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Getting Clients on Social Media: A Guide for Freelance Writers

Last Updated on March 16, 2021 By Elton Mwangi 51 Comments

Getting clients

A little over two decades ago, social media was still a concept in the minds of innovators. People had to meet in person, business had to be conducted in brick and mortar stores, long lost friends would remain lost, and advertisements were only seen on TV and other traditional promotional means.

But now, social media is an economy by itself. It offers people a platform to speak their minds, reach millions of people, make friends, advertise their businesses, and share news. Some businesses are completely operated on social media platforms. 

You might wonder how one can create a writing business out of these social sites. Given that more than 3.78 billion people are on these platforms, it is obvious that most consumers of products spend their time there. As a result, brands are establishing themselves on these platforms to connect with their customers. And because these brands are your potential clients, finding them on these platforms is straightforward.

This guide will show you how to find clients on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit.

Getting Clients on Twitter

People tend to be highly opinionated on Twitter than on any other site, and that is because it was initially made for news and opinions.

Occasionally, you will see a person tweeting about being jobless. Then in a day or two, their tweet becomes popular, and they get multiple offers from many companies that want to share in the PR.

You can achieve a lot on social media, including making a brand popular, expanding your network, learning new information, and even getting clients for your writing business. 

Follow the various job boards on Twitter related to writing. They include @Write_Jobs, @WhoPaysWriters, @JJobs_tweets, and others. Keep checking them out and applying for jobs.

Search for various keywords that can assist you in landing a writing gig. Such keywords include: writing gig, writer, writer wanted, writing job, content writer, and hiring a writer, among others.

Don’t forget to feature Twitter in your long-term strategy as well. Doing this requires you to get quality followers who can:

  • End up being potential clients
  • Promote your brand on Twitter and other social platforms. 

Get quality followers by following influencers in your writing niche. Participate in the various discussions to showcase your writing skills. Advertise your brand. 

Consider asking current clients to follow you on Twitter.

As your following grows, you want to ensure that your followers don’t get bored. Be sure to tweet regularly regarding trending topics, ask questions, and include useful links. Remember to have a mix of content, like videos, photos, and texts.

As you implement all these strategies, you need to ensure that your Twitter profile is optimized. Have a brief bio that describes what you do. Include a link to your website. Upload an image that reflects your brand, such as a company logo. 

Getting Clients on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media site for businesses, which makes it perfect for seeking potential clients. Here, brands can connect, partner, and hire one another for services.

As you create your profile, make sure you use keywords that will help potential clients to find you. As a writer, use keywords such as freelance writer, writer for hire, best writer, health writer (if that is your niche), and others as you write the description. 

Ensure you have a beautiful LinkedIn profile picture. 

Use an optimized header image. Include your social media statistics, major blogs where you have written, or anything that will make you stand out as a writer. You can use canva.com to edit the banner to your specifications.

When a client views your profile, you can know by checking the sidebar of your page. While some functions of this feature might be limited for free LinkedIn profiles, you can still contact some of the prospects that have viewed your profile. 

Let them know that you are responding to them as a result of their viewing of your profile. Ask them if they would like your services as well. You have higher chances of landing them as your client if they’re in your niche.

If you have a website, which is highly recommended for a freelance writer, share your blog posts on LinkedIn. If your prospects like your posts and need a writer, they may contact you.

Many companies looking for writers post job ads on LinkedIn, and most of the times, the ads are exclusive to the platform. Therefore, you can search for quality clients right there on LinkedIn.

You can contact prospects using LinkedIn’s InMail feature. This is a premium feature that you can use to contact people who you’re not connected to.

Just like Facebook, LinkedIn has niche communities for you to join. A community like LinkEds & Writers will help you learn how to find clients, negotiate with them, and charge them. Another useful group is called Writing Professionals Group.

Getting Clients on Facebook

Facebook has over 2.4 billion users worldwide. As the largest social site, it offers a goldmine for potential clients. But you will not just find customers by having a Facebook profile, you need to reach out to them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through Facebook groups.

