Summary

The web content provides a comprehensive guide to creating a social media strategy tailored for freelancers, emphasizing the importance of understanding your audience, selecting the right platforms, creating valuable content, and engaging actively with your community.

Abstract

The article "The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Social Media Strategy for Your Freelance Business" offers actionable advice for freelancers looking to enhance their online presence. It outlines a five-stage process beginning with the creation of a 'follower persona' to target the ideal audience effectively. The guide advises on selecting appropriate social media platforms based on where your target audience is most active and engaged. It stresses the significance of producing and curating high-quality content that reflects your expertise and addresses the needs of your followers. The article also underscores the necessity of consistent engagement and interaction on social media to build trust and convert followers into clients. By following the recommended strategies and maintaining a disciplined approach to content scheduling and interaction, freelancers can establish a strong online brand identity that fosters growth and client acquisition.

Opinions

The author believes that a one-size-fits-all approach to social media strategy is ineffective and that freelancers must tailor their strategies to their unique business needs and audience.
It is suggested that the process of developing a social media strategy may be challenging and iterative, requiring patience and persistence.
The article posits that the primary goal of a social media strategy is to convert followers into paying customers, rather than merely accumulating a large number of followers.
Engaging with the right followers is considered more important than reaching a broad audience, with the concept of a 'follower persona' being central to this approach.
The guide advises against spreading one's strategy too thin across multiple platforms, advocating instead for a focused effort on platforms where the target audience is most active.
Original content should be valuable and relevant, serving to demonstrate the freelancer's expertise and solve problems for the audience.
Curating content from other experts is seen as a way to add value, provided it complements the freelancer's own work and includes unique insights or commentary.
A consistent posting schedule is recommended, with specific suggestions provided for different social media platforms.
The article emphasizes the importance of being proactive in social interactions on platforms, suggesting that this is crucial for building trust and establishing a professional presence online.
The author encourages freelancers to start developing their social media strategy immediately, rather than waiting until their business is more established.

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Social Media Strategy for Your Freelance Business

Actionable tips and techniques to help build or refresh your social media strategy

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

Social media strategies aren’t one-size-fit-all. And nine times out ten, you’re not going to get it right the first time.

Creating a social media strategy for your business is tedious. You’ll be frustrated and you’ll want to quit. You’ll even question if your followers can tell the photo you posted on Instagram is totally staged.

But I’m here to tell you none of that matters.

The only thing you have to worry about is converting followers, viewers, and friends into hungry and happy customers.

It can all seem a bit overwhelming, but before you try any strategies, you have to do something very important first.

Stage 1: Creating your “follower persona”

It’s important to engage with the followers who want what you’re selling. When you’re growing a business or brand, you need to narrow down your prospects to a specific industry and find your target customer.

This is what marketers call a buyer persona, but since we’re talking about social media, a follower persona is more fitting.

If you already know your follower persona, putting together a strategy is going to be ten times more effective, so you can probably skip this stage unless you want a quick recap.

If not, you might want to stick around for a quick crash course:

Examine your brand

Your brand should be the main source of your follower persona. Here’s three questions you need to ask yourself to start:

What services/products am I providing?
Who needs my services/products?
What problem does my service or product fix?

Once you answer all three questions, you’re ready to start creating a blueprint of your ideal follower.

Select target demographics

First, let me just say there are tons of demographics you can focus on, but I’m going to give you five to begin:

Age
Gender
Profession
Education
Job industry

Define each of these demographics for your services & products. For example, if you’re selling copywriting services for beauty brands, you’d be looking for women entrepreneurs between the ages of 21 and 35 that don’t have a web designer.

Once you find a consistent trend across these five demographics, you can begin to find real followers who match your ideal follower.

Stage 2: Find your followers

If you think you need to use every social media platform that ever existed to grow your business, think again.

Your strategy won’t be solid if you stretch it too thin, and promoting your content across several platforms won’t get you the results you want.

If you want a strategy that’s strong, carve out some time every day to research where your target followers like to hang out.

Is your follower persona is an interior designer? Instagram might be where you need to look. Are they an entrepreneur with multiple start-ups? Angellist would be a great place to start.

