There are unlimited social media platforms. Writers should stick to these.
As a freelance writer, social media is your friend. If you’re able to build a presence or following on social media, it’ll only ever help you as a writer.
You can share an insight into your personality, examples of your work, and stay connected with prospective and current clients. That eBook that you’ve been writing? If you have a community already established, they might just buy it from you, and share it with their friends.
The truth is, social media has become undeniably woven into our daily lives whether we like it or not. And it’s here to stay.
It’s a way to connect with friends, share information about your life, and create web content. This content might be shared for fun, or for profit. Or a combination of the both.
Social media isn’t just Facebook and Instagram. It’s Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and so many more. All these different types of people utilize different social media channels.
So let’s just jump right in. Here are the three social media platforms that I think are best for writers. They’re free, popular, simple to use, and effective ways to grow. I’ll explain why.
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
There are more than 740 million people are on the professional networking platform LinkedIn. Professional networking platform? It’s basically social media for business people. Looking for a job? LinkedIn. Want to check out your interviewers background to find common ground before an interview? LinkedIn.
But did you also know that you can post blogs on LinkedIn? LinkedIn is one of the most effective platforms for writers. It generates 227 more leads than Facebook or Twitter, perhaps because it’s considered more ‘serious’. While some people do, I’m sure, still share pictures of their cats and new shoes on LinkedIn, it’s predominantly filled with content about business and career development.
You can publish content directly on LinkedIn, just like you would do on any blogging platform. The benefit is that your target customers are probably more likely to be on LinkedIn than any other social media platform. Why? Because marketers are trying to hire a writer for their brand, and LinkedIn is one of the biggest job search sites on the web today. In fact, three people are hired every single minute for jobs on LinkedIn.
Let’s say a company is looking for a freelance writer to manage their company blog, it’s safe to say that LinkedIn is one of the first places they’re going to look. So make yourself known!
The way I’d use LinkedIn is to post content about freelance writing, marketing, or SEO blogging, for example. I would save the health and fitness content for other platforms, like Instagram, where the marketing is a little more subtle (I’ll come onto this later).
Blogging on LinkedIn is free, and it’ll get organically pushed out to the right people. When these people read your blog, they’ll have direct access to learn more about your background from your profile, or even contact you straight away.
Part of the appeal of LinkedIn is that users are looking for more information related to their industry or role. It’s a platform centered around career development. Now is your chance to use your writing skills to position yourself as an authority. If someone wants to search more about the benefits of having a blog for marketing, you want your article to be number one. You are positioning yourself as the go-to guy or gal for writing online.
When you do post valuable content, there are opportunities for your content to go viral. Users can like, share, or repost your content much like on Facebook. However the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn is that the users who re-share your valuable LinkedIn blog are also benefiting themselves. By resharing thought pieces in their chosen field, they are showing to their audience that they are ahead of the curve. Resharing a ton of content on Facebook just doesn’t land the same.
Don’t worry, if you don’t want to try and work your way around a new site, you don’t have to write and post directly on LinkedIn! You can also use it to share blog posts from your website or other writing platform like Medium.
Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site where users can post bite-sized posts known as tweets. You can consider it as a ‘micro-blog’. In just 280 characters or less, you can share information. You might be questioning the benefit of this as a writer — you have valuable content that can’t be condensed to a measly 280 characters!
But you’ll have to trust the process. As a writer you should be able to finesse a one-liner better than the average Joe or Jane. Thus, using Twitter can be a way to share your take on things, or simply link to longer-form content on other platforms, like Medium.
Another tool you can use on Twitter is threads. A Twitter threat is a series of connected tweets from one user. This can be an opportunity to add context, an update, or simply a longer piece of writing separated into single tweets. What’s the point of this? It adds excitement. It creates a page-turner effect. You can combine a more serious tweet with a punchline tweet, which can really add dimension to you as a writer.
For writers, Twitter can be a way to post updates about your book launches, blog posts, featured posts, newsletters and more. Or if you’re simply a writer looking to get hired to write for brands, you can reach out to them on Twitter.
Instagram
I use Instagram as my social media platform of choice. Why? I’m a basic millennial creative that enjoys snapping pictures. But I have also had a lot of success as a writer directly from Instagram.
I started my journey to become a health and fitness writer by posting relevant fitness content with well-thought out captions. I included research, bullet-points, and interesting takeaways in the caption that gave my prospective clients a sneak peek into my writing style.
Here’s my full story on how I used Instagram to grow my freelance writing business:
When the content got more reach, my profile got more visibility. That means more people went through to my website, or just saw that I’m a health and fitness writer offering writing services. When these brands wanted to hire a writer, I sprang to mind. That’s not my opinion, that’s something I was consistently told by many brands that I started writing for. “I found you on Instagram!”. You never know who is looking at your socials!
I never had more than around 10,000 followers and in the grand scheme of Instagram, that is miniscule. However, as per Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans theory — all you really need to be a successful creator is 1,000 true fans. Or in my case, Instagram followers. 1,000 followers is all you need to get visibility as a writer.
Marketing is expensive. Social media is free.
Those are my top social media platforms for a writer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try other platforms. Some writers use TikTok to post writing tips and have gone viral. One thing I’ve learned about social media as a writer is this — don’t snub it til you try it!
Marketing through social media is a highly versatile and cost-effective strategy that any freelancer can use to boost their sales and client base organically. That’s why 97% of marketers are using social media to reach their audiences.
Marketing is expensive, I get it. But what if I told you that you can market through social media from as little as $2.50 and reach more people than you would have through traditional media? This is the reality of social media.
A recent report found that 84% of marketers were able to generate increased traffic with as little as six hours of effort spent on social media per week. Running paid ads on channels like Facebook and Twitter can be done at a very low cost and if done correctly target potential customers, have a greater reach and convert new leads.
According to some recent research, 70% of the US population has at least one social media profile and 2.5 billion people globally use social media on a daily basis. 95% of adults aged 18 to 34 who use social media follow brands on social media. This is usually because the brand provides content that they know their target audience will get value from.
In short: the people who are interested in hiring you as a writer, are on social media. You have direct access to them if you simply look for them. Posting enticing, entertaining or informative content online can create a direct path from your prospective client right to your doorstep.
I have been able to scale my freelance writing business up to $10k a month by using Instagram and Fiverr. I’ve condensed everything I’ve learned into a book, which will launch Friday November 11, 2022. Click here to sign up for the release.
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