Build Your Freelance Social Media Presence In 9 Easy Steps
Introduction
social media presence is the best way to grow your business if you're a freelancer. That might sound like a bold statement, but it's true: people are more likely to find freelancers on LinkedIn and Twitter than anywhere else. If you want more clients, you must ensure that your brand has a professional presence on these sites. Otherwise, it could be difficult for potential customers to trust you with their projects. In this article, I'll teach you how to set up a compelling social media profile as a freelancer so your business can flourish.
This Is How to Develop Your Freelance Social Media Presence In 9 Easy Steps
Get a professional website up and running, which you can use for sharing a portfolio of your work or putting together a CV.
A website is the first thing people will see when they search for you, so it's essential to make sure it looks professional and gives your work the best chance of impressing potential clients.
As well as professionally presenting your work, having a website or blog where you share what you do and why will help people discover more about who you are and your skills.
A well-designed personal website can be great for getting new clients and building your reputation as an expert in your field - so let's look at how to create one!
Before we start: why do I need a portfolio?
A portfolio is essential if you're looking to build up a portfolio of past projects or show off some of your current work.
Suppose someone wants to hire me as their freelance graphic designer but can't see any examples of my previous projects (or worse still: only knows me by name).
In that case, there's no guarantee they'll be happy with my work after seeing it firsthand.
Get a LinkedIn account.
When you're just starting out, it can be tempting to think of LinkedIn as something superfluous—a relic of a bygone era when office drones clocked in at 9am and got paid for their work. But the truth is that LinkedIn has changed over the years.
It doesn't just cater to traditional employers anymore; it also offers freelancers and entrepreneurs an easy way to build their professional profiles,
connect with other professionals in their field, and find new opportunities for collaboration or employment.
If you have a website or blog where you post articles or videos about whatever your business does best (like, say, if one of your specialties is social media presence [marketing] ),
then adding a link on your website pointing back here would be helpful too!
Get onto Twitter.
The first step in building a professional social media presence for your freelance business is getting onto Twitter. Use the platform to connect with other freelancers and people in your field, experts, journalists, and other freelancers.
Engage with other freelancers and people in your field on Twitter.
Twitter is a great place to meet freelancers and other people in your field. You can follow them, engage with their tweets, and start a conversation that will eventually lead to hiring you or someone else.
What's more, Twitter is a way for you to find out about new opportunities, a friend I was following once tweeted about an open position at his company that I would otherwise never have known about!
You mustn't just follow peope and respond to their tweets when appropriate.
Suppose there's someone who has posted something relevant to what you do as a freelancer; feel free to comment on it.
In that case, this will allow others reading along to know that they're not wasting their time following such an active user (and might even want them to).
Suppose there are no excellent leads among the people currently following me on Twitter. In that case, I'll unfollow them until there are some more exciting profiles popping up each day."
Join Facebook groups for freelancers (or, if you're not freelance, for your profession).
An excellent first step to build a social media presence is to join social media groups specifically for freelancers. You'll find them in most large cities, and even if you don't live in an area where there are a lot of other freelancers, it's worth looking for them online.
If you're not sure how to find the best groups for your profession or city, here are some guidelines:
Look at the membership numbers of the group(s) you're considering joining. Is there a significant amount of activity? Are there many members? Is it growing fast? If so, that's probably a good sign!
Consider whether the group has any unwritten rules or policies that might cause conflict with your values as a person or professional (e.g., "Don't ask questions about our rates"). If so, consider whether those values align with yours before signing up.
Avoid joining particular interest groups (e.g., "Marketing copywriters who love dogs") or comprehensive ones (e.g., "Writers who like dogs"). These groups may be more appropriate once your business has established enough niche interests and needs within its niche market segments.
Be active in those groups, sharing knowledge and commenting on other people's posts.
Add value. Make sure you add to the conversation by sharing your experience and expertise or by answering specific questions other group members pose. If you don't know the answer, explain what you're working on and ask for advice from others in the group.
Don't spam other groups with messages about yourself or your business: People will see through this type of self-promotion very quickly, and it makes you look bad!
Be careful not to post the same thing in multiple groups—it may seem like a good idea at first glance because it increases exposure for your message. Still, if everyone is doing it, there's no reason for anyone else to read what you have to say!
Use hashtags to get yourself noticed.
Hashtags are a great way to get your content seen by people interested in the same things as you.
For example, suppose you're a freelance writer like me and want to write about sports. In that case, hashtags like #writingthejock or #sportsjournalism will help your posts reach more readers. They also make it easy for people to find other posts related to what they're looking for—whether it's your work or someone else's!
Post regularly (but not too often).
Most often, but not too often.
The most important thing to remember when posting on social media To improve your social media presence is that you don't want to annoy your followers with an overabundance of content. You should aim for about one post per day per platform (although this may vary depending on the size of your audience). If you post more than that, your followers will start unfollowing you and telling their friends not to follow you anymore.
On the other hand, if you only post once every couple of weeks or so, people might forget who they're following and lose interest in what you have to say. The key is striking a balance between posting frequently enough so that people can get used to seeing new content from time to time—but not so much that they feel like they're being bombarded with updates about everything in your life. All day long!
Create an Instagram account to showcase your work if you're in a creative field.
Create an Instagram account to showcase your work if you're in a creative field. This can be valuable for several reasons:
Instagram is a visual platform. If you're working in an area that relies on visuals, this is the perfect place for you to share your images.
Instagram is great for connecting with other creatives. It gives people something visually exciting and engaging to look at and provides networking and collaboration opportunities when they look at each other's accounts.
It's also suitable for connecting with potential clients because they can see what kind of work you do before they hire you—and if they're not interested in hiring someone who has no online presence or who doesn't have any followers/followings on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook then chances are good that anyone else won't either!
Make sure you're targeting the right people on social media – don't waste your time posting to groups of people who aren't interested in what you have to offer.
The most important thing to do when building a professional social media presence for a freelancer is to make sure you're targeting the right people on social media. It will be a wasted effort if you post content that isn't relevant or interesting to the people you're trying to reach. You won't get any new clients, and you'll spend more time than necessary doing things that don't help your business.
It's also important not to waste your money by paying for advertising options that aren't likely to convert into sales or leads for your business (like promoted tweets). It's better off investing in something like SEO or P.P.C. advertising where the results can be tracked easily, and there isn't as much risk involved if it doesn't work out as planned!
Professional social media is vitally important for freelancers; set up accounts on the right platforms and post high-quality content regularly.
For freelancers, social media presence is a crucial way to build their reputations and get work. It's also a great way to showcase your work.
When someone finds you online, they should be able to see what type of projects you've worked on in the past, who you have worked for, and what kind of results that has generated for those clients.
Social media is also a great way to network with other freelancers—locally and globally—to help each other grow professionally.
Conclusion
Social media is an easy way to network with other freelancers and find business opportunities. It's also a great way to get seen by people in your industry looking for someone new -- especially if you have good knowledge of hashtags and relevant groups on Facebook or LinkedIn!
