How to Use Social Media to Find Freelance Work

How to Use Social Media to Find Freelance WorkHow to Use Social Media to Find Freelance Work6When you work in an office, your workload might gradually get larger and larger. But, most likely, your salary wont enjoy a similar uptick.On the other hand, when youre a freelancer and you take on mora work, you get paid more money. Its really as simple as that. And since you set your own rates, so long as you can find clients to agree to them, the sky is really the limit in terms of your earning potential.Finding clients as a freelancer, however, can be quite difficult. If it were easy, logic tells us that even more folks would be trying to make it on their own. To be fair, recent research indicates that by 2020, half of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers.The good news is that there are many ways to find freelance work and meet new clients, and so if youre willing to try to get new ones- and arent afraid of being rejected- theres a good chance youll be able to get more work if you put i n the time.You can meet new clients at conferences and trade shows. You can meet them at networking events, or you could even have one of your buddies- or other clients, for that matter- make an introduction. You can also peruse job boards and the like.And you can use social media to find freelance work, too. Heres howBuild a professional social presence.First things first which platforms do you think your prospective clients are most likely to be found on?If the folks in the industry youre targeting are most likely to piste out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, by all means, target those networks first. But your Facebook page that has all those super sweet pictures of you doing keg stands in college? Thats not going to cut it.You need to build a professional page, like a complete LinkedIn profile, that gives readers a clear idea as to what your qualifications and experiences are without them having to spend more than a few minutes figuring out what youre all about.Be sure to incl ude the right keywords that are conducive to your industry, as well as the easiest ways to get in touch with you. That way, you increase the likelihood someone will contact you with a gig.Wouldnt that be nice?Find others by using relevant search keywords.An easy way to figure out which organizations are looking for freelancers do a quick search on social media sites like LinkedIn.For example, you can search phrases like freelance writer wanted or freelance writers needed to see whether it yields any results.Chances are youll see at least one or two businesses that are looking to hire some independent contractors. Theres no guarantee theyll hire you, but at least you wont have to reach out to a company in the dark in the hopes theyre looking for a freelancer.In other words, itll make your outreach more effective because youll only communicate with companies that are looking for folks like you.Promote yourself through blogs, tweets, and comments.In a perfect world, a million clients w ho want to pay you a billion dollars would email you every day because they stumbled across your LinkedIn profile. Unfortunately, it doesnt work out that way.Once youve established your professional social profiles, its time to start promoting yourself to find freelance work. Publish blogs on LinkedIn and promote them via your Facebook page by posting excerpts and a link. Use Twitter to tweet promotions (e.g., Looking for a freelance writer? Im your guy freelance freelancewriting freelancers).Sooner or later, an interested party will find your content and engage with you. The more frequently you post, the higher your chances are for that to happen.Find more tips for freelancers hereReaders, what have you found effective to find freelance work? Share with us below