Get yourself on social media in 5 steps

Social media is a prominent part of today’s society. Most people use social media platforms on a daily basis, from tweeting about the latest political turmoil to posting a picture of an aesthetically pleasing hot chocolate on Instagram. As a freelancer, social media can help you reach new clients, as well as enabling you to really display your work to prospective clients.

In this social media age if you do not have a social media presence, then you are missing out on an opportunity to capitalise on the huge pool of potential customers/clients. You can increase your reach by setting up social media in these five simple steps.

Relevant social media

There are multiple social media platforms that can be suitable for you, you don’t need to be on every single social media platform to reach more people. You may want to stick to one and then work on building up the followers on that platform. Although it is recommended to have a presence on a few different platforms to ensure sufficient reach. The four social media networks that you should consider joining are:

Facebook – is the biggest social media platform, with 2 billion monthly active users. Therefore, a Facebook profile should be a necessity in your social media marketing planning. Facebook will allow you to communicate with your followers, and give them regular updates about new products and services.
Twitter – has 328 million monthly active users, and should be used to answer any queries and questions that clients/customers may have. You can also follow relevant people in the industry as well as competitors.
Instagram – is becoming bigger and bigger, especially with its popularity with the younger generations. The number of monthly Instagram active user is 800 million. Instagram is a great way of displaying your work. For example, if you’re a freelance photographer then you must get on Instagram as it is a hub of creativity.
LinkedIn – also has a considerable amount of members, the number stands at 467 million. LinkedIn is a great website to network and connectspeople from similar industries. Networking is essential to freelancers, so LinkedIn is a great place to start.

The setup

After deciding on the most suitable social media platforms, there are some basics that you will need to follow. First of all, make sure that you use the same email address to set up different profiles. This will ensure that you can avoid any confusion when it comes to setting up/forgetting passwords. You will also need to add a picture, you might want to use a logo if you have one.

Additionally, you should keep the usernames the same or as similar as possible. For example, you may choose to have JohnBakes as your twitter handle, Facebook name and Instagram username. Having correlating names will keep your social media in tune with your brand as a whole.

Lastly, you will need to also create a short bio describing what you do and what services you offer. This is your chance to attract customers, within a short number of words. Also make sure to add in your website URL, if you have one, whether it’s a portfolio of your work or a blog.

Promote your social media

Once you have set up your social media, it’s time to promote it and get some followers. Initially, ask your family and friends to follow/like and share your social media pages. This will give you a base, and a starting point. Also, let your clients know about your social media and encourage them to share/like/comment on your posts/profiles. It’s also worth adding your social media widgets to your website. Additionally, if you have business cards/flyers then make sure to add your social media channel names on there, so you can be easily found online. You should also consider asking clients about the kind of content they want to see from you. These are all just starting points of getting your social media up and running.

Invest time

You need to understand that although social media doesn’t require you to spend money on it, you will need to invest your time. You need to ensure that you are creating quality content that your audience and following can engage with. Your social media is part of your brand, you should create content that will reflect on that. You should also make sure to reply to any comments and questions that are left.

To manage your social media you can use a website such as HootSuite, as they allow you to create, upload and schedule your content. This will mean that you won’t have to be constantly posting, you can schedule it once a week and it will be posted on your chosen date and time.

Persevere

Building up your social media will take time, you will need to upload quality content on a regular basis to really make the most out of several different platforms. You will really have to put in a good amount of effort and time to start seeing results.

There are millions of people using social media every day as it has become completely embedded in today’s society. Freelancers need to take advantage and capitalise on the worldwide phenomenon that is social media.

More on sales and marketing as a freelancer.