesy, earnest call to action is a mistake. However, being real and funny is more likely to attract people to your brand.

The title of this post is a misnomer. There really should not be a Google vs. Social Media mentality. It is not one or the other. It is one and the other. The sooner internet marketers do this, the better for their clients. Companies need to be seen in organic search in order to be found in the first place. Being found in social media creates a buzz around the brand.

1. Don’t create your profile from your resume, create your resume from your profile. You should optimize your LinkedIn page as a professional site that is a sort of landing page for your business or yourself. Then, from that profile, create targeted resume’s are specific to each company you apply to.
2. Include volunteer and freelance work into your profile. This is good because it will show any employer that, while you may not be employed currently, you are keeping your skills up to date. Plus, volunteer work shows that you are a self starter, and don’t have to be micro-managed.
3. Don’t be a connection whore. As crass as that may sound, people who accept any and all connections are going to find that many of those connections aren’t really that helpful. In fact, even if you have a smaller number of connections, you are going to do much better with the people you “know” rather than a connection with someone you just found.
4. Pay it forward. Simply put, you just never know when paying it forward can end up paying you back.

There are many tips, tricks and opinions about using LinkedIn, and many of them are valid. Your main task with LinkedIn is let your personality and skillset shine through. Doing this will ensure that whoever finds you on LinkedIn, will discover the real you. This is great for developing a strong professional relationship from the outset, and that is never a bad thing.

In light of a decision by the National Labor Relations Board in a case involving Walmart, people are being told to be very wary of saying negative things about your company and/or boss on social networks. These problems are becoming more and more complex, in large part because of how social networks straddle the public and private fence. It is also unclear, from this decision, what rights and protections, if any, workers do have.

As far as the company is concerned, a post by a disgruntled employee can cause real damage to the business. What’s more, if the company is publicly traded, this information could run afoul of SEC restrictions on insider trading. As ridiculous as this all sounds, a simple tweet could land a person in hot water. What needs to happen is a worker’s bill of rights. People need to know what is expected of them. It’s only fair, after all.

I would say that you are going to have much happier and productive employees if they have a place to vent. Another way to alleviate the issue is to have more open and honest communication at the company. Then you negate the need for the negativity elsewhere. Nonetheless, I do not see this changing anytime soon. It would be entirely too simple to come up with a solution. They gray works better for those in power.

This does not mean that we should be flippant when sharing. One school of thought would say that so much sharing would open people’s minds to other ways of thinking and living. It says that exposure to new ideas broadens the mind. However, in practice, we know that this is not always the case. If the rise of the social right tells you anything, it’s that people who are exposed to new ideas can be driven to even firmer close mindedness. So, you want to keep these things in mind when sharing.

In practical terms, just be careful. If you went out with friends to blow off steam the night before, it isn’t a particularly good idea to post pictures of your drunken revelry. Just as it isn’t a great idea to have a public squabble with someone across a social network. Remember, everyone is seeing that exchange. I know this seems antithetical to the entire purpose of social networking, it is just wise to be careful.

This isn’t to say that it is okay to judge someone based on something they posted online. If you have ever gotten upset over an email, only to later find that you didn’t understand the original context, you will know that you can’t always judge a non-verbal communication. So to answer the question, “are we concerned enough about our online privacy?”, I would say probably not right now. However, as more and more people get burned by things they’ve posted, this is likely to change.