Deciding not to use Twitter when you are a freelancer is just about the same as a writer deciding not to use a word processor and do everything on a typewriter. Does it stop you from success?
No.
Does it make the work, “That much more difficult?”
AB-So-Lutely
There is no reason why someone shouldn’t use it. It can generate leads for more work and even generate traffic for other work online while it is doing it. A win-win situation if you ask me.
Profile
Profile is something that many people overlook but it is important. Your profile should be professional. It should be a headshot of you (no avatar) and make you look the part of whatever niche you are writing for. Your profile should have all of your contact information, so that anyone stumbling across it can get a hold of you if they find it. Basically it is the hub for branding yourself, so treat it as such.
Hashtags
Hashtags are an important part of using twitter to find freelance writing jobs. Hashtags are the “#” sign followed by a word or phrase that will then save and organize that tweet by that keyword. When you look at the right hashtags you may see people advertising for work or people advertising that they have work for people. These are all people that you want to add. I will explore this more in networking.
Some hastags you may want to check out (for a start) for freelancing are: #Freelance, #freelancewriting, #hireafreelance, #hirewriter, #buyarticle, #buyarticles, #articles.
Networking is easier with Twitter. The first step is to get someone of your work online. There are sites where you can make money doing this, like Associated Content, Bukisa, Helium and Triond, but it will not often be a lot from those sites unless you interact and send more people there. Well, one great way to send more people is to retweet your articles to your fan base, which you will grow through networking.
There are two great ways to go about networking. Make sure to add as many people you can to your list from pools of people who might be interested in buying your work. You will be supplying them with a steady stream of quality examples, and hopefully they will get to know your name and become interested. You also want to network with people who do the same job as you. They can put you on to leads and help you find work also.
Tweeting
Tweeting should be simple. You want to mix it up. Have some links to your better content with engaging intro’s to make people desire to click it. (The article should then deliver on the promise). You should also try to be personal. Try to engage people in one on one dialogue and be “real”.
Have some Tweets that are purely about yourself and/or purely informational. You want people to “like” you and be used to retweeting your work. This Increases your exposure. This is what makes it a SOCIAL network rather than just a bulletin board to post your links.
If you can expand your network, put out quality content and put the social back into social networking, as a freelancer you will soon be rolling in work.
