Posted by We’re in 2021, everyone is online, people and businesses. Social Media has become an important platform for businesses to reach their audience and grow. It is effective and cost-efficient compared to traditional marketing and provides a level playing field for everyone.
Social media works differently for individuals, businesses, influencers and freelancers. It is especially difficult for freelancers as there aren’t many guides on how to get social media right. Those guides that are present have drastically different approaches and can leave freelancers confused in regards to what to do exactly.
This is why I decided to use all my experience and expertise as a freelance marketer to create this guide for others who’re just starting their journey into the freelancing world.
If you’re starting out new, freelancing will be uncharted territory for you as an individual. Going solo in the big world of business can feel intimidating at first but it doesn’t take much to make a space for yourself in this world.
Know what value you’re providing, identify who all are looking to benefit from that value and layer your offering with your own positive traits as a form of USP. This would be your first step in the right direction towards becoming a sought after freelancer in your segment.
For using social media to grow, I have researched, aggregated and simplified the best practices you can follow. I’ve kept it as precise and as easy as possible to understand so that you can hit the ground running and benefit from a head start.
Now, let me run you through those:
#1 An Informative Bio –
The bio or the about me section of your business profile on any social media platform is the first thing a viewer is going to check. It thus becomes important to convey all the relevant information to your potential client through your bio. What further needs to be ensured is that the information you’re trying to convey is presentable and creates a positive impression.
Image Courtesy – Hootsuite
Here are the elements a bio must contain:
- A good formal name/persona
- One-liner to introduce yourself
- Mentioning services you provide
- A tagline to showcase your work philosophy
- A Call to Action
Now, most social media platforms provide you with an option to link your other social media accounts with one another. Utilise this feature so your audiences have one-click access to all your other accounts on different social media platforms. This helps make the process of discovering all the aspects of your professional life easy for them.
Another important thing that needs to be done is to provide your audience with different options to reach you. An Email address and phone number are a must but you can also provide them with an option to reach out to you on instant messengers and video calling services. Having an option to reach you in whichever way they feel comfortable with is a must.
#2 Choosing the right platforms –
There are many who’d suggest you have a presence on every social media platform out there but I would suggest otherwise. Every social media platform focuses on different mediums as a primary form of communication. What product or service you offer is the key factor that will determine which platforms you should be present on.
Here are the top Social Media platforms and what type of content they can be used to showcase effectively:
Facebook – Writings, Infographics, Photographs, Designs and Videos.
YouTube – Videos, Music, Video Graphics, DIY Video guides, How-tos, Tutorials.
Instagram – Photographs, Designs, Short Videos, Creative Writing.
LinkedIn – Business Blogs, Research Articles, Writings, Infographics.
Twitter – Writings, Infographics, Photographs, Designs, Short Videos.
Pinterest – Designs, Photographs, DIY guides, Creative writings.
Image Courtesy – Accion Opportunity Fund
As you may have noticed, many platforms overlap in terms of the type of content they’re suitable for showcasing. This can be used to your advantage as you won’t have to tailor your content for each platform differently.
#3 Showcasing your work –
At the end of the day, the value you provide through your services and products are what your potential clients are going to seek out. You need to ensure that your social media profiles showcase enough of your portfolio for your audience to clearly gauge the value you’re offering.
Image Courtesy – RockStar Marketing
Posting at regular intervals and frequently enough is necessary for your profile to be perceived as an active one that attracts more potential clients. Having a schedule for your social media posting will help you achieve this. Using relevant keywords, hashtags and a proper caption are things you will need to pay attention to.
There are several trends that keep popping up on social media and adding these to your content strategy will also benefit you in maximising the reach of your posts and ultimately your profile.
If you observe carefully you’ll conclude that a certain type of content from your segment does particularly well on certain social media platforms. You can leverage this knowledge and post this type of content to boost your clout.
#4 Consistent Portrayal across different platforms –
If you have a good experience of working in the Corporate/Business world, you’re aware of the fact that everyone values consistency in terms of providing value, punctuality and quality. This trait can be very well showcased in the form of consistency in experience for your audiences on all of your social media accounts they may come in contact with.
Jason Lanier Photography on Facebook and Instagram
Having a bio / about me carefully tailored for each platform that exhibits integrity with one another is where you can start with. Having a common theme or pattern in terms of post captions or content is where you need to pay attention to next. One should not post the same content on different platforms but different content to suit the platform while ensuring uniformity in the information and message delivery.
Using the same design language for all your different social media accounts can be the final step in ensuring a good and seamless cross-platform experience for your audience.
#5 Planning for the long term –
Growing using social media requires consistent efforts over a long period. At first, it may seem like investing in social media presence isn’t benefiting you but it will surely benefit you exponentially in the long term. What you need is a plan with achievable growth objectives.
Once you know what milestone needs to be reached in a certain time frame, you can start putting in consistent efforts on a regular basis in order to reach those. Periodic evaluation of your performance and tweaking your strategies to better achieve your objectives is necessary. This way, you can keep progressing towards your long term objective.
#6 Interacting with Community –
Goodwill goes a long way to benefit you in the business world. One way to gain and grow your goodwill is by actively participating and helping out others in your work community.
Collaborating with others in your field is one way of creating goodwill or you can answer questions from beginners, mentor them, help them out with certain things or guide them about how to operate to produce good results.
These acts will help you gain reputation and goodwill in your segment. Having strong goodwill and soft skills usually translates into more clients as your audience will perceive you as a reliable provider and you will also benefit from peers giving your reference to clients who seek for quality or value you specialise in providing.
#6 Storytelling –
Often overlooked and considered unnecessary but most in the business world, storytelling plays an important role in your business narrative. Posting stories about your workflow or photos showing behind the scenes activities is a clear and engaging way to provide your audience with an insight into how you work and how you provide them with value.
Image Courtesy – BackStage
Storytelling through your posts also enables your audience to get familiarized with you and your work. This enables better understanding between you and your audience and also induces a sense of connection between the two. These things benefit your business a lot in terms of client acquisition and growth.
To Summarize it All
Social media isn’t as easy to master for freelancers compared to businesses, influences and individuals. There are certain common practices that can help you figure your own way to succeed as a freelancer on social media.
Appearance and presentation are two key aspects every freelancer needs to pay attention to. It should be easy for your audience to understand what services you offer and what value you’re providing through these services.
You need to ensure you provide your audience with different forms of communication channels so they can reach you using a channel they’re most comfortable with. Ensuring your audience has a seamless experience interacting with your profile regardless of the platform ensures you portray consistency as your USP which is highly sought after.
Participating in your community will help you generate goodwill which is essential for the functioning of any business. Storytelling will enable your audience to get to know you and how you produce the value that you’re providing.
Hoping to see you all succeed!
About the author:
Yash Chawlani is a Freelance Content Marketing Strategist who is known by his personal brand Merlin. He specializes in SEO and Social Media and helps B2B and SaaS companies out there with his top-notch content strategies. In his spare time, you can either find him in the gym or on the football field. Feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn.
With Crowdfire, you can find curated content, schedule your posts, engage with your audience, deep-dive into analytics and create custom reports. Now introducing Social listening. Try it for free.