At first, the endless scroll of image after image can send a company running in fear. How do you manage such an extensive collection of images and ideas? Where is my target audience? How can I guarantee that they’re seeing my content? By pairing a few best practices and Pinterest’s latest updates, your business can easily capitalize on this accessible and efficient platform.

Perhaps the most important insight for companies to remember is that Pinterest users are highly visually oriented and 80 percent of the platform’s traffic comes from mobile. Use only high quality, well-composed and vertically oriented images to optimize your presence. Even better, make sure that the images are hyperlinked to the original source so viewers can click through for more information. While multiple pins vie for a user’s attention, a well-curated image can ensure that their eyes are focused on your content.

Another key feature is Pinterest’s secret boards, allowing you to build and edit a board privately until it is ready to be shared with the public. This ensures your collection is in prime condition and free of errors before the public has access. After the boards go public, make sure your business’s most relevant boards are featured toward the top. Then use Pinterest Analytics to analyze insights on your company’s most repinned posts, audience demographics and how leads are referring traffic from Pinterest.

With updates including “Buyable Pins” and a shopping cart feature, Pinterest is not a platform to ignore. The new and upcoming cross-selling opportunities positions Pinterest as a valuable resource for businesses.

Pair your brand with someone’s new favorite band. Because Pandora uses an algorithm to provide music recommendations to its users, advertisers have the capability of reaching a hyper-targeted audience. With 15 second and 30 second audio and video ads, display ads, branded stations, sponsored listening and other various options, brands have a range of options when sharing their message. Starting at $5,000 minimum, it’s the perfect option for a local company wanting to target a niche audience on a budget.

But be wary, nothing is more annoying than being interrupted during the end-of-day commute jam session. It’s important that advertisers become a part of a Pandora users’ experience. Also, keep in mind that 85 percent of listeners are tuning in via mobile, so you’ll need to plan creative strategically. Your goal: don’t interrupt, integrate.

Spotify is the digital music service your kid keeps trying to get you to pay for. It’s free for users who accept ads, but subscribers can avoid ads by paying $9.99 for Spotify Premium. While only about 30 percent of active worldwide users are using Spotify Premium, their business model aims to convert users to a subscription.

But don’t stress, Spotify has great tactics in play for advertisers. Spotify boasts that they only serve display ads when the user is engaged, so you can be comforted that your impression won’t be served to a distracted audience. Again, keep engagement as your goal and avoid disruption. If your next client has money to spend and is targeting a young audience on a national or international level, look no further than Spotify for your digital music advertising platform.

Big news. YouTube is capable of producing so much more than just hours of fabulously entertaining cat videos. (Not that we don’t enjoy those, too.) But utilize this platform strategically, and your company can harness an unbelievably powerful channel.

Let’s put this in perspective. About one third of the global internet population is using YouTube, making it a social media powerhouse. With an even split among men and women using the platform, your target audience could be living here. And while you can buy likes on Youtube hoping to impress your potential audience – it is a content-rich website, and what gets the most views and likes is unique content.

But don’t waste a consumer’s time. Users are here to create, learn, watch and be entertained. Videos that showcase products in action, offer tutorials, get viewers laughing or deliver event footage are a typical viewer’s go-to. Is your client planning a huge product launch? Partner with vloggers (video bloggers) and feature your product on their channel. Keep in mind, though, that most users are not in a purchasing mindset. They are here for social or fact finding purposes. Content should be entertaining and informative and move viewers to take action.

We’ll be keeping our eye on YouTube as talks of partnerships with major broadcasters and networks to provide online TV services continue. YouTube is currently set to launch a paid subscription service during the first quarter of 2017 called “Unplugged,” which would offer a bundle of cable television channels that could be streamed online. Advertisers would be wise to watch how the service will compare with similar providers such as Hulu and Dish Network’s Sling TV. Paired with 360 degree cameras and mobile live streaming, however, the future of YouTube is promising for advertisers.

Of the U.S. social networking ad spend, Facebook holds just over 73 percent. Advertising revenue has grown by more than 50 percent since 2015. In the U.S., 59 percent of Americans use Facebook monthly.

So yes, Facebook still reigns as king of the social networks.

But where is it heading? Facebook has proven that innovation is at the top of its list. 360-degree video was released in September 2015, they launched live streaming in April 2016 and 360-degree photos were made possible in June 2016. They’ve developed and added a dedicated shopping tab, and unveiled a “donate” button so nonprofits can fundraise more effectively than other crowdfunding sites. Promising, yes?

While we may feel most comfortable working with Facebook, it’s important to re-evaluate tactics and ensure they’re still effective. While it’s easy to broadcast your message, make sure you’re connecting and engaging with audiences. Try tagging locations and using a hashtag to make your brand easier to discover. Finally, Facebook’s ad platform features sophisticated targeting, detailed analytics and immense flexibility. Take advantage of these tools and ensure views and engagement with your message.

