A Twitter conversation leads to a job offer. A teacher posts a Facebook photo of her with alcohol, and is forced to resign.

It shouldn't be a surprise that events like these are becoming fairly frequent occurrences with social media being so central in nearly everyone's life. But it's imperative for employers to understand how people's online profiles can affect your company, lead you into a sticky legal battle, or help you manage your employees. Here are three considerations:

1) Outgoing Social Media

When most people think of using social media in the hiring process, they think about researching applicants. But before that even begins, you can use social media to help the right people find you.

By having company accounts on popular sites, you can control what information gets pushed out publicly as part of your marketing and recruitment. Choosing to focus on the topics that are important to your company lets you draw in people who are similarly interested. Additionally, any potential applicants can research your social media posts to get a sense for whether they're a good fit for your company culture and engage you directly.

2) Do Your Legal Research

Sites like Google+, Twitter, and Facebook have slightly different privacy policies. But a general rule is if your job applicants have their profiles available to view without special authorization from them, then, yes, you may research their social media accounts. It can be an effective way to learn whether they'd be successful employees. For example, an applicant for a technical writing position who keeps a blog that's thoughtful and exceedingly well written might stand out more beyond her submitted resume.

And you won't be alone. According to a recent survey, 39% of employers use social media to pre-screen job candidates, and even more do so following in-person interviews. But be careful when searching personal, although public, accounts. You might learn of an applicant's "protected characteristics" like race, age, or disability. You cannot legally disregard a candidate based on their protected characteristics at any stage of the hiring process.

In most cases, applicants will never know whether they were rejected for legitimate reasons or for illegal judgments based on gender or national origin, for instance. But many companies are finding that they feel more secure with employment practices liability insurance (EPLI). EPLI offers protection for a variety of complicated employment issues that could become legal problems, including sexual harassment claims as well as other areas that could get conflated with social media like whistleblower claims, discrimination, or wrongful termination.

3) Establish a Social Media Policy

In addition to protecting your company in case of a legal battle for which you'd need EPLI coverage, we also recommend creating a standard social media policy for all employees. Many companies use social media not only to research applicants, but also to review current workers' online activity as related to their jobs. Employers might look for inappropriate activity during work hours, or even for damaging comments about the company. Establishing clear guidelines for what's appropriate online behavior ensures your employees know what's expected of them and the penalties for violating those policies. For example, a Georgia man was recently sacked for violating his employer's social media policy when he posted critical comments about the school district on Facebook.

Having an explicit social media policy will help avoid inappropriate behavior and also protect your company's claims if issues do arise. In the case of the Georgia bus driver, the district's social media policy and any EPLI they hold should help them in the lawsuit now that the ACLU is suing for wrongful termination.

When used appropriately, social media can be incredibly helpful to your business. It's a useful tool for marketing to your customers, and it's also valuable for finding and vetting ideal candidates for hiring--just be sure to treat your social media research, and the people who are the focus, with the same ethical and legal standards as any other employment process.

When you buy a car, you compare prices and factors like mileage, engine power, room for passengers, and whether it comes in a color you like. But hopefully you also consider how each car was ranked for safety. When it comes right down to it, walking away from an accident is more important than whether it's "got a Hemi" or comes in "cobalt blue."

The same goes for choosing the right insurance for your business. When you choose an insurer, you should compare prices and types of coverage, but you also definitely want to know that you'll get the protection you paid for.

While it's rare, some insurers do become insolvent - unable to pay the coverage they promised. When an insurer is insolvent, a regulator from the state takes over its assets, then tries to honor claims. But regulators have to prioritize, and sometimes claims just can't be covered as promised in the policy.

That's why insurer financial ratings are so important for making the most informed decision to cover your business. There are a number of third parties calculating insurer financial ratings, all using different methods and calculations. For an example, let's use one of the most-trusted: A.M. Best.

A.M. Best uses letter ratings, like A++ and B-. It also provides some odds along with those letters, to give the insured a quantitative idea of what each one means. One in 1,667 insurers with an A++ or A+ rating could fail to fulfill its promises; one in 500 A and A- insurers could; and so on. It goes all the way down to D, "poor," meaning there's a one in just 14 chance an insurer could fail to come up with the money a consumer was expecting. There's also E (under regulatory supervision), F (in liquidation), and S (rating suspended).

These ratings are odds, not guarantees. While an A++ insurer is much less likely to run into trouble than one with a D rating, there's always a chance something could go wrong. For example, AIG, the world's biggest business insurer, had superb ratings in August of 2008 - then almost went bankrupt that October. It looked secure, but, struck by the first wave of the Great Recession, it almost became that one in 1,667.

Although it's understandable to want only the best for your company, you don't need to limit yourself to only A+ and A++. Anything with a B+ or above is considered secure, and, with the odds for failure so low, going with an insurer with a B+ rating, and a lower premium and better-fitting coverage, could very well be the best choice for your company. For a huge multinational corporation whose annual claims might add up to many hundreds of millions of dollars, the risk of an overburdened insurer is higher than it would be for a small contractor with no chance of ever making claims above the low six figures. For that small contractor, a lower rating will do just fine.

Also, remember that ratings say nothing about premiums and coverage options. To go back to our car-buying analogy, choosing an insurer based solely on financial ratings could be like a family of three buying a minivan because it did a little better in crash tests. That family will be paying through the nose to fuel a giant vehicle they don't need.

The point of insurance is to make sure you're protected if the worst happens - so you don't want to have to worry about the worst happening to your insurer. We're happy to discuss carrier ratings relevant to your needs and coverage, and help you determine the best fit for your business.