Top 5 Social Media Marketing Tips For Freelance Designers
Becoming a Freelancer takes a lot of proactivity and discipline for it to pay off- You need to focus on expanding your client base, brushing up the quality of your work, growing your network, calculating finances and endure long hours of working on a project without giving into the temptation to take more breaks. As simple as it sounds, people often find out exactly how daunting it could be when they are placed in the situation themselves.
But apart from job boards and the like, here’s how you can begin growing your network and reel in the big fishes: Social Media Marketing.
1. Create and regularly update a blog
As someone who is new to freelancing online, the first step you have to do is help clients find and know you based on your expertise. So create a blog or a website to hold the content you produce and demonstrate your knowledge/skills. Remember to leave your contact details so that your potential clients know exactly how to reach you when they need to.
You should also take this opportunity to allow potential clients to know what your work entails. And while clients know that they need something completed, they don’t exactly know the nitty gritty details involved all the time. So take this chance to educate, provide insight on the different elements of your job and how everything fits together – place yourself in a position where it seems like you are a figure of authority in this field.
People as a whole are more inclined to trust others who ‘give’ but do not appear to be ‘taking’. So be generous, helpful, and professional. Show them they can rely on you to be transparent and responsible.
2. Broadcast using Social Media
Start making splashes in the social media scene! Create a profile, page, account on different social media platforms and start using those to get yourself noticed by placing up some samples of your work. Be engaging, genuine and authentic, market yourself as an expert in your field too by scheduling links off your work and blog occasionally and encouraging others to follow or comment.
Follow, like and interact with potential clients as well as corporations/publications that you aspire to work with and build up a basic friendship with them occasionally. Do not immediately start ‘selling’ your work.
People are disillusioned by that quickly and are likely to ignore you.
Focus instead on genuinely reaching out to others with advice, resources, assistance, and showcase your work- let them know you’re interested in exploring different mediums and creating different content beyond what you already have.
3. Networking
Expanding your network can be crucial when it comes to starting out as a freelance designer. Platforms like LinkedIn are specifically built for staying connected in circles with others who are in the same profession as you. Reach out to them and forge authentic connections. Get yourself noticed. Participate in groups, forums, discussions, share advice and knowledge. Regularly touch base online and offline with people from your industry or your client’s and join meet up events.
Reach out to others and form connections. Who knows, you may just earn yourself a referral in the process! If the customers are searching for something you specialize in, don’t be afraid to volunteer and say you would love to work with them.
4. Guest Post
Spend a measure of time researching to see who the big ballers are in the freelancing industry and narrow down to a list of those whom are willing to accept guest posting and new content. Guest posting on someone else’s website/blog/social media is actually an effective way of getting started with earning traffic to your own blog! If done right, it can get you noticed by the right kind of crowd and score you a freelance job. Display your knowledge and skill set by showing how you can generate traffic as well as growth for your collaborators and check out the results!
5. Directories and freelancer platforms
These sources are good to consider trying out as well. Submit your professional details and portfolios to directories that others use to both earn yourself visibility through improved search rankings as well as earn potential business opportunities. Then there are sites where you can regularly contribute content and backlink to your very own site, encouraging others to visit and communicate with you.
You can also consider signing up for freelancer platforms like Fiverr and build up your portfolio plus score yourself a chance to collaborate with corporations.