As a writer, you can accomplish a lot by being active on social media. The various platforms are ideal for identifying potential clients, networking with other freelancers, improving your language skills and learning about innovative trends in the worlds of copywriting, SEO, and language development.

Too much time spent on distracting social media, however, could be disastrous for your motivation. Needless to say, the information clutter could potentially drive you crazy.

You need to be strategic about your social media activity and you need to plan in advance. This way, you’ll make the most of social media without suffering the negative consequences.

In this post, I’ll share 5 social media tips for freelance writers that will help you minimise distractions and manage your time more efficiently.

1. Choose Platforms Wisely

Every social network can be used to accomplish a specific goal. True, spending time on Facebook and looking at photos of your friends on Instagram can be a lot of fun! These uses, however, aren’t the ones that will enhance your writing career. In addition, they can potentially lead to too much time wasted without any results.

Choose your platforms wisely and strategically.

A website like LinkedIn can help you identify many professional opportunities. It also features dozens of specialised professional groups where you can interact with other writers and enhance your skills and your creativity.

Twitter is great for the purpose of promoting your professional website and your portfolio. You can follow industry leaders, learn from their experience, and identify potential fields that you can develop your career in.

A platform like Facebook can be quite multi-functional. You can build your professional reputation, improve your language skills, and even network with potential clients or partners – regardless of the fact that the platform is not necessarily designed for these purposes.

Building a page dedicated to your writing services is a great idea, not to mention the fact that you can opt for cheap paid advertising and grow your popularity quickly.

2. Set a Time Limit

Do you often find yourself looking at social media profiles instead of writing? This kind of digital procrastination is quite common, but it could be the death of your career (especially if you work under tight deadlines).

Set a time limit for being active on social media and stick to it. For example, you can dedicate 20 minutes to such activities in the beginning of the work day and 30 minutes in the afternoon.

There are browser extensions and tools you can use for the purpose of blocking social channels and avoiding the temptation of spending too much time on them. Eventually, you will improve your work ethic and build a reliable routine that will enable you to get more done in the amount of time you have available each day.

3. Let Someone Else do the Management for You

If you want to focus exclusively on your career, you may want to consider partnering up with another professional.

Many writers, especially the ones who are just getting started with their career, worry about investing in marketing or building a solid social media presence. They’re concerned that such services are too expensive, even unattainable. This isn’t really the case.

Outsourcing social media marketing can help you save a lot of time and regain your focus.

When this time is dedicated to working for clients, chances are that you’ll bring your income up. Looking at it this way, social media management could be a good investment.

There are many freelancers out there who offer reliable and cost-efficient services. The trick is knowing what you want to accomplish and what your primary marketing goal is.

Having at least some idea about these essentials will help you pinpoint the right professional for the job and set a reasonable budget.

4. Scheduling and Automation

It’s usually best to maintain some degree of control over your social media, even if you outsource some of the processes. After all, these websites can help you improve your language skills and identify brand new opportunities that a social media manager isn’t necessarily going to be aware of.

If you’d like to still be active on social networks, you can consider automation. There are tools you can use for the purpose of scheduling posts, managing multiple profiles and collecting important data about the performance of your pages.

Setting up a system workflow will save you a lot of time. You’ll likely only need to dedicate just a couple of hours per week to doing content curation, interacting with followers, and participating in relevant groups. Other activities can be automated, which will free up some of your time.

5. Remember to Edit Yourself

You are a writer and you want to build a successful career. Remember these facts every single time you feel like carelessly posting something.

Even when you’re doing something on your personal Facebook profile, it can have an impact on your professional reputation. Don’t forget to go over your posts, edit the words that you use and think about the people that will be seeing the information you’re sharing.

While using social media personally can be exciting, everything you post could have an impact on the way potential clients perceive you.

Edit and curate your profiles to build the professional image of yourself that you have in your mind. Edit and curate the personal communication that you engage in via social channels.

Words are your most powerful weapon, use them wisely to make an impression. It’s completely unacceptable for a writer to post an update that features grammatical errors, misspelt words or even typos.

Everything that you do leaves a digital trace. People can easily dig up the things that you don’t want discovered. This is why you have to be thoughtful, you have to edit, and you have to refrain from posting every single thing that comes to mind.

Scheduling and organisation can help you save a lot of time and effort. You can still have fun, learn new things and interact with others without going crazy or spending hours indulging in Facebook gossip. While getting into such a routine may seem difficult in the very beginning, you’ll soon start enjoying the perks of such an approach.

 

Alice Clarke is a marketing expert and writer for Topaussiewriters. She enjoys writing in-depth texts on accomplishing advertising goals using proven strategies and approaches. Want to connect with Alice? You can find her on Facebook.