Shameless Self-Promotion is … Awesome!

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:00 AM PDT

Remember my post on rockstars awhile back? I’m taking that post a bit further, and I'm going to talk about … self promotion.

I have been called a shameless self-promoter before. Interestingly enough, I'd either agree or disagree with that label, depending on your definition of self promotion:

I DON’T promote ME for ME’s sake. I don’t generally push myself on anyone, brag about myself, put others down while building myself up, etc.
I DO push my small business. I brand most of my presentations/blog posts/books/articles/videos as davidleeking.com – I use my full name as my brand for my consulting/speaking/writing business. And I DO promote that.

I’ll go so far as to say this – I think every single one of us has done a bit of self-promotion. You DO have a job, don’t you? You most likely had to sell yourself during the interview. You probably talked about yourself (in the best possible light), you actively discussed your accomplishments, and in general, probably made sure everyone knew that you were, in fact, the best one for the job.

Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. In fact, I think more of us need to figure out how to do it well (myself included). Here's why – if we don't share why we, as librarians, are awesome … who will?

As Stephen Abram says (in the comments to my first Rockstar post), "Few can name staff at the big competitors like Google etc. beyond the rockstar founders/inventors/investors, because the staff are irrelevant to the site experience. That should never be the case in libraries … If we’re about relationships, then a true relationship knows the name of the person they want to deal with – not just an anonymous professional behind a desk wearing a badge that says ‘librarian’ or generic virtual reference identity [emphasis added]."

You simply have to put a name and a face to the library. Think of it as giving a face to your stuff and your services if you need to. But people relate to a face. People want to FUND a face.

So – where to start? Here are some self-promotion “starter” tips:

Be confident in what you're promoting. Never feel bad about promoting content that deserves attention. With all the crap that exists on the Web, if you've created a wonderful resource for your niche, you should be excited to share it because it may help someone else. from Small Business Trends.
Use your voice. Don't alter your voice to fit in with what you think people expect of you, and certainly don't change your style in an effort to make yourself popular or appear to be an expert. By all means think about your audience, but don't fall into the trap of trying to please them all. from bnet.
Share. Lots. Social media is also about sharing information – tons of it. And that, perhaps, is the best way to promote what you know and what you can do. If you want to be recognized as a leader in your field, you need to share what you know. You should use your social media accounts—Twitter, Facebook and blogs—to share information. from kikolani.com.
Focus. Focus on your strengths, and share those. Do those, if you can, at your job. If you start a blog, focus it too. Don’t write about your job, your favorite projects, your cat, and your favorite recipe. Instead, narrow it down to … your professional strengths (or whatever it is you’re really interested in).
Provide a service to your community. And put your name on it, so your community knows where to find you, should they want more.
Circulate yourself. Leave your building, and start meeting people in your community. Find out how you can serve the hospital across the street (we actually have one of those).