People with similar interests and in the same niche can be found on Facebook groups. If you pose a question, numerous people may answer you. Therefore, you can be smart and ask about the challenges that most entrepreneurs in your niche face. If someone says that content is a problem for them, be quick to offer your writing services as a solution.

Additionally, businesses and writing agencies will look for writers to hire in these communities. Hence, you need to be online, so you can be one of the first people to apply for these positions once they are advertised.

Some great Facebook groups to join include:

  • The Smart Passive Income Community 
  • The Business Lounge Mastermind 
  • Christian Entrepreneurs: Building Your Business with Purpose
  • Copywriting Jobs

Other than reaching out to clients on Facebook groups, you can also have clients reach out to you. To accomplish this, you need to create a Facebook page. 

Have a professional photo of yourself and a cover photo that shows your brand. Then include a description of what you do and a link to your site on your bio. What’s more, you can include additional tabs for your portfolio and testimonials. Remember to keep the page active by making regular posts. These can be text updates, links to great blog posts, images and videos.

Once your page is up and active, like pages that you think your audience likes. If your niche is health, look for health-related pages and like them. Comment on posts. Make the comments valuable to the audience there. This way, your comments will have more likes, and Facebook will put them at the top of all the other comments, which increases your visibility. It will then be easy for potential clients to go to your page and reach out to you about your services.

Lastly, network with other reputable freelancers, regardless of their line of work. You might end up getting offers to partner with them on their projects.

Getting Clients on Pinterest

Pinterest is a popular social media platform in the US, which is one of the regions where you can find high-paying clients. Its 300 million active users include people from all industries, including content marketing. This provides you with an opportunity to get clients who need your services.

Pinterest understands that having a community in a social media platform is essential, and that is why it has group boards. To find prospects, join group boards in your niche and post pins regularly. If the group has a massive following, then your pins will be seen by numerous individuals, among them potential clients.

Here are some few group boards you can join:

  • Location Independent Job Ideas
  • Work from Home Job Leads 
  • Freelance Fierce 

…and more

Check out this list of group boards compiled by Elna Cain, a freelance writer like you.

So, how else can you use Pinterest for your freelance writing business? Once your site is ready, convert your personal Pinterest account into a business one. Then compile a list of keywords that are mostly used by businesses in your niche to find a freelance writer.

Now, include those keywords as you write a compelling bio. Also, remember to include a link to your site. As you pin content from others, create your board and pin personalized content. To create pins, use a simple design tool like Canva. It can create appealing pinnable graphics. Ensure your pins are valuable to your ideal audience and make sure they complement your website. And remember to follow other pinners in your niche.

Getting Clients on Reddit

Reddit is a favorite for many writers looking both short-term and long-term projects. This platform is unlike all the other social sites. You don’t need to have a picture or a compelling bio for you to land customers. Having friends and followers is not necessary. 

You only need to join various communities called subreddits. 

For instance, as a writer, you can join these:

  • /r/ForHire
  • /r/HireAWriter
  • /r/WritingOpportunities 

…and others. 

In these communities, you are allowed to advertise your services. But you have to follow the rules. These rules vary, and you need to take caution as you can be removed from them if you break their rules. You will also see various posts by clients looking for writers to write for them. Requirement? Just direct messaging them.

Join other subreddits in your niche and contribute to them. Provide insightful posts and make useful comments. This way, you will build credibility, and brands may reach out to you.

Conclusion

This guide is proof of the power of social media for writers. It will not only help you with the challenges that you are facing as a writer, but also offer you new insights and opportunities to find clients for your writing business.

In fact, you can use these tips in other forms of freelancing. Here’s a handy freelancing guide.

Optimize your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest profiles to reflect the image that will get clients coming to you. This includes uploading a professional picture, writing a short description of your offering, including a link to your site, and making regular posts that your potential clients might like.

Make sure all your social sites reflect your brand. From there, you can create a schedule of how you will be using them. For instance, you can use Facebook and Twitter on one day, then LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit on another. You can do this for at least one hour daily. That’s enough time to work on getting leads.

