Social media marketing - is it effective for freelance writers?

Have you tried social media (Facebook, twitter, etc.) to advertise your freelance writing services? I personally don't believe in the effectiveness of it (mostly because time spent vs. reward gained is not optimistic + it's hard to measure).

Social media marketing has expanded quite a lot in recent years, and there are a number of advantages of maintaining SM presence for anyone who is in any kind of business or activity - an individual to an MNC. It's not just about getting business in the first place. It's mostly about networking with your potential clients and capitalizing in the specific niche. Most importantly, SM gives you an edge (if you maintain a SM presence) over your competitors in terms of keeping in touch with potential and actual clients. It enables you to learn what people are talking about, their likes/dislikes, etc.

Insofar as the measurement of SM ROI is concerned, this may be considered a gray area; however, quite a few effective matrices and tools have been developed and are now available in the market for free and for a subscription.

Since SM has been my core interest for a long time, I can discuss more on this issue but don't want to drag on; just know that I have benefited a lot from this side of the WWW. I am not prompting myself here. There are a number of ventures that have benefited from SM presence: Case studies abound.

Philip Kotler has written good content on this area.

Without any offense to anyone, when it comes to academic writing industry, I noticed/observed it a long time ago that most folks here like to play simple and keep a low profile writing words that convert into $$ while paying little attention to what's going on out there. Most companies here maintain a simple/rustic website, and that's it! For our freelance writers...maybe I shouldn't say much.

Probably, it's time that we upgraded our ol' school style as an industry.

Last, to say such-and-such feature/tool/tech is not beneficial for an internet-based business would be a massive understatement in today's time.

I agree with you. FB and other SM platforms are being abused because of their potential. It does NOT mean, allow me to disagree a little bit, that SM is inherently bad or harmful. I have not gone through the paper you've mentioned above, but I am SURE it must have discussed what went wrong in that SM strategy and proposed future directions.

It's debatable whether students (customers) would actually like to keep in touch with writers for hire and/or to network with them. It's like hiring a plumber - he does the job and there's no need to even friend or like him on one of the social media sites. Besides, it may cause privacy issues (these days if you are a 'friend' of somebody, even if you don't personally know him/her, you may be considered to actually know him and his/her friends).

Makes a lot of sense to me, and I would agree to most of your premise, but I hold the same position as above, i.e. SM can still benefit us a lot.

In my opinion, the last thing that most customers in this industry would ever want is any public thread connecting their friends, classmates, coworkers, employers or prospective employers, and their family members to their freelance writer or ghostwriter, as the case may be. I was a relatively early adopter of online socializing (AOL 3.0 in 1997) and met a lot of women (including my wife) through AOL Instant Messaging at that time, back when many people still considered it extremely "weird" to meet people online. Nowadays, meeting online is one of the most common ways that single people get together.

Since I'm married, I never really had any need for MySpace or Facebook or Twitter and I don't participate, even slightly, in the whole world of online socializing except for this and a couple of other interest-specific forums. Now, it's sort of my turn to think it's really weird that people spend so much of their time looking up high school friends as 50-year-olds, constantly "updating" their public profiles and posting pictures of their dinner plates, and "following" the inane 140-or-fewer-character ramblings of "celebrities" whose success or talents have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of their written thoughts.

It's a little weird when you think how it's possible that all these social media are 100% 'free' and these companies are worth billions at the same time. All of them, especially Facebook, use this free data to create Artificial Intelligence.. so people who use these free services are (knowingly or not) subject to interesting social, psychoanalytic, biometric, etc. research. The new Pokemon fits the scenario too ;)

F Pokemon; it's stupid shat. I refuse to listen to what this new "Pokemon Go" nonsense entails. It's more mind-rotting, time-wasting garbage.

Consarn it. These young whippersnappers and their new-fangled gadgetry. It's the devil's work and nuthin' good will come of it, I tells ya. (I tried this game and don't see what the fuss is all about.)

This Pokecon video pretty much nails it :-)

Your worldview is shared by countless other people around the globe, and your reasoning is really justified. Major raises a legitimate point too in regard to the data FB and other SM platforms are making use of. But, I think in today's fast age of "fluid democracy" and "consumer culture", people are just going with the flow. I agree with these points and follow the same view.

But since too many people are hanging out on there, there's no harm in trying to keep in touch with them (at least for business).


My experience tells me a different story (to respond to the above). I think today many people don't care much about who is connected to who, simply because they're busy in more important matters: online socializing.

