If you\u2019re new to the world of social media self promotion then putting yourself out there can feel like an incredibly daunting task. What are the rules? How do you find success? Is it worth investing all your time and energy when there\u2019s no guarantee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social media has been an integral part of our culture for over a decade now but in many regards it\u2019s still something of a wild west. In this article, we\u2019d like to explore how you can use social media to your advantage, the common pitfalls to look out for, and why it\u2019s better to embrace a \u2018no rules, just guidelines\u2019 approach to putting yourself out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Self promotion – and marketing in general for that matter – has always been about finding the right strategy to get the right people to stop and pay attention. With social media you have more tools at your disposal and potential access to countless more people with a far lower upfront cost. The problem is that everyone else also has those tools, meaning that the competition is greater than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason we call this a wild west is that while there are some generally accepted strategies, you really can\u2019t afford to tie yourself to any one approach. If you want to be really successful with your self promotion, then you have to be willing to think creatively. You also have to accept one essential truth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That might sound like an extreme statement but it isn’t. Put simply, self promotion is just the process of getting the right people to look at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re not saying \u2018all marketing is good marketing\u2019 – although there is some truth to that phrase. What we are saying is that while social media can help the right people find out about you, first you have to cut through the noise and the only way to do that is by being memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you try to follow what someone else has done word for word, then you\u2019re probably not showing people anything they haven\u2019t seen before. In the online space, there are few things more powerful than originality so just checking the classic boxes won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When people think about social media self promotion, they often picture a person caught somewhere between being a workaholic and an influencer. The truth is that while posting a lot to your LinkedIn and sharing professional articles never hurts, there\u2019s always more than one way to stand out online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So instead of following the beaten track, try to think about what you do that sets you apart and how you can make your online presence really count. If you work smarter, not harder, then social media self promotion doesn\u2019t have to be a constant grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we wrap things up, let\u2019s take a moment to talk about platforms. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when first promoting yourself online is failing to understand your platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To understand a social media platform you have to understand the three components they\u2019re made up of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, self promotion on LinkedIn is generally quite transparent. This isn\u2019t a problem because it\u2019s understood that LinkedIn is a career-focused platform. To an extent, people are there to meet and get to know others in their professional space so it helps for that information to be up front and easy to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first glance, Facebook looks very similar to LinkedIn. They both take the same approach to form and presentation. The major difference is demographics. If you\u2019re looking for professional peers, you\u2019ll have a much harder time finding them here. If you\u2019re looking for potential customers for your new business then you\u2019re in luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Self promotion on Facebook generally lends itself quite well to small businesses with an online presence as much of the platform is focused around groups. People self-select into these groups based on a shared interest. Put simply, someone in a knitting group is a lot more likely to engage with your online, made-to-order knitting store than someone who\u2019s just coming across it in the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same basic principles apply to self promotion on twitter, instagram, or any other app. By understanding the platform, you\u2019ll have a far better understanding of how to get the right kind of attention from the right people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re new to the world of social media self promotion then putting yourself out there can feel like an incredibly daunting task. What are the rules? How do you find success?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mentoring-101"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n