Social Media Self-Promotion: Do it Right Designers

Social Media Self-Promotion: Do it Right Designers By Amber Hyde In the past 5 or so years the impact of social media has changed the world and the way we communicate. It is a platform that has reshaped how our ideas, thoughts, news, and relationships are formed. Individuals, businesses, and even large corporations can now become more engaged and build relationships with friends, customers and clients. Social media has also entered the advertising realm, making it a terrific way to promote businesses and personal projects at very little cost. The problem is businesses have become too self-promotional in social media and this can have a negative effect on a businesses image. To be appealing to your followers your page cannot be all about you and your success. Posts need to be about interesting topics, inspiring quotes, news stories, or fun events going on around town, even talking about the weather gets people interested in what you have to say. Design companies on the other hand have an advantage. They can self-promote with out becoming too self-promotional. This is what I mean: As a designer I have learned to utilize my skills for social media posts that engage followers, but also have an underlying self-promotional aspect! If I find a quote, or if it is a holiday, or even just asking a question, I have given myself a blank canvas to create an illustration that can accompany the post and also highlight design skills. This is not throwing our business in everyone’s faces, it is simply showcasing our design in an appealing “non-business” related manner, while allowing us to display our skillset without saying “hey check out our designs”.  This is a great way to promote design work while still adhering to the minimal self-promotion aspect of social media. Your followers will appreciate you more for being real and not shoving yourself down their throats. Designers and Business', what are your thoughts about self-promotion on social media? And are there any other ways that you have found that work for promoting your business without being too self-promotional?  Below are a few examples of what we have designed for our Facebook. Getting our design skills out there through engaging content.