I'm not trying to convince you (FLW & Major), just sharing a different perspective (based on my personal experience and reading).

The flow is not something randomly created - it's designed for a certain purpose.

Absolutely, quite a few scholars have reflected on this state of creating a culture. I am a big fan of Marx, Weber, and Fairclough and their theories touch upon the area you just mentioned above.

My premise does not focus on the agency behind an evolving monoculture globally, I was pointing to the auxiliary role SM platforms can play to uplift the ol' school face of this industry, lol.

Believe it or not, there are actually people who use social media for purposes other than scaring up some tail. Not many, and certainly not me. But I've heard that it happens.

"This is what you do all fackin' day? Walk around lookin' for dumb shat?"

LMAO!

I bet you get really upset when young fellers step on your lawn, too.

I work with the latest Internet technologies every day. It has absolutely nothing to do with my age.

I was laughing about the tone of your comment, not your literal age, which I have no idea about. Read it out loud in an old man voice - you'll see what I mean.

Something like this guy: youtu.be/YMJPrNQxPNA

Topic: Social media marketing - is it effective for freelance writers?

Not male people.

That's not difficult for me ...

I've dabbled with SNM, despite the fact I rarely use these services privately. I've had results ranging from very poor (when I started) to excellent (once I found the best method of targeting). Although it's costly, it's well worth it if you put the time into it; I've found quite a few excellent long term gigs this way. It's a great way to "restock" once the regulars graduate.

Students do not want to keep in touch - but they do want to discover services like ours. Trying to be friends with clients on SN is a sure way down - for both sides. Nowadays teachers are just as present on Facebook as they are in the classroom.

The question is, how much you value your time; you need to deduct your typical hourly rate from whatever profit you made ;) It seems there are a lot of people who share the story - "I personally don't use social media websites, but.... I hope others use it." If you don't use it (other than to promote your service) and personally don't know anyone know who use it in an 'organic way' (for other reasons than to spam), the logical conclusion is that few people actually use it.

As I said, well worth it. I've put in the work and I found the formula that works (for me, anyway). When one of my clients leaves, or I want to get more work for whatever reason, I just use the targeting matrix I developed and publish an ad. On average, a week's worth of advertising will cover any time spent and get me a good long-term client or two. Sometimes more.

I said elsewhere that I don't use marketing frequently, mainly because most of my income comes from WOM and repeat business, but those 10- 20% that doesn't, I cover through advertising. Some clients simply feel awkward about recommending this type of service to their friends, mainly out of shame or fear (I'm sure other writers face this cundundrum as well)

Um, I'm pretty sure just about everybody uses social media at this point. Wordsies' strategy of figuring out how to work social media advertising to his advantage sounds like a clear winner to me. It's better than relying too heavily on search traffic.

True. This has dissuaded me from actively marketing my services on Facebook in particular, as some of my most loyal customers have been clearly reluctant to identify with me on this platform. Unfortunately, it makes me feel like a guilty pleasure of some sort.

Many spies report experiencing this same reaction to their work.

As the mode of advertising shifts more and more towards social media and its paid targeting ads benefits, I have come across some writers who prefer to go the freelance route by heightening their social media profiles. Sure it costs them to get the best possible advertising from these sites but then again, once they get a regular client or two, they say that the length of time they get to hold on to the clients makes it worthwhile. I have noticed that some academic outsourcing companies have used social media as a platform to counter the negative publicity that they tend to get from other sites. The fact that they have Messenger as part of their FB contacts also helps them to gain clients as the student tend to turn more and more to social media for their search needs. While social media does help them to increase the company and individual profiles in many ways, it still does not erase the fact that the service of some of these companies and freelance writers will be lousy and below international standards. So while I will admit that it can be an effective promotional tool, that does not mean to say that it offers beneficial services in the long run. Just like everything else in this game, everything it left to chance.

Can you elaborate on it just a little? What beneficial services you refer to in the long run? I feel the other way around, because my personal account may sound like self-promotion on this forum, I would cut down on the detail.

What I believe, as states above, is that SM is a way to connect to people to socialize (close to real life). I am WELL aware that big players in this industry are old school: Their SM presence is almost zero (my apologies).

Whereas the old school ways are still paying, I would like to share my personal opinion that probably tides are turning. It's time to wake up - for all of us - including myself. Since I never lie about anything, I have usefully benefited from participating in SM and continue to do so.

