Last week I mentioned that I was moving away from more traditional construction DIY projects and focusing on those that could have an actual impact upon your freelance writing business.
Starting with how to install a WordPress theme on your freelance writing blog last week, this week we're going to take an introductory look into how to promote your freelance writing blog using 5 different social media tools.
N.B. - this post is meant to act as an introduction into social media and its uses, aimed primarily at those freelance writers who have just set up their own blog. It includes what I consider to be the 5 most useful social media tools for beginners, but it by no means covers how to use them in an in-depth manner, acting as more of a way to get started and help your new blog get off the ground.
- Twitter - if you haven't already got a Twitter account, go get one now. Arguably the most important social media tool out there at the moment, there are two golden rules to always abide by when using Twitter.
Firstly, you should never just tweet about your latest blog post and secondly, you need to use it as though you were having brief - but helpful - conversations. The idea is to share and discuss information with your followers so that they enjoy tweeting with you, meaning that they will not only recommend that others follow you, but that they will also be more likely to read your business related tweets.
- Facebook - I'm going to be honest here and say that I don't use Facebook for business. Yeah, I've got an account that I use (sparingly) on a personal level, but as I'm not a massive fan of it for keeping in touch with friends, I've only used it minimally for business.
However, I know people out there who use it regularly for business purposes and who see massive benefits, which is why I've included it in this list.
If you're planning on using Facebook to promote your freelance writing blog, there's no need to take out a business account just yet (or at all, in fact). Start by setting up some groups on interesting topics related to your niche and begin promoting them so that their member count increases. When your groups have several members, you've got yourself a captive audience and whilst not really suitable for promoting your freelance writing services on a general or direct basis, if you've got something in particular to offer on your blog - an e-book, for example - then you can expect to see a steady stream of traffic from Facebook.
- LinkedIn - I love LinkedIn. I've only started using it in the last 6 months, but I think it's an absolutely fantastic social media tool and a must for any freelance writer, regardless of whether they've been writing for 2 weeks or 20 years.
LinkedIn works by acting as a way of keeping in touch all of your business associates, allowing you to contact people who you have worked, or are working, with.
Most importantly, it has a fantastic 'recommend' feature, where you can recommend people who you have worked with and conversely, receive recommendations yourself, instantly helping to get your name - and therefore your freelance writing blog - noticed more.
When you start using LinkedIn, look for everyone who you have worked with in the past and add them. Then, just like in your Facebook groups, you've got a captive audience - made up of people who have enjoyed working with you in the past and benefited from your services previously - to begin promoting your freelance writing blog to. Simple.
- StumbleUpon / Digg / Delicious - I've grouped these together (no doubt much to the dismay of StumbleUpon, Digg or Delicious aficionados), as the way I see it is if you look to use one of them, you can use any of them with relative ease.
The idea behind all three of them is to share interesting and informative content from around the web. Now, the reason that they can benefit you and help with the promotion of your freelance writing blog is that you can gain followers to your profiles (which should feature the details of your blog, as well as all of your details as a freelance writer) and become reputable amongst the community as someone who provides quality content.
Therefore, if you provide informative content on freelance writing, you'll soon develop a loyal following who, if interested in the freelance writing news you've been providing, will also be interested in your freelance writing blog.
- Blogs - although they may have developed away from the whole social media scene, blogs are still, to all intents and purposes, a social media tool - and possibly the most useful.
When you're first starting out your freelance writing business, you need to be getting involved in as many blog discussions as you can, making sure that your input into the discussion is worthwhile and that you're not commenting for the sake of getting your name out there.
It's also worthwhile noting that regardless of what you may hear from Search Engine Optimisation experts / gurus / gods, you don't have to comment on blogs that are only 'do follow' (there are two types of blogs - those which have an effect on your ranking in search engines if you use the comments box to fill in your blog's details - known as do 'follow' - and those which have no effect on your search engine rankings whatsoever - known as 'no follow').
This reason behind this is simple and as long as you fill in your details properly and your comment is beneficial to the conversation, people will begin checking out your blog naturally.
It's important to remember that social media tools aren't to be used solely for promoting your own freelance writing services. There's no doubting that they're a fantastic way for promotion, but it's important that you use them in a way that's going to offer value to others, as without this, you're doing nothing more than providing random pieces of information that no one particularly cares about.
Furthermore, don't expect overnight results. Take things slowly, gain members or followers and most importantly, listen to what is being said about your business. You might not be able to see instant in, for example, the number of people coming to your blog, but due to the nature of social media websites, you'll be able to see instantly what someone thinks about it. Whether it's positive or negative, it allows you to act on it and ensure that your freelance writing blog is heading in the right direction.
I love LinkedIn! I wasn’t sold on it in the beginning but I use it more than I do Facebook. I feel LinkedIn is more professional than Facebook — just my opinion. I created Fan Pages on Facebook but they’re just sitting there. I also have Twitter accounts in addition to StumbleUpon (don’t use that much) and Digg. I’m also on Ezine Articles but haven’t done much with that lately. Of course, you can’t forget about the “private” social media sites. It never ends…
I completely agree with LinkedIn being more professional than Facebook. Maybe that’s part of the reason I haven’t used Facebook more for business purposes.
Some people seem to have a lot of success with it, but I always find it to be a little, I don’t know, over-personal (but that’s even when I’m using it on a personal level, so maybe that’s just me).
Re the private social media sites and saying “It never ends..”, when I was writing this post I jotted down a list of the major social media sites / tools and then narrowed them down to these 5. Then, when I was making sure I hadn’t missed any glaringly obvious ones, I started coming across more and more and more and more and more….
There are literally hundreds of social media sites, a substantial amount of which I didn’t even know existed – quarterlife, a social networking site for “creative people”, anyone?
This is a completely separate post in itself, but it’s worthwhile checking around for social media sites in your own niche. Whether it’s finance or Judaism, I found social media sites linked to both of these, as well as in a variety of other subjects.
Thank you for the tips on social media. I just recently started blogging and so far have only tried Facebook as a way to get exposure for my blog. I just posed a link on my wall, but didn’t get much out of it. I am interestedin LinkedIn as I recently resigned from a bank to work from home. It sounds like a great way to keep in touch with former coworkers and possibly gain some readers.
LinkedIn is a great social media tool, Anne Marie and I’ve found that it is especially useful for people who are making the transition from a full time employee to full time freelancer.
When you’re an employee, you tend to think that all of your work colleagues do nothing other than work in that job. When you leave and setup on your own, however, you tend to find – via LinkedIn – that quite a few of them have their own work going on, which – especially for freelance writers – can lead to new work.
Love your post. And ya, I usually tend to just tweet about my updates, now here’s a good one friend! Will try to use your strategy. 🙂
I also don’t use Facebook for promoting my business, just for keeping in touch with my friends. With Twitter, I use it mainly to follow the authoritative people in the fields that I’m interested in and see not only what they are up to, but usually get a glimpse in the way they are thinking and communicating with others.