Self promotion is an essential part of everyone's life these days. Regardless of how you earn a living, self promotion will be part of that equation. Yet most people would rather pull their hair out, jump off a bridge, or run a gazillion miles in the other direction than promote themselves.
I get it.
I'm as averse to self promotion as the next person despite the fact that I've been podcasting for nine years. I have a robust blog I've been building for twelve. I spend a percentage of each day on Linked In and Instagram writing about topics that matter. I've written five books. I have a new one coming out at the end of this month called The Far Unlit Unknown which I’ve begun to promote.
Despite my impressive resume, I'm as guilty as everyone else of shying away from tooting my own horn. It's difficult to tell people, Hey! This is what I'm about. This is what I do.
For years, I have relied on the content I create as a way of building up my brand and showcasing why working with me makes sense. I'm not alone. Content creation is the name of the game these days for everyone. I build strategic content to showcase my character, my leadership skills, my teaching skills, my writing skills, my speaking skills, my amazing workshops and programs that actually get a desired result.
What I haven't done is come right out and advocate for myself in an obvious way.
This is who I am. This is why it matters. This is why you should care.
The why you should care piece is essential in self promotion. Yes, self promotion by its nature requires us to talk about ourselves. But without a reason to care -- what I call the "so what?" clause -- might as well post selfies all day long. All content creators need to ask before they hit publish, so what?
- What is the point of this content?
- Is it to make ourselves feel better?
- Is it because we want to actually teach something valuable?
- Is it because we have this awesome sale coming up that people do not want to miss?
- Is it about a topic like self promotion that a lot of people think about but don't know where to begin?
Self promotion is paradoxically not about us at all. It's about who we want to serve.
I recently wrote a self promotion piece to share with my LinkedIn audience. It's an announcement with more substance than an every day post. I've been studying people who do self promotion well, following their lead as I test my own content. What I wrote here mirrors what I've learned.
We don't learn self promotion in school. There's no Self Promotion 101 or a teacher that helps you get good at articulating the value you bring to the table. Self promotion is something we have to learn on our own. We can learn from social media, pinpoint those folks who do self promotion well. Read books on the subject. Enroll in a course. Hire a coach. Then put ourselves out there.
Yup, it comes down to that.
It comes down to creating the self promotional content and posting it.
No way around it.
If your goals are to grow your audience, increase visibility, play bigger, you will have to practice self promotion.
I recommend starting small. Dipping your toe in the pool. Pay attention to what happens. Keep studying what others do. Adopt what feels right for you and your brand. Ignore the rest.
The social media soup has become polluted with nonsense. Yet, these are the platforms we currently have in the online space where billions gather each day. LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok. Pick one, at most two, and concentrate your energy there. Trying to cover all the social media bases at once becomes exhausting fast.
Self promotion is a long game. Those who learn how to pace themselves will see results that feel right. At the end of the day, if we are not our own advocates, if we don't talk about what we can do for others, how we serve, how we solve problems, how we make life better... no one's gonna know about us and our amazingness.
We are here for a short time. Best to let others know.
