Nearly everyone uses social media. And whether you run a small- or medium-sized business (SMB) or multinational conglomerate, social media platforms are great for their broad audiences, low costs, and high returns. But without careful planning, marketing in these communities can do more harm than good.

To say that social media is a small part of our lives is an understatement. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are now integrated into our lives like never before. But what’s next? Can social media’s involvement go any further? These upcoming trends certainly point toward it.

To truly make an impression on consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses are pulling out all the stops. Standing out from your competitors could increase your chances of earning revenue. Many SMBs are now turning to social media and content marketing strategies to gain a competitive edge.

Fishes are known to travel together in schools. They do so as a defense mechanism against predators or as a means to find a mate. Rarely do we see a fish making its way through the ocean unaccompanied. Schools of fish are the Twitter equivalent of celebrities or public figures, whereby lone guppies are SMBs struggling to make a splash in terms of their online presence.

Are your tweets not getting enough exposure? With so many other social media campaigns out there, it can be tricky to get the attention of followers in Twitter. While posting regularly and writing bold headlines are important in grabbing the audience’s attention, there are other Twitter tactics that you should be employing in order to get the most retweets.

At work, we depend on several apps to be more productive around the office. However, with so many of them open in our web browsers, it can be a drag to constantly click in and out of tabs just to get the information we need. Fortunately, Office 365 Connectors for Groups allows you to stay on top of all the third party services your company is using.

As a small business owner, you only have so many hours in the day, and managing your social media accounts is likely at the bottom of your to-do list. But while it can be easy to simply put off those social media updates, you know in the back of your mind your business can surely benefit from them.

It’s possible you take your access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms for granted. Maybe you’ve never thought about what a world without news feeds and constant updates and selfies from your friends and acquaintances is like. While there are moments when we’re all fed up of so-and-so’s latest attention-seeking Facebook status or their endless stream of glamorous vacation photos, the stark reality is, if our social media platforms were suddenly taken away from us, many of us would be at a loss.

Earlier this month, social media platform Twitter alerted a number of its users to the fact that their accounts may have been hacked into by something, or someone, known as a “state-sponsored actor.” While a warning of this kind is certainly not unprecedented – for some time now, both Facebook and Google have also been contacting any of their users who they think may have been targeted – it suggests that attacks of this type are becoming more widespread.

For many business owners who have dabbled in social media, they may think their efforts have been in vain and growing a large social media presence is impossible. They may go as far to believe that social media simply doesn’t work, especially when you don’t have an exciting brand like Nike or Google.