I see the definition of self promotion is:
Self promotion: the action of promoting or publicising oneself, especially in a FORCEFUL way. Example: “she’s guilty of criminally bad taste and shameless self-promotion”
That may be a particularly British way of thinking of it: that mentioning your skills and achievements is somehow annoying to other people. It depends how you do it, of course.
I do some work that is subject to a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t talk about it. In a similar way, when I shoot movies, the producers very much want to manage how the film is presented, ie when and where the details come out. They don’t want snaps of my costume, the other actors or the set appearing on social media before they’re ready. They want to manage the teasers, the trailers and the triumphant opening night of the movie! It’s a whole art – building the public’s interest and intrigue, to get them to WANT to see the film.
It’s slightly disappointing when I work on really interesting projects but then I can’t tell everyone how great I was in them! Because we freelancers are always looking for the next job, and need to let potential clients know what we can do. Our accomplishments, expertise, and contributions increase our visibility and credibility. If I can let people know I worked on x project, they can see I’d be suitable for y project.
But of course, I can sometimes verbally discuss general details with a potential client, so long as I don’t post specifics on social media. It just doesn’t come naturally to me, as a communicator, to NOT talk about the really interesting, creative and stimulating things I have done. But I’ll cope, I’m sure.
My point is:
…and this is my point: some projects are confidential – and have to stay that way. And, although I love self promotion (in a non-annoying way), for these types of jobs, my discretion will GET me more work, not less.
