Are you always wondering which social network is hot and which is not? And how many social networks can your business really continue to pay attention to? Well here you will see the search growth rates of the 9 major social networks that I think are most important to businesses and our social media marketing efforts. All this data is thanks to some amazing research by Ignite Social Media  which I found thanks to  Justin Flitter  (@ JustinFlitter ). Let me know if you think I should have included a different network (Reddit?) Maybe. MORE >>

B2B marketers are looking for ways to improve their social media marketing results, and one of the platforms that helps with that is LinkedIn. Many B2B companies have seen success on the professional social network by getting employees to represent the company in addition to their own experiences, managing company pages and even running industry groups. Below are 20 tips that will help with many aspects of LinkedIn, both personal and for your company. Use LinkedIn to follow up after other communications. Build followers for your LinkedIn company page. MORE >>

Have you checked out LinkedIn lately? If you thought the world’s largest professional network was little more than a place to post your resume, you owe yourself another visit. LinkedIn is set to eclipse the 100 million member mark sometime this spring, and it is quickly becoming the social network of choice for B2B professionals. LinkedIn gets none of the buzz of Facebook, and no one’s going to make a movie about it. LinkedIn has evolved far beyond its roots as a professional networking service. Use LinkedIn Signal. Find People. MORE >>

LinkedIn company pages are like a personal profile for your company. Your company page is a mini-website for your company, but it’s located on LinkedIn so it’s easy for LinkedIn members to find. Writing for LinkedIn is very different than writing your website. Both share the necessity to relate to humans and well as search engines (or in the case of LinkedIn, the search algorithm), but the tone of each is quite different. However, in order to place the person there, you must, as an administrator, be connected to that person on LinkedIn. MORE >>

When used well, LinkedIn is a powerful business networking community and tool. personally am more apt to accept a LinkedIn invitation to connect than Facebook. However, there are some pet peeves I have about LinkedIn. Here are my top 5 don’ts, in no particular order: Sending generic invitations to connect : I’ve received dozens of invitations to connect via LinkedIn. However, as LinkedIn members have become more aggressive with emails and connections, I evaluate each request carefully. Otherwise, sending LinkedIn messages is worthless spam. MORE >>