The disadvantage that I face is that when I am busy, I lose on the SM participation. So, probably, more than one person is needed for an individual to carry out a robust SM marketing strategy, something I am not comfortable with because I am happy with what I have now. For our old school companies, I think, it is probably time to reinvest their SM strategy.

Let me share this hint:

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I think maintaining a social media presence especially for writers with websites might be a good idea.
Think of it this way, on Facebook and Twitter, customers don't have to like your page, follow, or comment, all they need to know is that you offer such services and they'll use your website to contact you. I see many people talking about how weird social media makes it for customers because of privacy concerns so I don't think it would be a good idea to have them as friends or active followers.

Can't agree more with you! Privacy is number one concern for any client, I know, I was not really, though, referring to FB and/or Twitter in specific. There are many other ways we can, probably, interact with clients w/o risking their/ours privacy. I am careful not to share such experience for I do not want to sound like promoting self!

I noticed there's a lot of scam and spam on social media (related to academic paper writing / editing services). Potential customers turn out to be fraudulent freelance writers, suspicious essay service owners, or Internet marketers who try to get your attention only to get a 'like' or 'follow' from you. Sometimes, at first, it may seem you talk to a 'student' but when you see their posting history or engagements it's clear he or she is not a student or someone who'd be interested in your writing services. So the time spent on social media vs. the potential rewards in new customer acquisition is very small, possibly in the 0-2% range.

In addition, yes - privacy is a concern. Facebook will record all the people you exchange information with (either via direct or indirect contacts) to profile you among both current and future 'friends.'

@MeoKhan you seem to have misunderstood what I meant. I said that the social media marketing does not offer great benefits in the long run. I meant that in reference to the students who use the FB and Twitter pages to gauge whether or not they would like to privately contact the company or writer. The social media account may look perfect, but the services offered and work delivered could be anything but perfect. While social media can be truthful at times, it can also be a ruse for those scam companies and writers seeking to use social media to gain an unfair advantage over the more qualified professionals who lose out on work opportunities because of the scamming and conniving of the scam companies and writers. It is therefore, both a useful tool (for those legitimate entities) but non-beneficial to the users (in the long run) because of the problems that their fake profiles and ratings on these social pages create.

@Smiley73 Makes a lot of sense to me. This is why I asked you to elaborate further. Anybody would agree that scam is a big issue these days not just on FB and Twitter, but probably over the entire www.

It probably seems that famous social media platforms are not very popular among our clientele to carry out a transaction (as most of us are still old school) mainly probably because of privacy concerns mixed with the fears of scamming.

Just before my eyes, right here, over the years, I see scammers soaring like a bird and multiplying. I think this has put a lot of pressure at the clients' end rather than our side.

@Major
I think we should all work toward a business model that eliminates any doubt in our clients' mind regarding a breach of their privacy. Such a model does not seem possible as of now given the fierce competition among the legit folks that is further escalated by the con artists in different countries. However, one thing still wins - trust! This forum has come a long way, and, probably, the best thing it has done so far is to pool legit guys (writers and companies) under one roof.

Major, I have the same opinion as you. But I think it could help you more when you became already famous writer. I suggest to make some courses in your country It will make you known in your country then on the internet.

I make sure that my company has an active and constantly updated social media profile because that is the best way to gain advertising revenue for the company I own. It is not so much about raising the profile of my company and its writers as it is about the potential in earning revenue from ads that has convinced me to that it is best to keep the social media accounts of my company active. Sure I pay Facebook and Twitter and Instagram for my official accounts. It may or may not bring in new clients for the company. However, the parking space for the advertisements that I charge for is where the payoff comes in for me. I have virtual real estate space to rent out and that helps me generate revenue for the company. In effect, this is what makes social media marketing an effective tool for my purposes.

Still not going to start using Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter anytime soon.

I don't necessarily think that social media is beneficial for writers - not even for essay writing companies. Out of all the platforms I currently work for, there's only one that uses Facebook. This one is the smallest and youngest out of all of the companies I work for. The others can get by with simply having a platform, building relationships with clients, and making sure that they have built their connections with other students/writers/platforms.

If you are amiming to promote your line of work using free social media of any sort, then you are out of luck. Social media accounts that do not pay for advertising are suppressed by FB, Twitter, etc. They make sure to let you know that your social media profile can do better if you pay for their services. If you are just starting out and do not have the kind of money that it will take to keep these social advertisement posts active, then you are not going to be getting much traffic to your profile. I still say that word of mouth, paired with social media as the confirming arm, is a much better way to promote oneself.