No matter what you call them, be it social media marketing, social networking or microblogging, they are tools for publicity that you can’t go without nowadays.

As a makerter, you will be known as old school if you declare that you don’t need Twitter or Facebook in any of your campaign. As a blogger, you are inadvertently a technopreneur and as such, engaging in social networking is a necessary evil. However, there are different strategies when you communicate in different Social Medias.

In this post, I will try to explain some general strategies on how to micro-blog in Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. You just have to figure out the details yourself though.

Twitter

In general, the game is to express your message within the scope of 140 characters. You can choose to tweet using the customize Twitter site or you could resort to using Twitter desktop like Tweetdeck, Seeismic or Hootsuite.

Until now, the majorities of people engaging in Twitter are trying to garner as many followers as possible. Somehow, the number of followers displayed under your profile speaks volume of your ‘influence’ in the Tweetzone. ‘Superstars’ like Guy Kawasaki for example has in excess of 223,000 followers (and following 246,000).

Ask yourself, are these followers relevant? The majorities of Tweeterers would follow you back either out of courtesy or out of motives best known only to themselves.

In Twitter, its not easy to engage your ‘friends’ personally especially if you are a newbie. The real successful Tweeterers are famous celebrities like Lady Gaga, Arnold Shwarzenegger, and Justin Bieber. They have developed a cult following and trust me, they would be famous with or without Tweeter.

I’m not saying that you should forget about using Twitter. These are the few pointers that you can use when you want to use tweets to help your blog or website.

1. Select the personalities whom you think are the most relevant to your subject of interest. Photography perhaps. Take your time and select 3 or 4 person each week who are really ‘influential’ so to speak and engage them.

2. Stop following too many people all at once. Too many tweets coming from them would drown your message in no time! It’s actually happening to me now and I’m thinking of revamping my whole portfolio.

3. You want your tweets to be retweeted, not getting thousands of followers. If you can get 100 genuine Tweet accomplice who would retweet your message, you are hitting the bull’s eye.

4. Don’t spam

Facebook

We humans are highly adaptable creature. The moment we switch to a new environment, we tend to act and speak differently.

Facebook is very much a different creature from Twitter. You don’t post one line buzz in Facebook and expect them to amplify your message. You gauge your status here through the response you get when you post a microblog.

Residents in Facebook are more concern about genuine relationship. You start by engaging your live friends and slowly branching out into their acquaintance.

These are the tips to interact successfully in Facebook:

1. Be prepared to spend more time in Facebook as compared to Twitter.

2. Engage your friends personally as what you would have done in your office. Set up an occasional outing to cinemas or restaurants with your friends using the interface.

3. Join them in their area of interest, for example playing Farmville! (Unfortunately, yours truly is never an avid gamer)

4. Set up a fan page for your website or blog. Start by introducing the page to your closest friends.

5. Engage your audience continuously in the fan page and yes, continue to play Farmville.

6. Don’t spam!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn caters to the professionals. When you use this Social Media, you have to put on a different hat.

If you want people to take you seriously, forget about small talks and gossips. Leave the informalities to Facebook. Instead of asking your followers to meet in your neighbourhood’s cafeteria, you ask your connections to meet in conferences and seminars.

In other words, LinkedIn would give you rapid traffic results if you are able to engage your audience in a professional manner. Here are the tips to promote your blog here:

1. Join groups that are relevant to your blog’s topic.

2. Observe and join in discussions and observe what makes the audience tick.

3. Be professional and polite when engaging in discussions. You will come across smart alecs and self-professed experts who would not hesitate to defend their egos at the slightest brush. Remember, you are there to connect, not to create adversary.

4. Be generous with your tips and forget about redirecting your discussions to your blog’s link all the time. Give your group members great value in all your discussions.

5. Terms like ‘make big money’ turn people off, be it LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. Nobody likes jerks who only preach on monetary subjects.