Ask any savvy marketer or successful entrepreneur what it takes to distinguish yourself from the pack, and you’ll get an earful of responses. Talk to Peter Shankman, CEO of Help a Reporter Out, (HARO), and he’ll tell you that self promotion starts with helping others. Shankman, who has been front and center in the social networking and social media space, has successfully created a demand for his number one brand – Peter Shankman – but he didn’t get to that place by being a shameless self-promoter.
At the most recent June AMA luncheon, Shankman’s presentation “How Self Promotion Will Save the World” centered on the idea that self promotion is getting what you want by giving everyone else what they want. Shankman, who relies heavily on connecting with his followers on HARO, Twitter, and Facebook, said his primary focus has been to give people stuff to talk about and share with others – whether it is an undiscovered Pedigree commercial that makes your heart smile or HARO his free online resource for journalists and potential sources.
Shankman’s strategies can easily be applied to individual promotion, brand launches, or overall company perception in the marketplace. It begins with creating value to the end-user by sharing relevant and timely information with your audience and disseminating that information to members using the right medium. And, of course, it starts with helping people out.
Shankman’s Quick Rules on Self Promotion:
- Transparency
- Relevance
- Brevity
- Top of Mind Presence
How do you know if you’re a successful self-promoter?
Look at the type of engagement you have on your social media network. Are people responding to your posts on Facebook? Are people responding and contributing to discussions? Are you losing or gaining Facebook friends?
You made some recent posts on Twitter – have you gained more followers? Are they retweeting what you have to say?
Everything you do can increase or decrease your brand.
Find interesting and positives things to say. Limit the number of things you tweet that start with the word “I”. Make sure you’re asking your audience how it wants to receive its information. If not, people will go elsewhere.
And if you don’t believe in what you do – don’t do it. Interestingly, Shankman, like several other social network gurus started off with the simple idea of helping other people to connect and so far his efforts have created a successful company and well-known brand for himself.
Tell us what you think.
What do you think about Peter Shankman and his philosophy on self promotion? Who (or what companies) do you think is “doing it right” in regards to social media and networking?
Katie Lombardi is a Market Director for the American Heart Association and specializes in account management, communications, and strategic marketing. She can be reached at lombardi.katie@gmail.com
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