7+ Social Media Resources You Probably Should Be Using for Your Freelancing Business
Posted February 25, 2013 in Social Media, Tools/Resources
Are you getting the most from your social media participation?
Most experienced freelancers already understand the benefits of being involved in social media. They already know that social media is a great (and still mostly free) option for networking, getting the word out, and other types of marketing.
But most freelancers don’t really make the most of the social networks that they are in. Many social networks contain features that would be of help to freelancers–if only they knew about them.
In this post, I’m taking a deeper look at Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. I’ll highlight over seven little-known features for these platforms that you could be using for your freelancing business.
Facebook Features You Probably Don’t Use
Facebook remains one of the most popular social networking tools. It seems that nearly everyone is on Facebook, and your clients probably are too.
Many freelancers overlook the following Facebook features:
- Facebook Groups. Facebook groups allows anyone with a personal Facebook profile create a group of people with common interests. You can create a group and share relevant information only with the group members. You can also control the privacy of the group so only members can see what is posted there. You can also search for public groups by setting your Facebook search filter to groups.
- Facebook Interest Lists. This is a relatively new tool (March 2012) that lets you organize your Facebook News Feed. This tool lets you group posts about similar topics together. If you get a ton of posts and would like to organize them, this can help you. The downside is that you need to remember to check your interest lists.
If you learn to use these tools, and use them well, your freelancing business could benefit.
Google+ Features You Probably Don’t Use
Google+ is a great social networking tool for freelancers. Although most people may think of Google as mainly a search engine, Google+ has quite a respectable following, which makes it a good place for freelancers.
Here are two Google+ tools that many freelancers don’t use:
- Google+ Communities. Google+ Communities is comparable to Facebook Groups. This tool lets a group of people join together to share material that they are all interested in. You can own, moderate, or join a group as a member. You can also search for communities that are related to your interests.
- Google+ Local. The Google+ Local tool is great way for you to be found by nearby clients. To set up, you need to claim your business using Google’s Places for Business. Once you have done this, you can control the content on your local page, which will appear on Google+ and in the search engine. It’s important to link your local page back to your website so that prospective clients can learn more about you.
LinkedIn Features You Probably Don’t Use
LinkedIn has the reputation of being the social media business tool, and the reputation is well-deserved. Nearly all large corporations are represented here.
If your freelancing clients are businesses, you need a presence on LinkedIn. Here are two LinkedIn features that many freelancers overlook:
- LinkedIn Groups. Like Facebook Groups and Google+ Communities, LinkedIn groups lets you connect with others who have similar interests. LinkedIn Groups have been around for a while, so there’s a group for nearly everything. You can also start your own group. Be sure to take part in the discussions.
- LinkedIn Company Pages. Having a LinkedIn Company page gives you a business profile you can control on this professional network. Company pages have recently been updated to be more visual. Interested people can now also follow your company page, which allows them to see information that you share n their news stream.
A Pinterest Feature You Probably Don’t Use
Pinterest is a great new visually-oriented social media. It’s especially popular for businesses that sell products because the images can easily be shared. If your freelancing business markets a product, this could be a good social media tool for you.
What many freelancers don’t realize is that Pinterest recently set up Business Pages. Here’s what you need to know:
- Pinterest Business Pages. Pinterest will let you convert your original account to a business account, or you can sign up for a new business account. A business account allows you to create a public profile on Pinterest that includes your website. If your clients are active on Pinterest, this can be a great way to build up a community.
A Twitter Feature You Probably Don’t Use
Twitter started with a simple concept. Share what you are doing in 140 characters or less. It’s grown to the point where it is now one of the most popular social media sites. But even if you already use Twitter, there are features you probably don’t know about. Here is one of those:
- Twitter Lists. This tool lets you organize your followers into categories. You can then view the tweets by category. So, if you have a Twitter List for clients, you can view just their tweets to learn what your clients are talking about. Likewise, you can have a Twitter List for industry news and just view those tweets.
Your Turn
What are your favorite little-known social media features and how do you use them? Share your answers in the comments.
Related posts:
- Open Thread: Have You Changed How You Do Social Media?
- Embracing Social Media as Freelance Job Search Tool
- 4 More New Social Media Trends for Freelancers to Explore
- The Top 10 Social Media Options for Freelancers & Small Business Owners
- You May Be Addicted to Social Media If…
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 20 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts. Laura is also on Google+.
