Social Marketing Sites and Self-Promotion
Let’s keep this one short and sweet. 
The object of marketing is to sell a product, service or idea. The item you are “selling” may be for monetary gain or other reasons. This is why I love comments on Social Marketing sites which put self-promotion in a bad light. To say someone is being self-promotional, in a social marketing site, is like saying “Go run for president, but don’t tell anyone”.
Ever since the early-to-mid 70s, I’ve been made aware of the often subtle nuances between the words “Blatant” and “Flagrant”. Around 1974 I first heard of the terms “Blatant Self-promotion” and “Flagrant Self-promotion” through a class I was taking at school. The Instructor used the terms to differentiate between the way of presenting yourself which was obvious (and perhaps annoying) and the way of presenting oneself that was obvious and offensive to others, usually due to the person knowingly promoting themselves when they know others are offended by such actions or find what they do as worthy of criticism..
Definition of Terms
Self-Promotion: According to Answers.com (htttp://www.answers.com) Self-promotion is defined as “Promotion, including advertising and publicity, of oneself effected by oneself:”
Blatant Self-Promotion: There really is no one commonly accepted definition for the term Blatant Self-promotion in the dictionary, however I went to Answers.com and pulled up the definition for the word Blatant. They define Blatant as “Totally or offensively conspicuous or obtrusive” or “Unpleasantly loud and noisy”. They also add the following usage note:
USAGE NOTE It is not surprising that blatant and flagrant are often confused, since the words have overlapping meanings. Both attribute conspicuousness and offensiveness to certain acts. Blatant emphasizes the failure to conceal the act. Flagrant, on the other hand, emphasizes the serious wrongdoing inherent in the offense. Certain contexts may admit either word depending on what is meant: a violation of human rights might be either blatant or flagrant. If it was committed with contempt for public scrutiny, it is blatant. If its barbarity was monstrous, it is flagrant. Blatant is sometimes used to mean simply “obvious,” as in the blatant danger of such an approach, but this use has not been established and is widely considered an error.
So, in short, Blatant Self-promotion is “Self-promotion which is conspicuous or obtrusive”. Sometimes this is called “Shameless Self-promotion”.
Flagrant Self-Promotion: There also is no real definition for Flagrant Self-Promotion in the dictionary, however I once again went to Answers.com and this time searched for the definition of the word Flagrant. They defined the word as meaning “Conspicuously bad, offensive, or reprehensible.”. This would make the term Flagrant Self-promotion to mean “Self-promotion which is done in a conspicuous and offensive or reprehensible manner”
Conclusion
Situations dictate circumstances and what necessarily applies in one case doesn’t apply in another.
Take for example if I go onto a current events message board and respond to a post which ends with “Come my site (or blog), it tells you all about this event”. That would be blatant self-promotion because the forum isn’t really set up for advertising people’s sites or blogs. Now it may be permissible to simply make a quote and add a link, but if it’s found out you are sourcing your own site… the admins may take a different view of the situation.
Now take the case of someone going to a forum about Social Marketing. They go in, answer a question or make a post and say “Go to my site, or blog, it will tell you much more than I posted here.” Would that still be Blatant self-promotion?” That depends on the reader and those who run the site to decide, but the reality is that in Social Marketing sites people who go there are either there to learn, teach or discuss. Many of those forums are not real boards, but forums, and some may even have posting limitation. It is far easier to write up something for your blog or site and refer that to people for your answer.
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Comment by Rocque
Wow are we going to have online court to decide who is naughty and who is nice when it comes to self promotion? I led the life of an artist one time and if you did not self promote you did not get your work in galleries or in beautiful homes. Whenever I went my portfolio was not far away. I wrote articles for magazines and entered every competition I could find to blatantly promote my art. If I was still persuing art for my living I would be promoting in on blogs and websites, too. If I was having my work displayed somewhere people would know about it.
The only way you gain credibility is to get out there and let people know you exist. I believe that applies to everything. Social sites are made because people want to be social. Instead of going out to be social (who has the time or money?) many of us sit at home being social on the internet. A common conversation is to share what you are interested in. The exchange of knowledge and where you can find more information is a natural line of conversation.
Some people just have more time to be social than others. Some have more tolerance.
I belive on every social site you have the ability to choose to add a friend or receive their communication. If you do not want to talk to them then say no, but do not label them a spammer. Once shunned enough they will usually moves on to the next site.
Comment by admin
Shhhhhh Rocque… the people who complain about self-promotion the most haven’t thought of having an online court trial over these things yet, they are still at the stage or whining and clicking that stupid Spam button. LoL
On the other hand, you might have something here. A trial would involve a Judge or panel of Judges, a prosecutor and a defense attorney, plus a jury of the accused’ peers before the spam button could be utilized. Oh it would only be another system that is abused in the end, people would find ways to manipulate it… but it’s still quite the idea when you think about it.
I was talking to someone the other day and I stated that the heart of anything that involved Marketing lies the selling of a product, service or idea. Selling does not necessarily mean that I give you something in exchange for something of equal or greater value. Originally social marketing was the selling of ideas in order to change behaviors for the purpose of improvement. Today it’s much more than that.
To me it seems people are as scared of the term “Self-Promotion” as they are of the word “Judging”. There are people out there who wants both to be a thing that if viewed as bad, but let’s face it… we judge things all the time. We’ll judge one product over another and We’ll judge people too. Just exactly why do people think we pick some people as friends or lovers and others we disregard with out so much as a try out to see how good they can be? We do such things by judging. Now it seems that some out there want to use the “Self-promotion” label as some sort of vile and evil thing as well.
I agree, Rocque, the only way to gain credibility is to get out there and show people what you got to offer and they will judge how you stack up against others and whether the things you offer merit you becoming well regarded. I think a lot of people miss the boat on that simple idea.
Good perspective, Rocque. Thanks for sharing.