To make things easier, you can use scheduling tools to set up posts for a week (or longer). So, you only need to organize everything in one day, and you’re sorted for that period. But monitoring and commenting on groups will need to be done daily so that you promptly respond to clients.

You can do great on social media. Keep in mind that CONSISTENCY is key! Start today and make it a habit. 

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About Elton Mwangi

Elton is the founder and technology writer at papyrustexts.com

Comments

  1. Ellen says

    November 6, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    Thank You for posting such an interesting post!

    I am a digital marketing beginner and recently got a social media manager gig, and now I have the tips and I have you to thank.

    Reply
    • Ann says

      December 22, 2020 at 11:57 am

      I have read all of it but I don’t know how to start

      Reply
  2. Mary says

    October 16, 2020 at 10:33 am

    Going to kickoff now.
    I have really learnt

    Reply
  3. DORCAS ANUNDA says

    September 3, 2020 at 2:10 am

    I appreciate this insight. I have now known how to utilize my social media sites to the fullest.

    Reply
  4. Susan says

    March 17, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Thanks Elton for a very informative guideline, I must say I have learnt a lot from it.
    God bless you richly with more wisdom.

    Reply
  5. Samson says

    January 22, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    Thank you Elton Mwangi for the information.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      January 29, 2020 at 3:50 pm

      You are welcome.

      Reply
  6. Kegesa Danvas says

    January 15, 2020 at 4:45 pm

    I love LinkedIn because of the professionalism and ease with which it gives you prospects. For instance, you can just ask your connections for recommendations and get helped quickly.

    It is also easy to filter by company, by job title, company size, etc.

    Now that technology has brought jobs to our doorsteps, lets work and work.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      January 29, 2020 at 3:49 pm

      Yes. I love LinkedIn as well. There, professionals help professionals faster than in any other site. Plus, you can publish via LinkedIn and grow your social proof.

      Reply
  7. Sir Micky says

    December 9, 2019 at 8:47 am

    This is a very informative post. Thanks Elton Mwangi for the insight

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      December 13, 2019 at 8:17 pm

      Hello @sir micky. You are welcome.

      Reply
  8. Lennox Kimtai says

    September 22, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    Actionable tips. Good work!

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 22, 2019 at 7:22 pm

      Thank you Lennox

      Reply
  9. George Ogutu says

    September 21, 2019 at 8:28 am

    Hi Elton, thanks for the piece. It addresses questions, which most newbies struggle to answer. Back in 2018 after Tom Nyarunda’s inspirational post on his success in freelance writing, one Sly asked how one could get clients on Reddit. Well, your post responds that question fully and completely. I am certain many (including myself) will benefit from this post. Keep it up.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 21, 2019 at 8:58 am

      Hello George. Thanks for the appreciation. Reddit is a goldmine for many freelancers, and so are the other social sites.

      Reply
  10. Lee Nyaga says

    September 20, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    Very informative piece Elton, it gives me hope and stable platform to start with as a newbie. Thankyou

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 21, 2019 at 4:27 am

      Hi Lee. Yes, you can get your own clients even as a newbie.

      Reply
  11. Benedict musee says

    September 20, 2019 at 3:22 pm

    Wahoo, what a wonderful post! Keep up Mwangi

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 4:26 pm

      Thanks Benedict. I will.

      Reply
  12. Grace Njenga says

    September 20, 2019 at 1:19 pm

    Thank you for this article. It’s really informative. I appreciate.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 2:21 pm

      Hi Grace. I’m happy to help. Hope you’ll try some of the tips.

