One of my friends is participating in a karaoke competition during SXSW. He has to get votes in order to perform and he's been egging people on to vote for him via Facebook status updates relentlessly. I tried to get into this competition last year, but remember posting a link to it once and then ignoring it, in an attempt to be "classy."
As of this writing, he's now in the top three for the competition and will get to compete. I, on the other hand, had to wait until the very end to sing during the competition last year.
The moral of the story: fuck being classy and promote yourself.
It's universally accepted that self-promotion is a huge part of a creative person and entrepreneur's life, especially on the Internet where we're all "brands." But what I've noticed about myself and lots of other people (especially, wait for it...women) are really hesitant to do so. We don't want to be seen as a used car salesman or as someone who you know, cares.
It's easier to have an air of being coolly detached, like you're just too cool and don't need to self-promote. Women, especially (from my own observations) have a hard time promoting themselves. It's in line with the idea that we're supposed to be demure and quiet, lest we be seen as the ultimate Internet insult for a woman: the Attention Whore. Fuck that. It's time to get over that. Dudes don't worry about it, and neither should you.
What I'm realizing is that's a dangerous attitude to have and the reason we may not be getting the attention we deserve. And face it, even A-list movie stars, arguably the most well-known people in the world, still have to go on press junkets and promotional interviews. Even Angelina Jolie has to let the world know what she's doing. It's not just for the little, struggling start up. The bottom line is: no one cares about your project or your career as much as you do, so it's time to put ourselves on the line and promote.
I'm not saying Tweet about your blog every five seconds or restrict all conversation to ones that are self-serving; people will see right through that. You're a human being first. What I am saying: don't be ashamed. You're doing cool things, others need to know about them. Ask yourself when you start to feel weird: would a guy be ashamed to send this e-mail? What's the worst that can happen if I send a link out to an article I wrote? People would know about it and that's what you want.