You’re Promoting Yourself on Social Media the Wrong Way
How do you promote yourself on social media without sounding unbearable, arrogant, or needy? The question was asked to me recently, and I did not immediately receive an answer. Frankly, I myself often wondered: what is the best way to promote your work?
Self-promotion is about making yourself known so that others recognize your success and offer recognition for your work. (The focus here is on individual self-promotion, not social media marketing strategies or which platforms are the best.) There are many ways to do this, and you’ve probably felt some emotional reactions to them.
Humble boasting is always transparent
Humble boasting is a self-deprecating statement meant to emphasize something to be proud of, such as: “I just got asked to speak at the annual conference. I can’t believe it either!” or “I’m so tired of being the one my boss goes to for presentations. It’s like I’m the only one on the team who can do it.” They are meant to feign modesty, but the reality is that modest boasting is rarely as subtle as we would like to think. You won’t be surprised to learn that modest boasting doesn’t work and scares people away .
Sincere boasting doesn’t work either.
How about an honest, well-meaning effort to let people know who you are and what you do, so that others respect or admire your work? It works? The short answer is “No, probably not,” and that even with good intentions, people may find you less likeable for doing this. For example, these researchers asked participants in their study to create social media profiles, and half of them were asked to share five things about themselves, while the other group was told to do the same plus “do it in a way that people like you.” “. More boastful profiles elicited worse responses. They found that “more active self-promotion did not change others’ perceptions of success or their interest in meeting self-promotion, but decreased others’ liking for them and increased others’ perception of them as braggarts.”
Self-promotion is different from influence
The bottom line is that self-promotion will not make people like you, see you as hardworking and successful, or gain respect. It can actually do the opposite and make people dislike you.
Ultimately, we’re talking about influence here: getting people to think, feel, or do what we want them to think, feel, or do. (This is not and is different from manipulation, which involves deceiving people.) Like it or not, influence is an important skill in our careers: we need to be able to influence others to support our ideas or decide what we the best. man for work. When we go to social media to promote ourselves, we are really trying to influence others to see us in a positive light.
Focus on your audience, not yourself
I spoke with Matt Kohut, managing partner of KNP Communications and co-author of Persuasive People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Powerful . “Pay special attention to the ratio of audience-focused posts to self-focused posts,” he told Lifehacker. “People know the difference.” This means spend more time posting about what your audience finds meaningful or helpful, and post about them instead of you. Think about what is important to your audience and share information, connect people and learn from what they think is important. As a result, people are more likely to see you as humble, resourceful, and sincere.
“People want to know that we are competent (able to do something) and benevolent (we understand their problems, interests and emotions),” says Kohut. This approach achieves both.
Even though you know that self-promotion will most likely not get you the recognition you hope for, you may still be wondering, “Do I not deserve recognition for my hard work and results?” And, of course, all of us. But this is where our friends, family, and trusted colleagues come into play. These are the people who are most likely to support us, share our success and support us to keep moving forward. Just don’t overdo it with them or they’ll end up feeling alienated too.
Most importantly, be sure to ask others how they are doing so you can cheer them up. Wouldn’t that be an interesting twist? Social media platforms are filled with people promoting and supporting each other.