      Reply
  13. changu says

    September 20, 2019 at 12:54 pm

    Enlightening piece Elton Mwangi. Now, I am writer who has worked different writers (Mostly academic writers). Even though I was doing well, I felt academic writing was only fixing me to knowledge of so many things without improving mine and so I started looking for something different that suits my profession. I thus decided to open a website where I can advertise my services and provide knowledge to others (which I did) and is running. However, I still can do content writing which I am also conversant with. How can I link my psychology blog with writing without losing any since I imagine I will source counselling clients from the same.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 1:26 pm

      Hey. Thanks Changu. You are not alone: I also do academic writing to supplement my article writing. But with time, I want to do article writing fully, I think your blog can work well with LinkedIn. Every time you post a blog, make sure to post on LinkedIn, provided you have optimized it as per the advice above. Then make sure to engage all those people who comment and engage with your posts on LinkedIn. Determine who are potential clients and reach out to them. You will also find others reaching out to you.

      Reply
  14. Taraga says

    September 20, 2019 at 12:46 pm

    This is great Elton

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 2:19 pm

      Hi Taraga. Your welcome. I’m glad you read it. Thanks too.

      Reply
  15. Maryann Muthami says

    September 20, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    This is awesome Elton
    Social media is much easier.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 1:18 pm

      That’s true Maryann. And it is not a must to have a website at first. You can just save your samples on Google docs and send links to clients who want samples.

      Reply
      • Maryann Muthami says

        September 20, 2019 at 2:11 pm

        Exactly
        You only need to know how to approach clients .

        However one should careful especially on Facebook.

        Reply
  16. Elizabeth says

    September 20, 2019 at 11:08 am

    Wow! Educative, detailed and an eye opener to many. Thanks for sharing. I’m inspired.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 2:17 pm

      Thank you Liz. You’re welcome too. I hope it helps with your writing business.

      Reply
    • Riaga Brenda says

      August 10, 2020 at 1:29 pm

      Wow this is so informative, have even learnt about social meadia that have never known existed. Be blessed.

      Reply
  17. Catherine says

    September 20, 2019 at 11:07 am

    Atleast i have a platform where i can look up to clients especially on linkedin and pinterest.Am surprised that even on Pinterest you can meet potential clients.Thank you for your informative post.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 2:16 pm

      Hi Catherine. Thanks. Happy to help.

      Reply
  18. Lydiah says

    September 20, 2019 at 11:06 am

    Great insights, thank you so much for sharing.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 11:19 am

      Anytime Lydia. Sharing is caring :>)

      Reply
  19. SAMUEL says

    September 20, 2019 at 10:21 am

    The information provided by this writer is a real gold mine. It’s very informing and is much valuable..

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 11:24 am

      Hi Samuel. Thank you. I hope you borrowed a few tips.

      Reply
  20. Kerry says

    September 20, 2019 at 9:07 am

    Very insightful. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 11:20 am

      Hi Kerry. You’re welcome.

      Reply
  21. John Makathimo says

    September 20, 2019 at 8:46 am

    Quite insightful and great advice. Thanks for the tips Mwangi.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 9:25 am

      Anytime Makathimo. :>) Try it and let us know how it goes.

      Reply
  22. Bernard Omondi says

    September 20, 2019 at 8:45 am

    Hi, great work. thank you

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 11:22 am

      Hi Bernard. Thank you too.

      Reply
  23. Eric says

    September 20, 2019 at 8:06 am

    Very good side gig ideas ….very practical and implementable

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 11:22 am

      Hi Eric. Thanks. This can be tailored for writing. Are you a writer?

      Reply
  24. Shai says

    September 20, 2019 at 7:43 am

    Awesome article, and very well written. Good job!

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 7:47 am

      Hi Shai. Thank you.

      Reply
  25. Johte says

    September 20, 2019 at 7:00 am

    Nice practicable piece.

    Reply
    • Elton Mwangi says

      September 20, 2019 at 9:26 am

      Hey Johte. Put them into practice and see. I have been successful with Reddit; maybe you can start with that.

      Reply
  26. Elton Mwangi says

    September 20, 2019 at 4:31 am

    Hello Mathenge. Thank YOU!

    Reply
  27. Antony Mathenge says

    September 19, 2019 at 10:48 pm

    Damn. You ARE good.

    Reply

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