Twitter is the ideal platform for real-time communication and has proven its worth among news organizations and marketers. But that same real-time communication means that an environment can change in an instant. Brands can stay on top of this fluid platform by monitoring conversations, posting consistently and promoting dialogue between consumer and company. Strategic hashtagging enables you to organize your tweets so they can be found by others interested in the same content.

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Welcome to the “new internet.” Okay, maybe we won’t take it that far yet. But chatbots are taking the internet and messaging apps by storm. And for the first time, people are using messenger apps more than they are using social networks.

Already there are countless chatbots available to consumers, ranging from fun to functional: grocery bot, weather bot, personal finance bot, gym bot, etc. Right now, these bots can either be programmed based on a set of rules or as a more advanced chatbot that uses machine learning. Rules-based chatbots can only respond to specific commands made by the user and can be difficult to use. If the user says the wrong thing, the chatbot won’t understand. Machine-learning chatbots, however, have artificial intelligence that not only understands commands but also understands language. The bot gets smarter as it has more conversations.

Of course, these chatbots are still in developing stages and have many glitches that will need to be addressed. To prepare for the future, smart brands should take time to experiment and learn about the capabilities of chatbots.

Then, as the technology evolves, they will be able to utilize chatbots for empowering customer service, simplifying purchases, and as a virtual concierge for work and personal life.

There’s an old saying: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” LinkedIn is proof of concept for that idea. Specifically for business networking, it’s not a place to share the latest cat video, joke or puzzle. It’s where you can quickly learn not about the business you’re talking to, but the people behind it. ROI Research reports that 59% of respondents said LinkedIn is their most important account on social networks. 50% of users report visiting the site weekly, and 20% visit the site at least once per day, and there were a total of 45 billion member page views in Q1 2016.

For many, connecting on LinkedIn has become the equivalent of trading business cards. It’s useful for learning “who knows who” and following a prospect, customer or employee’s career path. Virtually anybody who’s anybody in business has a LinkedIn account, and while there are varying opinions about its usefulness, it’s like anything else in life (or business): you will get out of it what you put into it.

There are three basic kinds of LinkedIn users – those that create an account and never really use it (you can identify them by the fact that they will have less than 100 connections), those who visit but never participate (aka lurkers), and active players using the site as it was intended – a forum to make business connections, share ideas, and aggregate news of interest to their career field.

In his 1982 book “Megatrends,” futurist John Naisbitt prophesied that the future of business would be what he called “high tech, high touch” – a combination of technology with personal connections.

That’s LinkedIn.

People like to look at pretty things. It’s that simple. Whether you’re curating a personal Instagram account or creating a paid advertising campaign, fostering a visual community and a consistent aesthetic should be the cornerstone of your Instagram strategy. While Instagram offers in-app editing tools, it is wise to use an outside editing source in order to create a “look” unique to your brand. Each individual photo as well as an overall Instagram “feed” should be visually cohesive.

That’s not to say you should ignore the words. By asking questions, or hosting contests and giveaways, a photo’s caption can significantly boost engagement. Add further collateral to your brand by venturing into Instagram’s recent ability to support 60-second videos and real-time stories, or research and partner with popular Instagram “celebrities” to further your brand outreach. But whatever you do, bring it all together by using Instagram as a mirror and influencer of trends.

If you have one chance to watch a ten second video, you’re probably going to pay attention. This is how Snap ensures that its users are engaged; messaging is always full screen, always by the user’s choice and always mobile. Direct advertising and brand sponsored filters continue to come with a high price tag, but by creating an exclusive brand Snap account and cross promoting, it’s a great cost-effective option for reaching younger audiences. Pull back the curtain and give viewers a peek into exclusive footage for a refreshing perception of authenticity and trustworthiness.

To an unfamiliar user, Reddit can be disorienting.

It’s not the most visually pleasing, content seems to spill from every crevice of the site and the organization feels jumbled. Spend a bit of time, however, and you’ll see why Reddit continues to be a bustling webpage.

The “upvote” and “downvote” system means that consumers can vote the most interesting content to the top of the page and ignore less engaging posts. Subreddits organize content by topic and allow users to find a conversation on almost anything, whether it be a television show, political news or baby animals.

For advertisers, what first appears to be a mess of information can offer a platform for interacting with consumers, advertising with sponsored links and hosting discussions.

With 8.19 billion monthly page views, successful posts have the potential for massive bursts of traffic.

Survey your surroundings before you post, though. A poorly researched and presented post could be met with significant backlash, considering that many users are “anti-marketing.” Become a part of the community and learn your demographic before engaging with consumers.

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