Developing your Freelance Business through Social Media

If you own freelance business or are thinking of starting one, you’d probably be trying to figure out how to grow it from a distinguished side project to a successful enterprise.

When it comes to matters dealing with freelancing, the most significant factor to consider for the growth of the business is the clients. Clients have the potential of determining whether or not your business will develop and thus, one should find the best ways to get experience and attract these customers.

Social media has proven to be one of the most important means of gaining exposure needed for developing many freelance businesses, and this article will guide you on how to do it.

Step 1. Focus on the long-term goal rather than a short one

Everything that grows is destined to change, and this is a process that requires patience as well as resilience. Using social media doesn’t assure you of a fast and easy method of getting clients who would purchase your services for quick money. One should understand that the end goal of using the social network is to get loyal and consistent clients who require your services and offer substantial pay.

Of course, any freelance newbie using social media has a high chance of finding one client quickly, but this short-term contract should not sway you from the long-term goal. A successful freelance business needs to have made a strong impression on the social platform, and one should, therefore, never get discouraged if results don’t show up immediately.

Step 2. Create time for socializing on the networks carefully and steadily

For you to be successful on social media, you need to spare some time off your daily activities and invest it into the platforms.

However, one should be very careful as the practice could be addictive, and you might end up wasting all of your time and resources doing nothing relevant to growing the business. Therefore, you are required to find the perfect balance when networking to avoid throwing away precious time that could’ve been used in completing specific projects and growing the businesses.

An average of half an hour every day is the recommended spare time needed for networking.

Step 3. Establish a consistent profile

Almost all of these social media platforms require you to create a profile for yourself or the business for purposes of easy identification. If you wish to use multiple platforms to create awareness about the brand and gain more exposure, it is always advisable to be consistent across all networks.

Consistency may be portrayed in activities such as using the same profile name for all platforms and images that relate to the business. It also helps to use the same hashtags to make the business account and all of its content easily searchable by any user.

The reason behind this is because some users may also be present on multiple networks, and it would help them recognize the brand better.

Step 4. Focus on the most reliable network

Chose a platform that is frequented by potential clients and invest more of your time and resources on it while still maintaining the accounts on other networks.

This is because it is impossible to use all the networks effectively actively and it helps to use one of them which has a higher chance of acquiring more clients. If you focus on, say, for example, Twitter, you stand a better opportunity of growing your freelance business on this network and acquiring more contracts with clients as compared to sharing resources equally on all platforms.

Step 5. Create your business blog

This move is an essential part of growing your freelance business by attracting more traffic to your portfolio site due to blogging.

Use creative tools to make the blogs more interesting and intriguing to both clients and non-clients as both will help you link your way to more employment rates.

An exciting blog tends to attract more handle users to the website, and they may even include potential clients who would end up hiring your services.

READ: 10 Requirements for a Successful Business Website

READ: Pros of Hiring a Web Designer over Website Builders

Step 6. Target relevant clients and engage with other freelancers

You need to use social media to connect to the potential clients in need of your services and not just advertise the business. Search for these individuals and reach out to them as they may not be aware of your brand but are still in need of help. It would help if you also made a habit of connecting and engaging with other freelancers, as this may lead you to the clients indirectly.

Establishing sturdy connections with other pros helps one gain more exposure by getting referrals to the clients themselves. There are also possibilities of unique partnerships when large projects are assigned by the employers that require teamwork for effective results.

Step 7. Give back to the online community as much as you receive.

People often tend to overlook this factor when it comes to building a strong reputation on various social networks. One should understand that trying to push their services for sale without giving back to the online community makes them more of marketers.

Your ultimate goal may be to acquire clients and pull in funds for the growth of the business, but you stand at a better chance of doing so by creating a good influence within the community. Join various groups and get involved in conversations that tend to help others without expecting anything back, and this will give you more recognition.

Step 8. Advertise your work

You can use social media to showcase some of the best jobs you may have done for a client in the past and even adding some of the positive comments received from them. Also, be sure to link your contact information so that impressed potential clients can easily reach out to you whenever they may require your services.

Step 9. Maintain an approachable nature and offer promos

Encourage individuals to get in touch with you while ensuring that their feedback or comments would highly be appreciated. Such positive energy will gain you more clients and especially if you add promotions such as discounts at various seasons.

Final Words

Using social media has proven to be the best way of getting exposure to grow your freelance business. You don’t have to stress yourself about being a pro since with networking, people learn as they grow. As mentioned before, in this article, all it takes is patience and resilience to see you through to the ultimate goal.