As the senior vice president for global communications at the clothing company Donna Karan, Aliza Licht often found herself dispensing advice to young professionals. She shared much of her expertise over Twitter, using the hashtag “#PR101,” and she soon realized her tips were resonating beyond the media relations community.

“People would tweet back, ‘That’s #life101, not just PR, and I realized they were right,” she says. Her followers started applying her tips to their lives and then reporting back the results. “If I gave out interview advice, they’d say, ‘I got the job,’ and it was very gratifying paying forward what I knew,” she says.

Before long, a book editor contacted her and suggested she turn her advice into a book. That book, “Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It In Your Career. Rock Social Media,” hits shelves this week.

The college students she sees making mistakes, from the start of the job hunt, were her primary motivators, she says. “I thought too many people were coming into interviewing and doing so much wrong,” she says. As she wrote the social media and personal branding chapters of the book, she quickly realized the advice applied to people of all ages.

Anyone in the business world needs a LinkedIn profile, she says, and Twitter can also be useful for people who want to connect and share ideas. A speech therapist she knows, for example, started using Twitter to share a word of the day, and found she enjoyed connecting with others in that way.

Licht says she finds Twitter to be a useful way to stay in touch with key leaders in her field without constantly sending them unnecessary emails. “I have benefited immensely from making stronger connections in my industry — people who I wouldn’t necessarily have sent an email to on a daily basis, but I can touch base with them casually on Twitter,” Licht says. “[Twitter is] a subtle way to remind people that you’re there.”

She also suggests using various social media platforms to showcase your strengths and passions. “Your social media presence is a curation of what you want to be. You can say, ‘This is how I want to viewed, this is what I stand for, these are the kinds of things I like to talk about.’ You build a reputation based on the repetition of ideas,” Licht says. She points out that much of her career was formed behind the scenes, before she built a strong social media presence and people started to get to know who she was.

Still, she says many young people in particular are making mistakes, both on social media and off. Here are four more tips from Licht on how to get ahead today:

1. Use a more formal tone in emails.

When Licht was looking for a new assistant using social media, she received many emails from candidates that were written in a tone that belongs on Twitter, not a job application. They would often start with the word, “Hey,” she says — an unprofessional way to address a potential new boss who you’re trying to impress. “You just have to mind your manners and use more formal communication,” she says, a tip she notes is especially true when speaking with people from other countries.

2. Remember to follow up.

“A lot of people don’t recognize the importance of not just networking but really taking advantage when someone offers to introduce you to someone,” Licht says. “People who are gracious enough to connect you, those relationships should really be cherished, and you need to make a nice impression on the new person out of respect for the person who connected you.” She adds that she’s always surprised when she offers her email address to someone over social media and then never receives a follow-up note to continue the conversation.

3. Use social media in a way that feels natural.

Whether you want to land a new job, new clients or new investors, your social media accounts should reflect that — and it should feel fun. Licht doesn’t post on Instagram every day because she doesn’t have content to post everyday, and she refuses to feel pressured to post on a schedule when it doesn’t feel natural. “My mantra has always been, ‘I don’t post out of obligation. I just post if I feel moved to post.’ You don’t want to do it just to do it,” she adds.

4. Embrace your chosen field.

Whatever world you want to excel in, whether it’s fashion or accounting, use social media to get to know the key players in your field. “Follow all of the people and companies that relate to your business,” Licht says. The online world can feel large and overwhelming, she adds, so you have to choose the niche you want to keep up with.

The best part, she adds, is that it’s easy to experiment and try different techniques without too much risk. “It’s the biggest cocktail party in the world,” she says.

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Power Tips for Millennials to Get Ahead originally appeared on usnews.com