It seems that many people who run businesses are curious about social media but are reluctant to participate in it themselves. They want their staff to do it, or outsource all the tasks to a specialist company. Obviously this is a sensible option if you run a sizable operation. But if you are, say, a sole trader keen to build your business then it's really important to do it all yourself, in my opinion.

It's understandable that the thought of this is daunting to so many people. They believe that it will be difficult to learn and take too much time. But really, it's so easy once you get into it. And while you do have to do some work, you don't have to spend several hours a day at it. You just have to be persistent, participating regularly. And the time you spend on it tends to fly, since the activity is often so enjoyable.

When you get down to it, social media is not so much work as recreation. It's just socializing online with people who share your interests, "shooting the breeze".

While ultimately your participation may have commercial goals, it's mainly about you as a person. Just as it's great for demonstrating that you know a lot about your field, it's also a way of showing your good character. That's why it's really important to have a decent photo of yourself in your social media profiles. Everyone you interact with will associate this with your activity which will definitely help make you professionally attractive to them.

The process is akin to what politicians do in building a public profile and gaining trust. While they are part of a team (unless they are independents) and must toe the party line, they must still be known by the electorate as living, breathing, unique individuals. They have to get out there and get people to warm to them personally to some degree. Otherwise they won't get elected. That's why they're always on the lookout for mainstream media coverage and are keen to present themselves as well as possible every time they do get it.

Given this, it's no surprise that pollies are well represented and very active on sites like Twitter and Facebook. They've seen the benefits of participation in social media and have embraced it wholeheartedly. While presidents, prime ministers and opposition leaders might be too busy to personally write all their updates and tweets, they'll still do quite a few of them. And most ministers and senators do control their own accounts completely. These are very busy people, remember. So if they don't outsource their social media work, surely those in business can do the same.

One thing that everyone learns when they start blogging is how much the search engines love continually updated content. So the exhortation to frequently update your blog is repeated like a mantra in the blogosphere. And it's something that always stays in the back of your mind.

As well as this, it's clear that the more blog posts you put up there, the greater the odds that you'll draw traffic via "long tail" keyword searches. While each of your posts may only bring in a few hits every now and then on average, if you have lots of them up then they will still add up to a respectable number.

You also find that if you frequently update your blog you are more likely to get and keep regular readers. Just as you are in the habit of writing new posts, they get into the habit of returning to see what you've come up with. (They tend to comment more often, too. And which blogger doesn't want those? They are proof that you're making an impact, after all.)

But you do have to keep up the same posting rate to retain those regulars. If you have a break for a couple of weeks you may find that many of them have just given up and don't come back even when you resume at the same pace later on. So you can feel a great deal of pressure not to slow down for fear of this happening.

If you have a money making blog which is successful, then obviously the more frequently you post, the more profitable it is. That's another reason to keep up a cracking pace.

These forces, particularly in combination, can ultimately be a bad thing for blog quality. If they're your main reasons for posting, as opposed to just wanting to share unique and interesting information, then you're "putting the cart before the horse".

That's why it is better to not worry too much about how often you update your blog. You should really only write a post when you've got something interesting and thoughtful to say. (Of course if you only feel inspired once every three months, then maybe blogging isn't for you. At that pace it will take you years to draw any traffic!)

But if you can add good content weekly that will still be worth it. And you can ensure that those ideas will come quicker if you are constantly absorbing information. So, you should always be reading other blogs in your niche. Doing this is a nice break from writing, anyway.