(And, when I say non self-promotional, I mean for yourself, your company and/or your client.)

Think about it: In traditional, one-way marketing communications, companies showcase the features and benefits they offer. Tell you how great they are — or have others to do it via paid or unpaid testimonials. News releases are one-way showcasing company news, a new application or a new product.

No matter how subtly it’s done, traditional advertising, direct mail, media relations, and other marketing communications is chest-beating.

But in social media marketing (using social media as part of an organization’s marketing efforts), it’s not about you or your company or you client. Look at the negative out-cry over Matt Bacak’s self-promotional news release in December 2008.

In fact, “expert” is a dirty, four-letter word. A few weeks ago, Damian Rintelmann seemed a bit uncomfortable when he thought I called him an expert on Twitter. (I wasn’t clear that, that term didn’t come from me — it came from an ID of him as part of TV coverage from Social Media Breakfast-Toledo #1.)

Social media marketing is not about broadcasting your wares.

Social media marketing is about discreetly, subtly showing value to people who may be interested in your products and/or services. How do you show value? I blogged about it before, but let me summarize it here to save you a click:

  • Connecting: Businesses and organizations need to seek out and find common ground with their marketplace. They need to find out how THEY CAN HELP THEM.
  • Contributing: Connecting ultimately means businesses are contributing value to their audience members’ lives — personal and/or professional, online and/or offline. Once, and as contributing is done on a regular basis, then a sort of community forms.
  • Communities: The more companies connect with their target audience, and provide valued contributions, communities will form around their social media tools and activities.

Social media marketing is about developing a connection with your marketplace so, when community members want to buy, you are top of mind and they will (hopefully) give you serious consideration — and your sales people a chance to sell.

Yes, there is some self-promotion in social media marketing, but if you disclose it and keep it to a very minimal, you’ll get some slack from your community for it.

Because, it isn’t about you.

-Mike