So you need to promote your freelancing skills on social media. This article will show you how to do it and thus help you gain credibility on the Internet.
Freelancing has become yet another career option in today's fast-paced industry. Many choose to work as freelancers, as it offers them freedom and flexibility while still earning an income. To succeed as a freelancer, you have to get out there and promote yourself well. That's what social media is for.
Social media is one of the best ways to promote your skills as a freelancer on the Internet. They have a large community and active users that you can benefit from. Using social media to market your business is nothing new in the freelancing world.
Freelancers are often too modest when promoting themselves through social platforms. Posting pretty content won't entice clients to work with you, let alone a post desperately asking for work. But for your good fortune, there are a few tricks to stand out as a freelancer and get clients to find you. Check out these tips to better promote your freelance business.
Make a professional account
It's important to separate your personal life from your freelance account. After all, freelancing is another type of business that you run on your own. Think of it as running a business account where you're targeting clients. It's more compelling when your platform showcases your skills and experiences rather than a random account showcasing your lifestyle.
Sure, presenting yourself as a complete brand can boost your personal brand. However, it won't do much good if your freelance work has nothing to do with it. Having a professional account can enhance your freelance credibility. You can start by creating an account on social platforms like Instagram, Twitter or Facebook; this way you can showcase your skills and then connect it with your personal account so they know who's behind it.
Keep your brand image consistent.
The thing about creating a personal brand is that you have to be consistent with what you post online. Everything should represent you as a whole, right down to your profile picture and your bio description. Differentiate your brand identity when you showcase yourself online; when you are consistent with what you upload to your platforms, customers can easily identify you. The key is to make yourself recognizable even from a different social network.
You can build a personal brand by regularly posting information related to your area of work. Let your followers know that you are dedicated to a specific topic and that you are an expert in that field. That way, when people or prospects come across those topics, they will quickly remember you.
Engage with the community
There's a "social" in social media for a reason. The platforms allow people to connect and interact with each other. They can socialize as if they were meeting offline. When you decide to use social media as a tool to promote your freelancing skills, you'll need to adapt the way you interact with people on the platform you choose. For example, you can connect with other freelancers and follow freelancer communities to keep up with the latest news and gigs.
The right community will also help you introduce yourself to the right clients. For example, if you are a freelance writer, you will often find the opportunity in an isolated writing job board that has a higher success rate rather than pitching you to random clients. Therefore, it's crucial that you become part of a freelance community on social media.
Keep up with current trends.
Social trends are very erratic. They can change practically overnight; one time people were discussing whether the dress was blue or gold, another time, they were crying over the Grumpy Cat video. It just goes to show how versatile social media is.
When you keep up with multiple trends at the same time, you can adapt to build your ideal audience. Let's say you're a freelance financial consultant and the current trend is about how younger generations are struggling to pay rent, let alone buy a house. From this topic, you can identify common problems and share your ideas.
Use social media ads.
If you still haven't achieved great results after following the above steps, you may want to try promoting yourself through ads. Nowadays, social media advertising has become a vital strategy for marketers. It can be a strategic move to get customers in a short time.
The reason is that social ads can reach a specific target audience that fits your business. You don't need to spend time doing trial and error, as you can pay for the system to find your customers. By using ads, you can manage your content and track it afterwards to measure its performance. Since Instagram provides analytics for ads, you can estimate if your current strategy is working and predict if you will need to change your strategy for your next campaign.