Why is there no obvious opposite of self-promotion?

Think about it. What word or phrase concisely denotes the reverse of that practice which so many of us are trying our best to master, whether we admit it or not?

Self-promotion is hard and often necessary work. In fact, you’re probably reading this now because of one of our acts of self-promotion, i.e. a Facebook post or a tweet. Sorry — necessary evil.

Still, it’s kind of telling, don’t you think, that there’s no shorthand for the opposite to the concept?

Maybe it’s time to lay aside some of those concerns about promoting ourselves and focus on, for lack of a better term, other-promotion.

In their book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust, Julien Smith and Chris Brogan touch on a powerful idea. They suggest promoting others 12 times more than you promote yourself.

Of course, we’re not so naive as to suggest that other-promotion doesn’t ultimately contribute to your cause. Promoting others builds trust in what you have to say. The payoff, in that sense, is huge. But first, you have to get engaged with your others.

So, with that in mind, here are 10 ways you can practice the art of other-promotion without coming off like a kiss-up.

And remember the most important rule: Promote without expecting anything in return.

1. Make Them Front-Page News: Profiling someone on your blog is a powerful show of respect. If you have many followers, it’s as good for the person or brand you’re featuring as landing a story in a newspaper or magazine. If you don’t have many followers, you will get them by featuring someone great.

2. Get a Little Closer: Like what someone else is doing? Sit down and talk with someone you admire for your blog, podcast or webcast. Invite them to tell their story like they want it to be told, and then you do the work to share it with the world.

3. Ask the Expert: If you’d like to tackle a topic you’re not familiar with or have been asked a question you don’t know how to answer, bring in a friend who can answer that question for you on your blog or e-mail newsletter and invite them to pimp their services.

4. Lend a Yelping Hand: Become the biggest Yelper on the block, writing positive reviews of local restaurants, shops and other businesses you care about.

5. Read Globally, Comment Locally: It’s a tricky game, commenting. Some people make a sport out of becoming the most well-known commenters on big sites. Others use it purely as a means of self-promotion. Quit playing that game and instead show support by commenting on the blogs of little guys around you. As one of those little guys, trust us — it means a lot.

6. Advance and Retweet: If you can’t think of anything nice to say, spread what someone else is saying by retweeting . Do it the old-fashioned “RT” way so that you can add a few words of praise. Just don’t get carried away, retweeting everything you see. That’s annoying.

7. Learn to Like Again: As with retreating, the “Like” button on Facebook, and now Google Buzz, allows you to approve of others’ messages without a second thought. Don’t be stingy!

8. Show Up: There’s really no substitute for actually attending someone’s event that they’ve put effort into organizing and promoting. Be there for the people you care about. And once you’re there, start tweeting and Facebooking to encourage others to come out. Or, if you just can’t make it …

9. Stay-at-Home Event Promotion: When there’s a cool local event you simply can’t attend, watch your social networks for live updates from people at the event and spread the word remotely.

10. Be There or Be Foursquare: Help local businesses adopt location-based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla by being vigilant about checking in each time you arrive somewhere. Do the work of adding locations that aren’t in the system. (More about Foursquare here.)

Maybe the opposite of “self-promotion” is simply “helping.”

What do you do to practice the art? Share it in the comments.

Image by Ali Farid via Stock.Xchng.