How to promote yourself on social media

Back in the day, self-promotion on social media used to be simple. Just weave a good story with some high-quality pics or a fun video—and boom! Your page would virtually explode. Now, to win friends and influence people, you need more. But what, exactly, does more entail? That’s the million-dollar question.

With so many people and methods for getting attention online, you need to see what works for you (and your followers) and what doesn’t. But unless you have a consultant to guide you with sage advice, you’ll have to take a trial-and-error approach.

While there are literally thousands, if not millions, of ways to aim the social spotlight in your direction, there are some tips for how to promote yourself online that rise above. Let’s take a look at how to get started:

Get to know yourself.

Real talk for a minute: If you want to gain an audience, for, say, creating your DIY skincare line, taking incredible photos, or writing thought-provoking pieces on the state of politics in your city, state or country—you have to actually have the ability to do those things.

If you’ve only ever made one batch of body butter, your photos are just marginally OK, or you’re prone to spouting opinions without any actual information to back them up, why should anyone bother to pay attention to anything you’re doing or saying? So, before you decide what you want to gain attention for—take an inventory of the things you’re good at and knowledgeable about, figure out where your strengths lie, and then refine them until they’re ready to share with the world.

Be vulnerable.

Sure, everyone shows the highlight reels of their life and their work on social media, and that’s OK. But don’t be afraid to be who you really are. If you’re a potter, definitely show your finished pieces, but also show your process, your work in progress and your failures. If you’re a musician, post a video of you working on a song, hitting a sour note, riffing with your friends or playing around with a new style. Show people who you are and they’ll respond to your humanity, including your quirks and foibles.

Go everywhere (or not).

Some say that when it comes to self-promotion on social media, you need to go big. Really big. And for that, you need to go everywhere. Set up accounts on every platform and cast a wide net with your content. The problem with this approach, though, is that it’s a lot of work. And if you’re just trying to climb the social media ladder as an individual or even as a small business, you probably don’t have the time or the staff to “be everywhere” and tailor your messaging for every platform.

Instead, think about starting small with one or two platforms that play to your strengths. If you take great pics, head to Instagram. If video is your thing, start posting on TikTok or YouTube. You can always expand as you learn what works for your audiences and your talents—and what doesn’t. Sure, it might mean that your star won’t rise quite as quickly, but it’ll allow you to grow your audience while you learn more about them.

Be a follower.

You won’t necessarily gain followers by being a follower, but people, companies and organizations sometimes take a look at their followers’ and commenters’ accounts—and if they like what they see—they just might share your content, comment on it or follow you back.

If you do make comments to people or organizations you follow, just make sure they’re supportive and generally positive. Commenting just to comment or being self-promotional when it’s not called for isn’t helpful to them, to you or anyone else.

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Be there, always.

Like your workout, you’re less likely to get results if you’re inconsistent with your social media posts or just “phone it in” when you feel like it. Ideally, you’d post high-quality content once or twice a day. If you can’t commit to that, at least try to post something every other day. Using pre-made social media templates, like content calendars, image templates and analytics reports, can help you write and track your social media posts and images.

Be interactive.

On social media, and in real life, people want to be heard. So, if someone sends you a question or comments on your post, respond. Give them an answer, “heart” their comment or somehow acknowledge that you’ve seen them. If you get a question you can’t answer, tell them you’ll get back to them with the answer—and do it. If you see a question on someone else’s post that you can answer, do it. Just make sure your answer is correct.

There really is no shortage of ways to promote yourself on social media. But if you’re just starting out or you need to rethink your approach, these tips can help you get comfortable with the process, get to know your audience and build an online community. After doing that, you can add some more advanced tactics based on what you’ve learned, what you need, and where you want to go.