5 Reasons Freelancers Can’t Ignore Twitter
Posted October 5, 2009 in Marketing, Social Media 24 Comments »
These days, it seems like Twitter is unstoppable. It’s all over the web, talked about on TV, and lately I’ve even been receiving corporate brochures with company twitter accounts listed.
Twitter is becoming a mainstream business and networking tool, and it can provide power and reach for your freelancing business that can’t be ignored. I have personally been a Twitter user since 2007, and my active presence on twitter has become one of my most valuable business assets.
People are using twitter in many different ways. Some use it to network, some to sell products, and then there are some who even use twitter to turn lights on and off at their homes. Lets quick take a look at a few reasons that every freelancer should be using twitter.
Twitter Is a Great Personal Branding Tool
The ability to easily connect with other like minded people is the core idea behind twitter. If used properly, twitter can help you build a personal brand that can provide a lot of benefits in the long run. If you engage and provide valuable “tweets” to your followers, it is likely they will recommend you to others. The key to using twitter as a freelancer is to be who you are, not as a business, but as a person so that people can see the “personal” aspect of you. If you can develop a trustworthy and personal relationship with your followers on twitter, you can easily establish a “personal brand” that will be hard to ignore.
Of course, if you are shooting for numbers alone, this might not be the case, but if you are shooting for exposure and fame in a certain niche, with continued participation and valuable tweets, you can certainly beat the competition and establish yourself as a powerful brand.
It’s Easy to Start Using Twitter
Twitter is the ultimate platform to build relationship, there is no question about that. The simplicity of Twitter is what makes it one of the most effective networking tools on the web. If you are a web designer, you can easily mix into the circle of web designers on twitter and interact with freelancers who are authorities in your particular field. And if you are an authority, it allows others to gain access to you easily. If utilized properly these online relationships can turn into mutually beneficial business connections that can help both parties.
Twitter allows you to become part of that conversation and use it to expand your freelancing business.
Twitter is Your Personal “Information Bank”
I have become quite dependent on twitter whenever I am looking for answers. Before I became really active on Twitter, Google was my savior. However, once I started using twitter I ended up becoming more and more dependent on the real-time information that twitter can provide. Whether it’s related to Wordpress, or helping my kids with homework, I have been known to ask questions on twitter and I often receive great answers.
If you are active on twitter and communicate with your followers, they will come to your rescue when you need a solution. The best part of twitter is the fact that you don’t have to wait for an answer for too long. If you have 500 people following and you are an active user, I can guarantee there will be someone who knows the answer to your question. It’s one of the best platforms to run surveys and ask any other questions where you are having problems coming up with an answer.
The Fastest Way To Make Your Content Go Viral
Anyone who runs a blog wants their content to go viral on social media — the benefits of that are obviously huge. One of the key reasons Twitter is enjoyed by so many is because it carries an element of “instant gratification.” For example, if you write a post that has some “breaking news,” it will take a while for it to spread through platforms such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon etc., but if it’s a worthy snippet of breaking news, your content will spread in no time via twitter and you won’t have to worry about your article becoming stale.
This doesn’t apply to news alone, either. If you have really good content (and a good headline) then it is bound to go viral on twitter. And of course, all those people who you have been interacting with on twitter will also help you spread your message/content. If you’ve got something that is worthy of being seen/read, twitter is the platform that will help you make it happen, fast.
Twitter Is Great to Find or Outsource Work
When it comes to landing work via Twitter, I can personally vouch for it being effective. I have never really looked for job on Twitter, but I have had quite a few clients who have found me through Twitter. The main thing you need to keep in mind is that active participation is key. If you are active and keep your tweets relevant, there will be someone who will notice and be ready to give you an opportunity.
Another way to find work on Twitter is by using the search feature. Simply type “freelance work” or “freelance writer,” etc. and see what comes up (use other keywords as well while searching for freelance work on twitter). There are thousands of jobs floating around on Twitter each day and I am sure you will find something that is relevant to you. Just as you can use this platform to find jobs, you can also use it to outsource work. All in all, Twitter in my opinion is one of the best freelancing job board and outsourcing platforms.