The Unlimited Freelancer is Now Only $19
Unleash the true potential of your business. Get The Unlimited Freelancer and start transforming your freelance business,
now only $19.
Try searching "Getting Clients" or "Productivity"
Free Report
Sign up for our product discount list to get a free copy of Why Some Freelancers Thrive and Others Barely Survive. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Forum Discussions
Popular Articles
- SEO Techniques All Top Websites Should Use
- When a Client Can't Afford You: Why It's Still Better to Bid High
- How To Stop Scrambling For Clients And Get A Steady Stream Of Paying Gigs
- A Simple Way To Stop Clients From Rejecting Your Proposals
- 3 Reasons Your Rates Are Still Low (And How To Start Raising Them)
14 Comments
Rahat @weeklydesigngrind.com
February 26th, 2013 at 2:14 amThanks for the informative post Laura.
I need to definitely start working on improving my presence on LinkedIn. I’ve found that people who visit my blog from LinkedIn tend to stay around longer and view multiple pages.
I also had no clue about Pinteret business pages. I’ve just upgrade my profile thanks to you. :)
Matt
February 26th, 2013 at 4:40 amGood ideas on the twitter lists, hadn’t gotten around to that one yet…
Maybe you could add doing other things support those efforts, more of a foundation if you will? This could be occasional email campaigns to past clients, new ones for promotions on services you’d like to highlight and of course regular website or blog updates. While these aren’t directly tied to the social media websites, they are sort of the foundation for anything that happens there.
Laura Spencer
February 26th, 2013 at 9:41 amRahat @weeklydesigngrind.com & Matt,
Thanks for your ideas. I’m glad you found the post helpful. :)
I think most freelancers (and others) only touch the surface of what they can actually do with social media.
seonep
February 27th, 2013 at 5:58 amThank you for sharing a nice information. I want to become a guest blogger this site.
dataguru
March 5th, 2013 at 5:39 amHi Laura,
Thanks for the post !!!!
Facebook is becoming a new way for Marketing or Branding !!!!!!
If you have a product based websites you can create Images relevant to your products and share it on your network !!! you can get Plenty of peoples reaches to you and in terms of linkedin, discussion is the best way to promote !!!!
Phil Whittington
March 6th, 2013 at 2:57 pmThank you Laura, I must admit I knew about most of them, the problem is find the time to put post on them all.
What one needs is social Media Link system you connect to all these Social Media Platforms then you just go to one, post on your updates, then it gets linked to all the others.
So I ask the question is there such a system, an app maybe, oh the time you could save soaking up the sun in Costa Rica or the Bahamas, drinking those Pina Coladas.
artikel social media
April 4th, 2013 at 7:27 pmThat is a good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate information… Thank you for sharing this
one. A must read article!
Local Business
April 19th, 2013 at 2:59 pmUndeniably believe that that you stated. Your favourite
reason seemed to be on the net the easiest thing to take
into accout of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed even as other people think about worries that they just don’t recognise about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thank you
Greg Jacobs Emperor Social
May 2nd, 2013 at 4:52 amHi to every one, the contents present at this site are genuinely amazing
for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.
closed loop email marketing
May 3rd, 2013 at 1:10 amHOT-NEW Solo-Package. Your personal message emailed
to 500,000 UNIQUE Prospects. All list members joined By A Double-Optin Process.
Making Sure They’re Interested In New Services And Products. Most people find the list highly responsive. Starting With A personal-emailing to 500,000 UNIQUE Prospects is just *$9.95. Try It Today for a Boost of UNIQUE Prospects To 1,500,000. Plus, Lifetime Silver Submitter Access and a Global-Marketing Membership.
Kristen
May 6th, 2013 at 12:06 pmI remember a couple of months back going through
something about exactly how Adobe Photoshop has some sort of installed system that is utilized to acknowledge cash that you might be trying to scan
in to the application, and obstruct it. I’ve never ever attempted it myself to see if this operates, however it is very little of a leap to picture it might likewise secrety inform someone that you are browsing cash …
emperor social review
May 13th, 2013 at 11:17 amWow, that’s what I was searching for, what a information! present here at this website, thanks admin of this website.
Trackbacks