Feel like you stink at social media? Struggling to find ways to market yourself or your business? Want to know how to actually engage with potential clients? Check out Stop Stinking at Social Media: A Freelancer's Guide

1. A Freelancer’s Guide to Marketing Yourself

2. Tweet Along!
• Servi-Tech Communications -
@ServiTechComm
• Mark Vierthaler - @Mark_Vierthaler
• Monica Springer - @monicaspringer
• Kansas Professional Communicators -
@KansasPC

3. Why Use Social Media?
• Increase brand recognition
– When you’re a freelancer, your name is your brand
recognition. By giving potential clients more doors to
access you, you increase the likelihood of them finding
your work.
• Increase brand loyalty
– Social media only works when it’s a conversation instead of
a one-way broadcast. A Texas Tech study showed brands
that engaged enjoyed a higher rate of loyalty.
• More opportunities to get business

4. Why Use Social Media?
• Establishing authority
– Establish yourself as an expert in whatever area of
communications you specialize in. Share the knowledge, but
don’t give away the product.
• Increase inbound traffic
– If your website is your main marketing tool (and it should be as
a freelancer), almost all of your posts need to push back to your
site.
• More affordable marketing costs
– Compared to traditional marketing offerings (newspapers,
magazines, radio, television, etc.) social media is a much more
affordable option.

5. Facebook

6. Twitter

7. Google+

8. LinkedIn

9. Instagram

10. Blogs

11. Pinterest

12. Snapchat

13. Vine

14. YouTube

15. How to Get Started
• Be a resource, not a sales pitch
– People do business with people they know, trust,
and like. The old idea of how the sales pitch works
is fading away.
– Establish yourself as a source of knowledge in your
field, and people will be attracted to your online
presence.

16. How to Get Started
• Find your voice and sell with it
– Find what it is about your work that sets you
apart.
– Don’t just copy what others are doing.
– Your voice is your brand.

17. How to Get Started
• Optimize Your Social Profiles
– Don’t leave your profiles blank. Make sure you’re
utilizing all areas of the Facebook page, Twitter
profile, etc.

18. How to Get Started
• Make it Easy to Get Ahold of You
– You want to turn these efforts into business, so
make sure people who want to hire you actually
know how to get ahold of you.

19. How to Get Started
• You Don’t Need the Newest Tech
– You don’t have to have the newest technology to
get a dedicated following. If you want people to
engage, you don’t have to have tens of thousands
of dollars of equipment. Your camera does great,
what matters is creating quality contact.

20. How to Get Started
• Follow the Rules and Be Patient
– Social media, just like any other marketing effort,
takes time to build up a dedicated base. Make
sure you’re not taking short cuts, and you’re being
patient.
– Followers will come as you establish your brand
your voice.

21. Putting it into Practice
• Create your own web page or blog – you need
an online home for your portfolio.
• Create a Facebook page for your freelance
business and invite family, friends, and
former/current clients to like it and share it.
• Twitter – Listen (err… read) for the first week
or so. Learn what people are talking about,
how and when they engage.

22. Putting it into Practice
• Get. On. LinkedIn.
– Get involved with freelancer groups. Engaged in
conversations. Connect with companies you want
to work with
– Use the job boards to see who’s hiring for what.
These are great times to pitch your services in the
stead of a new employee.

24. What Not to Do

25. What Not to Do

26. What Not to Do

27. What Not to Do

28. What Not to Do

29. What Not to Do

30. What Not to Do
• Don’t attack potential, current, and former clients,
customers and employees.
• A local Dodge City restaurant has TWICE held
profanity-laden angry exchanges with customers and
former employees
• One told a customer to never come back because
she was a b****
• Second one (about a year later) accused a former
employee of theft
• Both stayed up for several days before the owner
took them down.

31. What TO Do

32. What TO Do

33. What TO Do

34. REMEMBER:
• Find your voice
• Engage with your audience
• Actively seek out the jobs
• Own your mistakes
• Don’t hide critics
• Use problems to prove your dedication
• Have fun!

35. mark.vierthaler@
servitech.com
620-390-9535
@Mark_Vierthaler
monica.springer@
servitech.com
620-339-1023
@MonicaSpringer