More Social Media Articles from FreelanceFolder
If you like these five twitter tips, you might also be interested in these other social media articles from FreelanceFolder:
- 35+ Social Media Tools That Make Life Easier
- 15 Useful Twitter Tools For Web Workers
- Social Media Basics For Freelancers
- How To Be Genuine and Nice in a Web 2.0 World
- 5 Simple Steps To Rock Social Media
Leave Your Tips
What are your thoughts on using twitter for freelancing? Do any of you experienced social media users have tips for the newer freelancers?
By the way, don’t forget to follow @freelancefolder on Twitter, and feel free to drop your twitter handle in your comments.
About the author: Ritu is a freelance writer who has been involved in social media for several years. At the moment he is working on a variety of projects, but is always open to new ideas. Contact him at email(at)ritubpant(dot)com or follow @ritubpant on twitter.
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24 Comments
Amber Weinberg
October 5th, 2009 at 12:36 pmI’ve been using Twitter personally to market my blog and to retweet others’ great posts. I also use tweetdeck to automatically search for my keyword terms; for anyone looking for web design or development.
Jesaka Long
October 5th, 2009 at 4:16 pmI’ve found Twitter to be a great way to gain blog traffic, usually from other people posting a link to me. It’s also been a good way for me to network with fellow freelancers and bloggers–and even break the ice with editors. Although it did take a me a little time to build up quality followers and truly understand how to use Twitter, it was definitely worth it!
Mike
October 6th, 2009 at 3:57 amNot wanting to sound too negative, but I haven’t seen the advantage of Twitter over the likes of Facebook, and I know that they operate in different ways but to me I haven’t seen any great reason to send out a constant stream of tweets. Having said that from reading this article I can see that there are benefits but I haven’t caught the bug yet.
FreelanceShack
October 6th, 2009 at 10:00 amI find that twitter updates are giving me good traffic and network. Nice post btw.
Gary Gorman
October 6th, 2009 at 2:38 pmExcellent article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Freelance Jobs
October 7th, 2009 at 6:22 amGerat post. We use twitter to post freelance jobs from a bunch of sites.
Ritu
October 7th, 2009 at 9:18 amAmber and Jesaka, yup Twitter can be quite liberating both as a work tool and personal networking tool if you take the time to manage and build meaningful relationships. :0
Mike, thanks for telling us exactly how you feel about twitter. Although there are many that find twitter useful, it’s still considered to be a productivity “sucker” for many. I guess it all depends on how you manage and utilize the platform.
Thanks to rest for sharing your thoughts.
Elizabeth
October 15th, 2009 at 2:54 amThis a great post. I was not sure if I should join Twitter for a long time; never understood the hype associated with it. Once I tried it, I understood the power of Twitter :) This article makes great points. Keep writing.
Find me here:
http://twitter.com/liztweetybird
Jan Middleton
October 19th, 2009 at 10:43 amTwitter has gotten the attention of many big companies and even some government offices. The sky is the limit with Twitter. I think this is only the beginning with them.
But, I have a question about our already micro minute addicted society…will Twitter just make us demand even more that our communications be shorter and shorter?
E'Anne Frye
October 20th, 2009 at 3:12 amThanks. This is great information. I’m relatively new to twitter. I’ve been here little over two months. I’m learning little by little how to do this social media networking, but still so very new. I really do appreciate this kind of work.
I don’t have my own website, yet, except for the blog at wordpress.com, The other websites are company owned. Please read and comment on my blog if you wish–even if you don’t agree. I’d still like to hear from you. The blog address is http://www.eannefrye.wordpress.com. (Hope that is okay to say here.) Also, please follow me on twitter. I’m the KansasLimuLady.
Ilya
January 28th, 2010 at 3:26 amStill can’t see advantages of tweeter
Rhonda B
January 28th, 2010 at 12:37 pmThese reasons are so true. I first joined just to get into social media and thought “I don’t know if I can get into this, it’s not me.” But now I enjoy being on twitter because the more you connect the more you hear about the latest design news, tuts and more. Also there are so many graphic designers to network with. Plus you can connect with clients on a different level.
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