As you already know, social media is prevalent in our work and professional lives. And it is here to stay. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are powerful. They present platforms in which to express yourself in your own voice.

We need to separate personal use of social media from professional. In a business context someone once said, “You wear sweats when you are using Twitter, a shirt and khakis for Facebook, and a business suit for LinkedIn.” This captures the essence of these three very different applications very well.

Write so you get noticed. Try to focus on getting a visitor to click on a link or to look at something you have shared or liked or to retweet. You can get someone’s attention by being more creative with your tweets or updates. For example, instead of tweeting, “Here is a list of writing tips for using social media”, create engagement and excitement by writing, “Do you want some useful tips on improving your writing for social media? Well, click on this link.”

Is there a recommended schedule for when to update your site or to tweet? Some say to tweet three or four times a day, or at least multiple times for three days a week.  One recommendation for Facebook is to post one entry daily. Others say to keep making changes on LinkedIn on a regular basis, constantly updating your profile with new achievements and adding new connections. The reason for making changes and tweeting regularly is so that your entrees will appear in readers’s or followers’s news or RSS feeds on a number of occasions. Bottom line: you want to be more noticeable. On Twitter this is especially true if the person who is following you is also following a large number of others. Your message can then become viral.

One recommendation that seems to work is to tweet or make changes on Wednesday mornings, the peak time people check. Mondays are less favorable because people are just starting the week and catching up on work from the preceding week.

The best rule is to be consistent. Update on a regular basis. And keep your Facebook posts to between 100 and 300 characters.  Of course you have the 140 character limit on Twitter. A LinkedIn update can be even shorter, depending on the news you want to share. And remember that you are not writing a monologue; it is an engaging conversation.

Social media is less formal than other forms of writing. So keep it fun and interesting. Avoid writing an advertisement for yourself or your business. Don’t hard sell. This puts people off from interacting with you. Potential customers and clients want to take the time to talk and engage with a brand that seeks the company of others, rather than abruptly trying to push their products or services onto them.

And finally, demonstrate how well you write. Although it is a less formal avenue for marketing than writing a white paper or brochure, show the quality of your writing, Review what you have written before you put it up. Check for grammar, punctuation or spelling mistakes.

Social media is an integral part of online marketing. So implement these tips immediately. One thing is for sure: you will see the results almost instantaneously. Social media is about immediacy and engagement.