You would probably agree that businesses and organizations need regular social media updates to keep their public image alive. You’d also agree it’s difficult to publish content consistently. This issue causes business owners to contract out the hard part of social media: the content. That’s where you come in—the social media freelancer.
You, the social media freelancer solve their problem. You know the social world better than they do and you can get paid doing something you love. Hang in here with me—there’s a free eBook at the end—but I want you to play along for a minute.
Does your social freelance career sound anything like this?
You get into it because you realize you can get paid to make stuff for Facebook & Instagram. You’re familiar with the “social language.” You know what shares well. You know what doesn’t.
You figure out how to boost posts and run sponsored content. (It’s not that hard!) But you reach a place where you wish you simply knew more about the business. You wish you had more stories, more content, more information.
You’re hesitant to charge for “learning” about the business (researching the business) because is that really “work?”
So, you do what you can for as long as you can. You schedule meetings, phone calls, conference calls. You send email, ask for more content you can post. You repost stuff until you get a response. Have you ever run into this problem? Getting paid to do something that doesn’t seem to be working?
The problem with social media freelancing
There are a couple of problems with social freelancing I want to address:
- Your problem doing the work
- Your client’s misunderstandings
1. Your problem with doing the work: you need more info to post relevant content
When doing social media for others, you reach a point when you wish you simply knew more. You have questions your client doesn’t have time to answer. You ask for them to send you pictures, but they don’t look the way they need to for social. You’re frustrated you’re not an insider.
When doing social media for others, you reach a point when you wish you simply knew more.
You need better communication to do your job. If you don’t get exactly what you need when you need it, your job is harder than it needs to be.
In summary: you need CONTENT in your client’s “voice,” and have trouble creating it without inside help.
2. The business owner’s misunderstandings
A. Trying to correlate social success with sales
Your client—the business owner—thinks they need ‘social media,’ because that’s what all the kids seem to be into these days. They have a faint understanding of the social media world. They know just enough to drive you crazy.
They have incorrectly addressed their problem. They’re trying to closely correlate business sales/profit with success on social. Sure, being on social media COULD eventually lead to sales, but this shouldn’t be the main objective in pursuing a social media “strategy.”
B. Thinking they NEED POSTS—ASAP!! (instead of deep stories)
Some of your clients may not struggle with the sales/profit problem. They understand that social is about gathering your ‘tribe’ (thanks, Seth Godin).
But they suffer from “I Need Posts Right Now Syndrome.” They want you to start posting stuff ASAP. This misunderstanding causes you to feel like a slave. This is when you start to burn out. You’re trying to do things at the client’s beck and call.
There’s a better way to approach your social freelance career
Have you ever felt like you’re not earning the respect you deserve and enough income to keep the lights on? This is a common problem for those doing creative work. You feel like you don’t have respect because you’re a “slave to the client.”
The cure is approaching your freelancing differently. The cure starts with taking a step back. Rather than being a social media “expert” or “manager” or “advertiser,” you’re now a Social Explorer.
Have you considered CHARGING to ‘explore?’
Research and development is a standard practice in business. And it’s not free. Yet when it comes to social media, clients assume they need to see lots of posts to justify your invoice.
Without taking the time to properly research what a business REALLY needs, how can you create great stories and content to share with people?
You must explore first—while also getting paid—before you post content and propose strategies.
Make Money Being a Social Explorer
In my eBook Make Money Being a Social Explorer, I explain how you can solve your freelance woes once and for all.
I explain why you should charge someone to explore their problem BEFORE you propose solutions. You will discover how to…
- Earn respect with your current and future clients
- Earn more trust and loyalty with the people who pay you
- Get better testimonies when projects are complete
- Position yourself as a thought-leader
- A chance to discover hidden truths in businesses
- The opportunity to say NO if it’s not a good fit
- Time for NEW, authentic ideas to come to your head
- A chance to demonstrate your critical thinking and reasoning skills
You can get it for FREE at this link!
What problems do you face in creating content for social media?
