We are humans and that makes us deficient in one area of life. Sometimes in pursuit to fill that void space of imperfection, we lose ourselves. The direct opposite of self-love is self-hate, and we can't find happiness in who we are if we hate ourselves. In a society where only trending things are appreciated- we need self-love, in a society where everyone strives to be like another- we need self love, in a world where imperfections are criticized- we need self love. We need self-love to survive in a world filled with ridicule and intimidation and that's what makes self love important.
I've seen clips of people , who though are not perfect accepted who they are and today has become a model to many other, example is Nick Vujicic , who though has no hands and legs had lived above societal rejection and created a world around himself where he finds happiness, that home is self-love. You can see confidence around people who have learned to love themselves. Nothing intimidates them and a ridicule doesn't hurt their feelings, they accept their situation and make strength out of their weaknesses. People with self-love are easily recognized, nothing about other people or society brings down their esteem and doesn't work with things that don't define a standard set around their lives.
The first step in developing self-love is understanding who you are- your strength and weakness. It helps one know his area of sufficient and deficient for two reasons, to work in developing his weakness and to know to what extent he can go. Then Stay around things that make him feel happy and powerful and not things that remind him of his shortcomings. This latter step is important, because the people and things we give our time most often shape us to become like them. If we hang around people that believe we are brilliant and beautiful, we automatically start to see the beauty and brilliance in us.