According to Forbes, freelancing now takes up 35% of the workforce in America alone. In Asia, there are millions of freelancers especially in India, Philippines and Indonesia. The trend of freelancing in the marketing world will forever be growing.
One of the driving factors of freelancing is the cheaper workforce. As the economy is constantly in flotation, having freelancers to complete required tasks is way more efficient than hiring a full-time employee. Apart from the cheaper workforce, the exchange rate is very much attractive that will encourage more freelancers to work for companies around the world.
Taking myself as an example, a simple writing project can score me at least one hundred dollars (my local currency) due to the exchange rate based on US Dollars.
In other words, working as a freelancer is definitely much more affordable and effective for companies. Furthermore, the number of freelancers make the marketplace even more crowded and it is very useful when finding the right person for the job.
Freelancing works for many industries and the trend in social media freelancers are constantly growing. There are a lot of demand especially for social media specialists such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Do you know how you can start a social media freelancing business? Below are 5 very simple steps you need to take in order to start social media freelancing business from scratch.
How To Start Social Media Freelancing?
Step 1: Find a platform
If you are new in freelancing, you shouldn’t build a website and try to promote it. Instead, apply for various freelancer marketplace which can give you a lot of publicity and visibility. Here are some of the popular freelancer platform you can choose from:
- Freelancer
- Upwork
- Guru
You will be able to find hundreds (if not thousands) of social media work on each of these platforms. Here’s a screenshot was taken directly from Freelancer.com:
On average, each project worth a few hundred dollars and more importantly, the possibility to have a long term business relationship.
If you have some social media skills, you can put it to good use (at no cost to you) by doing freelancing!
Step 2: Creating a profile (that rocks)
The process of creating a freelancer profile is like writing a sales letter. You have to understand the concept that clients are not interested in what you can offer to them. They are interested more on what the end result would be like!
In this case, it can be a range of increasing page likes, engagements or simply, managing various social media accounts.
Here’s an example of my personal profile on Freelancer.com:
You don’t have to create the best profile you can ever imagine. However, it is important to create a good one that will help you sell your services.
When it comes to creating a profile, you will most often give a specific character or word count. Make sure that you utilize every, single bit of them!
Your goal here is to create a powerful profile that will make heads turn and of course, ensuring that you will constantly get a nice number of projects on an ongoing basis.
Step 3: Bidding that matters
The bidding process is vital. Most freelancers fail in bidding because they are not doing it right!
Basically, it comes in several parts that start with finding the right project.
There is absolutely no point to bid on a project that you are not comfortable with.
Of course, putting aside what Richard Brandson said “If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later.”
When it comes to finding the right project, two things come into play: the right type of job and the client’s budget. Pretty straight-forward, right?
Bidding is the game that you need to master. For example, understanding what your competitors are bidding will give you an idea of what you can bid. Of course, you wouldn’t want to be that far off from them as well as the duration of the project completion.
With that being said, you need to have a clear understanding of what the client expects you to do and what you need to do, to do an awesome job.
Step 4: Telling why they should hire you
Anyone can be a social media freelancer and seriously, that’s the sad fact. As employers or clients, they will be getting dozens of application for the job. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that they understand what you can do. In other words, the convincing part.
The goal here is to ensure that they are extremely attracted to your proposal or pitch, and then contact you directly. When they contact you, you know that you have an excellent chance to close the deal and it is all down to what you can offer.
If you want to close more projects, do not treat your clients (or potential ones) as your clients. Instead, treat them like this entire project is a partnership.
This doesn’t only make you perform better, but you will be more inclined to work harder to do a job well done.
Ultimately, that is the most important part of being a social media freelancer.
Step 5: When the project ends
The last step involves asking them for feedback and asking them for future projects. Most freelancers end the entire communication right after the payment is done. That is bad and you need to create a repo with your clients.
Apart from thanking them, ask them to leave a positive feedback on your work. This will ensure that you will constantly be able to get a full 5-stars rating as well as showing that you care.
You also want to chip in to ask for future collaboration as having more projects is always a good thing for freelancers.
Summary
Do you want to become a social media freelancer? The above are 5 very simple steps you need to take to start a freelancing career.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it!
See also: Top 10 Highest Paid Online Businesses For This Year
