No one likes a spammer.

The only place spam might be good is on a sandwich. Other than that, no one likes a spammer. It's difficult to find balance getting your name out to the public in a way that brings positive attention, not by driving potential readers crazy.

What is spam?
Spamming is defined as sending out unsolicited emails. Spimming is sending out unsolicited instant messages. Any message that is unsolicited takes up broadband space, steals time, and is annoying. My personal pet peeve is when selfish self-promoters hijack a Twitter trending topic or Facebook comment section with their annoying unsolicited self-promoting posts. There are also those coattail riders that go on a celebrity page to post their unsolicited messages which is bad, but it's worse when they continue to repeatedly post the same message . This doesn't make anyone want to know what this person is up to and be a part of it. All it does is agitate people so much that they never want anything to do with that person or company again!

Inform don't inflict.

Jay Baer says in an interview with Klout that "sells and helps only have two letters that are different but those two letters make all the difference." When interacting within social media parameters there's some leeway regarding self-promotion. Contacts who may know you online because they're friends, old school buddies, or people you play social networking games with may want to know what you are doing and will allow a certain amount of self-promotion into the mix. However, if your mix of self-promotion goes significantly over the 60%-40% where 60 is self-promotion and 40 other things, chances are people are going to start blocking content from your profile. Other more diligent game players will tolerate less, so don't make your self-promotion excessive and unwelcome. Keep posts down to one or two a day unless people are subscribed to a Fan page where there is an understanding that the page is about promoting your work. 

People like to be informed. If you're sharing knowledge or stating opinions about topics that are already being discussed online you can add to the context of the information in a meaningful way and have your name recognized for being a credible source. This is a positive way to gain attention with online marketing. Join the conversation the way you would if you had just met people at a party. Don't take up too much of the comment section conversation but add interesting points that will entice others to find out more about you and your work. 

If someone asks you what you do answer them in a private message if the comment section is located on someone else's page. If it is on your profile, you have the power to choose how much information to share on that comment thread to engage the person asking the question without losing your other comment thread followers. 

It always goes back to the Golden Rule. 

It always goes back to the "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Respect people's time and attention and don't do any posting on other pages and feeds that you would not want others to do on your pages and feeds. 

By using common sense and Netiquette a writer can build a presence on the internet and everyone involved can share information and have a good time.