@ChrisBrogan (ChrisBrogan.com) joined @MackCollier (MackCollier.com) for #BlogChat this evening to share tips for marketing and promoting your blog through social media and while it was focused toward blogging I think the tips universally apply to most any social media strategy.

The tweetstream was a bit crazy but as always Chris shared some well reasoned and practical advice. Here’s the best of what he said.

Question 1: How can we decide which social sites will help our blog? What’s the strategy?

• It depends on what you want from your blogging. Is it business or just attention? If it’s business then targeting helps.
• One tool to use to find where your customers are active is Flowtown.com. Stick in your prospects/customers email addresses and figure out where most folks spend their time. If you need to develop a list try starting with something like Alltop.com, find relevant topics and start commenting.
• One thing NOT to do is only use LinkedIn for business or Facebook only for fun.
• Once you find WHERE your marketplace is spend some time understanding how that environment acts. For instance Digg doesn’t like self-promotion, other sites don’t mind.
• If you are blogging for business its about knowing where you buyers hang out.
• Lastly, NEVER shove your updates all over the social networks. Make each environment its own beast. Be selective

Takeaway- Find where your people are active, learn the community expectations, and mix it up. A personal topic may be a conversation hook that leads to a new client or reader and you might find discover shared interests with existing business relationships.

Question 2: As far as being active on other sites any tips for how many we need?

• It’s not a number of networks we need it’s about finding how many is too many. 3-4 networks is usually a lot to manage.
• Remember the goal of using networks to enhance your blog is to thread your ideas into other like minded streams.
• The number 1 social network you’re neglecting: email marketing. 93% opt into a daily brand relationship via email.

Chris also reiterated a phrase I learned from him and preach often,

You live and die by your database. – @JeffPulver

Takeaway- Don’t overwhelm yourself with numerous networks. Cultivate don’t neglect. Prune if needed. Never forget about the reach of email and the importance of building a database of contacts & readers.

Question 3: You talk about outposts, What does that mean?

• Outposts are off-main-site places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, & Forums
• I recommend spending 50% of your social time on outposts, making relationships, prospecting, and building connections.
• Promote others 12:1 over yourself
• Outposts are about meeting people on neutral ground, where THEY are.
• Do good things elsewhere. Promote great causes on Facebook. Do TONS of not-promoting-you with no hope of reciprocity.

Ask yourself this: what’s the Goal of your blog?” Don’t lie Sales? Thought leadership? A channel? Media property?

Takeaway- It’s just like learning to “work” a room, If you want someone to be interested in you then show genuine interest in them. Doing good things is invaluable. A personal example, I would have never followed @TysonFoods then I found out how they use social media to promote their work with food banks and feeding the hungry. Instantly I’m moved from apathy to being a fan.

It was a great discussion and I appreciate @MackCollier for hosting the chat and of course @ChrisBrogan for sharing his thoughts. If you want to read the full stream see the #Blogchat transcript. Blogchat is held every Sunday night from 8-9CST.