There is a thoughtful blog on making the best use of social media for marketing on LinkedIn’s new ‘thought leaders’ pages from Tim O’Reilly, founder of the publishing and event company O’Reilly. The key nugget, I think, is his belief in the value of amplifying the voices of others, particularly in a community where you share common interests, rather than simply shouting about yourself or trying to get others to tout your services:
In short, the secret of promotion in the age of social media isn’t to promote yourself. It’s to promote others. Success comes when your success depends on the success of your customers, your suppliers, your end-users, and when you spend more of your time thinking about them than about yourself.
It’s an inspiring perspective, and it fits well with age-old practices of successful human networking through helping others to make connections. How could you make use of this principle in the way you use LinkedIn (for example how you take part in LinkedIn Groups) and your other social media activities?