Don’t be afraid to venture into unknown territory, because your tribe could be right around the corner.

Stage 3: Start creating content to share

Having an arsenal of content ready to share is key to kick-starting your strategy the right way.

It’s important that your content relevant and serves your target audience. Sharing this type of content builds trust with your followers and shows that you are an expert in your field.

Creating your own content

The content you create should always tie into the services you offer. For example, if you offer brand development, sharing an article about logo trends or posting a short video about color schemes is a step in the right direction.

Your social media for your freelance business is an interactive portfolio. Whether you’re sharing visuals on pinterest or publishing an article, make sure the information you’re sharing is valuable. Your content shouldn’t just convert readers or viewers to followers, but to leads as well.

Curate relevant content from other experts

Sharing other freelancers or bloggers’ content on your social media can be a slippery slope.

You don’t want to saturate your social media with other people’s work and leave only a corner for yourself. You should only share valuable content from other sources that highlight your work as well.

Here’s a step by step on how to do exactly that:

Share the post (don’t forget to cite it if it’s not your original work)
Add valuable and unique insight with a caption or quote when you share the post
Get in touch with the original author of the content and ask if they’d be interested in sharing your content as well. It’s a win-win, and the worst they can say is no or no response at all.

Commit to a post schedule

When creating a post schedule, you’re mostly focused on when you should be posting, which varies for every business.

There’s all different kinds of account analytics that can help you figure out your best time to post, but I find that this schedule works for basically any business:

Facebook: 1–2 posts/day
Instagram: 1–3 posts/day
Twitter: 10–20 tweets/day
LinkedIn: 2 posts/day
Pinterest: 10–20 pins/day

As for the scheduling part, that’s completely up to you. There are tons of apps out there that help make scheduling less of a headache and more automated. Social media scheduling apps, Buffer and CoSchedule are well-equipped and are personally my favorites.

Stage 4: It’s time to get social

The hardest part about a social media strategy for many freelancers is actually being social.

The whole purpose of this step is to build a trustworthy relationship with prospective clients and establish a trustworthy presence online.

Being consistently sociable can become overwhelming, unless you have a checklist for each platform:

Facebook

Use Facebook Groups to comment on relevant discussions.
Add prospective clients as friends.
Add other freelancers as friends.
Share 1 post per day on your personal profile or business page.
Share 1 post per week in specialized Facebook groups.
Comment on prospective clients’ posts.
Comment on other freelancer’s posts.
Post behind-the-scenes moments on your profile or business Facebook Page.

Instagram

Share 1 picture every day about your freelance business
Share a day-in-the-life moment on your Instagram stories at least once a day.
Follow prospective clients
Follow other freelancers in your industry
Add relevant hashtags to every post.
Comment on prospective clients posts.
Comment on other freelancers’ posts.
Update your “Highlights” stories once every two weeks.

Twitter

Post 10–20 original tweets every day.
Only tweet relevant content that wins you clients.
Retweet posts related to your industry and your services from other credible freelancers.
Retweet posts related to your industry from your followers.
Follow new people every week.
Don’t ignore DM’s and mentions. Always respond in a timely manner.
Be original and be yourself.

Share 1 blog post or article every week.
Share 1 blog post or article every week in relevant industry groups.
Engage in group discussions on LinkedIn relevant to your industry.
Connect with prospective clients.
Connect with other freelancers within your industry.
Comment on prospective clients posts and updates.
Comment on other freelancers’ posts and updates.

Design pins using Canva for your popular articles and blog posts.
Post pins with links to articles and blog posts.
Create boards that relate to your services (i.e. Brand Design Tips, Resources for Web Design).
Add the pins you create to your boards when you post new original content.
Add news pins to your boards once a week.
Repin relevant pins from other credible freelancers and Pinterest accounts.

Stage 5: Time to roll up your sleeves and get started

The hardest part about creating a social media strategy is beginning the process. Don’t make the mistake of waiting to develop your social media accounts until after you’re established — start today!

The relationships you create on social media with prospective clients and fellow freelancers are valuable and they matter.

Your social media strategy fosters trust and connection with an entire network of people, and that’s something every business needs to grow.