If you’ve mastered a specific skill, why don’t you try freelancing job? It may be a fulfilling journey to follow your passion and work based on your own pace. With social media at your fingertips, you’ve got easy access to show off your capabilities.
Social media helps you build a virtual portfolio, where you can present your projects and demonstrate your skills. Better still, you can share success stories from satisfied clients to add some serious credibility and reel in even more businesses.
But how do you make the most of these platforms? Well, we’ve put together eight simple tips to promote your skills on social media. These tips will help you build an effective marketing strategy. So, let’s dive into the details!
Optimize Your Online Profiles
First, decide what social media platforms you use to market your skills. We recommend using LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram as they have the biggest communities. These platforms offer versatile ways to connect with potential clients..
Then, optimize your online profile. This is an important step because your social media profiles are your digital business card. Ensure you fill in the necessary information and use a high-quality profile picture to create a professional image.
In your bio section, write a concise and compelling description highlighting your skills, services, and what sets you apart from others. Include relevant keywords that potential clients might search for. Your keywords can be related to your skills, niche, or target clients.
In addition, ensure that all contact information is up-to-date and easily accessible. Add your website or portfolio link, and leverage platform-specific features like LinkedIn’s summary sections and Instagram’s bio link.
Build an Online Portfolio
As a freelancer, you must have a well-organized online portfolio. Displaying your projects through your portfolio helps demonstrate your capabilities to potential clients and employers.
You can include your best projects with well-written descriptions to provide context and highlight the value you delivered. If you’re showcasing visuals like images or videos, ensure the quality of your content is top-notch.
Consider leveraging platforms like Behance and Dribble and add the links to your social media account. You can also host your portfolio through websites like Wix or Squarespace.
Update your portfolio regularly to include recent projects and remove outdated work. A well-maintained portfolio reflects your ongoing commitment.
Join Relevant Groups and Communities
Social media is an excellent place for networking. One way to broaden your network is to join relevant online groups. This can help you gain visibility, meet new opportunities, and find potential clients.
LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, and other platforms host numerous groups. Professionals often gather to discuss industry trends, gain constructive feedback, and seek advice in these groups. If you’re lucky, you may also find project opportunities.
Start by joining a few active and well-moderated groups. Avoid over-self-promotion and focus on adding value to the community. However, many groups have specific days or threads for self-promotion or sharing work, so always be ready to take advantage of these opportunities.
Connect with Potential Clients
Most of the time, you need to be proactive as a freelancer. First, identify your target clients and the platforms they frequent. For instance, your target infrastructure businesses like MGK Asia. You can go to their LinkedIn or Facebook page to make connections.
Once you’ve found your potential clients, start engaging with their content through thoughtful comments. If possible, personalize your connection requests with a brief introduction and an explanation of why you’re interested in connecting.
When appropriate, send direct messages to introduce yourself more formally. Along with this, offer your services and suggest how you can add value to their business. Developing these relationships takes time, so be patient and persistent without being pushy.
Share Client Testimonials
Testimonials and reviews from your happy and satisfied clients are powerful tools for building digital credibility. They are eye-catching to potential clients. Words from them provide social proof that you deliver high-quality work and can meet client expectations.
You can ask clients for a written or video review. Be specific in your request to guide them and highlight particular aspects of your service, such as your professionalism, expertise, and the results you achieved.
Share these testimonials on your social media profiles, website, and portfolio. Consider using eye-catching graphics or videos to make them stand out. You can also create dedicated posts that tell the story of your collaboration with the client.
Enrich Your Feed with Quality Content
Quality content is the lifeblood of social media. You must have quality content to attract and retain followers. Meanwhile, to engage audiences, your content must be informative or entertaining.
Ideally, your posts should demonstrate your expertise. For educational content, you can create tips, tutorials, industry insights, and how-to guides related to your field. These types of content are great for LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, fun content can be behind-the-scenes and challenges. You can post more entertaining content on TikTok and Instagram.
We recommend creating various content, including written posts, images, and videos. Explainer videos are especially effective in driving engagement on social media. Also, maintain consistency when posting on your account.
Optimize Social Media Content
Regularly posting content on your social media accounts is not enough. When it comes to social media content, optimization is a rule of thumb. However, optimization strategies for each social media can be different.
For example, use Instagram Stories and Reels, Facebook Live, LinkedIn Articles, and Twitter Threads to diversify your content. Moreover, incorporate relevant and specific keywords into your content metadata.
Moreover, add hashtags and tags wherever necessary. Specific hashtags and keywords help categorize your content and make it discoverable to search engines and people searching for those topics.
Use Analytics
Social media can be a source of insights for you. Use the analytic feature to see how your content resonates with audiences. The metric results from analytics can help you with decision-making process.
Learn crucial metrics like engagement rate, impression, follower growth, and impressions. You can also gain more in-depth insights by utilizing platform-specific tools. For example, Facebook has Facebook Insights, Instagram has Instagram Insights, Twitter has Twitter Analytics, and LinkedIn has LinkedIn Analytics.
Monitor your analytics regularly to stay updated on your performance. Weekly or monthly reviews help you identify trends, track progress toward your goals, and spot areas that need improvement.
Takeaway
Promoting your freelance skills on social media is an ongoing process. Dedication is key to upgrading your skills and portfolio over time. The above tips can help you build a strong online presence and find opportunities in your target market.
Stay consistent and keep refining your approach based on insights and feedback. Also, engage with relevant communities to help you meet new opportunities and achieve long-term success in your freelancing career.
This article is written by:
Andre Oentoro
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning animation video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos.
