How To Power-Up Your Professional Profile On Social Media

Don’t let your Twitter just sit there.

Social media means a lot of things to a lot of people. There are times when it reminds me of the old story about the five blind men and the elephant. Five blind men encounter an elephant, feel different parts of the animal — trunk, tail, sides, ears, tusks — then come away with five different impressions of what an elephant is.

That’s not too different from how people perceive social media. Unless you’ve spent a lot of time on social media, you may not have a full concept of its potential to help your freelance business or side hustle.

People could be missing out on a wealth of opportunities by ignoring social media or not using it to their advantage.

The good news is that it’s never too late to get started.

Why aren’t you using social media?

Truth be told, it can be overwhelming.

For a long time, it seemed like just the worldwide web was enough. I mean, it’s right there in the term worldwide web. Then social media came along — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so forth. Suddenly, content exploded beyond all reason.

Everyone who wanted a voice found one. Sometimes several voices.

Here are some numbers to consider:

• There are 330 million monthly active users and 145 million daily users on Twitter.
• A billion people use Instagram every month.
• There are around 2.7 billion active Facebook users.

One person can’t keep track of all that chatter.

So, it’s understandable that many find social media spaces to be a lot to handle. Sitting down to an endless stream of even micro-content can make you wonder if there is any real value to it at all.

Surely, you have better things to do.

Why you should reconsider your stance on social media

The thing is, there are a lot of opportunities to be had on social media — especially for freelancers and side-hustlers.

Can you think of a better way to get the word out on your services or product for practically no cost?

If you’re not a regular social media user, dealing with Twitter or Instagram may seem like a chore. But just as one needs to take care of chores around the house to make it livable, so, too, do you need to take care of a few tasks related to your freelance business to keep it growing.

Just as you’d handle things like billing, accounting, and marketing, social media should be considered another part of making your business function and — better yet — flourish.

What to do on social media

Here are some ways you can use social media to boost your business’s visibility.

• Project announcements
• Promotions
• Special offers
• Post images of products, book covers, works in progress, behind-the-scenes stuff
• Get to know and/or network with fellow solo entrepreneurs
• Get to know and/or network with potential clients
• Lead followers to portfolio materials
• Links to Etsy, Amazon, Redbubble, or wherever you sell things
• Build your email list
• Share links to recent blog posts
• Retweet or share on-topic news
• Follow or friend people connected to your interests either as colleagues, customers, or even potential mentors

Also…

Even if you’re not really feeling personal enthusiasm for social media, it’s important to give the impression you’re engaged with your followers, the people you follow, and the overall community.

It’s harder for people to get interested in you or feel connected if the only things you post are about your services or products alone. Make sure to also:

• Like and “favorite” other people’s posts
• Comment on posts. Even get into conversations
• Post off-topic stuff on occasion. Examples could include funny memes, “dad” jokes, snippets of your personal life, and inspiring quotes.
• Retweet or share other posts looking for a signal boost related to topics or causes you support. Try to avoid heavy politics or other sensitive issues — unless that’s the sort of thing you already promote.

How much social media per day is enough?

And the answer differs from person to person. If you can see where your links are getting clicked from, you can tell what social media areas work and what needs improvement. If you’re not getting much engagement, you might need to do more.

As for the daily routine, I would recommend at least two posts a day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon. That seems to work well for me. If you’re looking for a more statistical breakdown of best times and days, this report from CoSchedule goes into more detail.

You can also schedule your posts with apps like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Buffer. Instead of blocking out a bit of time in the morning and afternoon for social media chores, you can schedule a larger block on (for example) Sunday and organize the week’s posts to go out automatically. Most apps also have analytics available so you can see how your posts are doing.

Is social media worth the effort?

Social media accounts cost nothing. You may have to deal with targeted ads and some faceless data collection, but otherwise, your only investment is time.

Not having an active social media presence means you’re missing out on a whole segment of potential clients and customers. As a freelance writer, most of my clients this past year were people who saw me on Facebook and Twitter. As a book designer, Facebook and Instagram served me well. Twitter and Instagram helped me sell a bunch of t-shirts and stickers.

Results vary, certainly, but you can build your freelance business or side hustle by investing a little time on social media.

Or you could hope for word-of-mouth and possibly having your website show up on Google (page 7, down at the bottom) to build your business.

Your choice.

It’s worth a shot

If you want your freelance business or side hustle to take off, you have to get the word out. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, and a host of others are just sitting there waiting for you.

Give social media a fair shot at growing your business. Use it to maximize your presence and — more importantly — the presence of your product or service.

And maybe make a few new friends while you’re at it.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.