The plethora of online social media outlets sure makes it easy to toot your horn these days.
You’ve seen the tweets (I’ve likely been guilty of doing this at some point) – “Just got off a quick call with Richard Branson, he said he loved my book” or “Feeling humbled to be included on this list of the top 1000 accounting bloggers.”
The thing is, even though there will always be people that are impressed by your self-promotional messages, an even greater number of people will be turned off.
But what’s a person to do – I mean you want to get the word out, right?
One of the most effective ways to promote yourself is to promote others.
I’ve used this tactic consistently and authentically for years. Let me start with authentically. In no way am I suggesting this as a corny, slimy way to gain exposure. This is an intentional practice, done in the spirit of sharing and referring, that just happens to pay dividends.
The idea behind reverse self-promotion is that you point out the success of other, give public testament to a great product or service, or share the promotional efforts of members of your networks as much as you share your own successes and offers.
Write a blog post reviewing a great product and then @ mention the tool provider in your tweet – here’s an example
Pick up on the promotional efforts of members of your network and share them
free ebook- LinkedIn 25 Secrets that Show Salespeople how to Leverage the World’s Largest Professional Network – http://t.co/btHG7nSAQF
— John Jantsch (@ducttape) June 2, 2015
Thank people whose content you dig or whose webinar you attended
Thanks Andrea Sodergren Vahl for stopping by to drop some Facebook ad knowledge on the Duct Tape Marketing Network today.
Posted by Duct Tape Marketing Consultant
Write an unsolicited testimonial and send it to a company that makes a tool you love – here’s an example
Create content, such as an eBook, and offer it to a blogger or site you love and let them cobrand it (or vice versa) – here’s an example
There are so many reasons that promoting others makes sense.
- It’s a good thing to do
- It makes you feel good
- It activates the law of reciprocity
- It creates influence and authority
- It reins in blatant self-promotion
- It makes sharing easier
While I am advocating this approach as a standing marketing tactic – I can’t state this enough – if your efforts along these lines are insincere and only driven by the hope that you’ll get something the impact will be crippled.
Look for ways to promote others as full 50% of your social network activity and you will find your own exposure and opportunities growing at a rate unmatched by any other practice.
