I’m excited to start a new series of blog posts today called the Quick Freelance Questions Series! These posts are based on episodes from The Live Free Podcast. So, whether you don’t have time to listen to the whole episode or just prefer reading–you won’t miss out on the answers to these common freelance questions!
Today, I’m answering the question do I need social media to freelance? This post is based on Episode 237: Quick Freelance Questions Series | Do I need to have an active social media presence to land clients?
The answer is: No! You do not need social media to freelance or land freelance clients. Furthermore, (in the beginning) I don’t recommend it for two reasons. One, it takes a lot of time to create and grow. Two, when you’re just beginning your (likely) trying out many different services to see what you want to offer and who you want to work with.
In this post, we are going to talk more about these two reasons why you don’t need social media to freelance.
Now, let’s consider this scenario, you have established your business and want to pivot to a premium (social media) service–think you need social media to freelance now? The answer is still no (but with a caveat)!
Why You Don’t Need Social Media to Freelance
1. Social media takes a lot of time
Social media management is a time suck, and there are faster ways to get clients. Building a social media audience or an audience in general from 0 is going to take a lot of time and energy.
There are faster ways to get a client!
2. Unsure of your service offering and ideal client
In the beginning stages of your business, you are in such a stage of exploration that you are testing out so many different things. For example, do you want to offer virtual assistant services, social media, or copywriting?
Who do you want to work with? Is it online course creators or is it general mom business owners? Who is it?
Since you are in such a stage of exploration, building up a presence around one single service or client isn’t a good option. What happens if after working with that type of client you decide you don’t like working with them?
You will have built up a social media presence and brand around that ideal client or service that you don’t like, and now have to spend more time and energy rebranding.
The moral of the story is don’t bother with social media in the beginning!
The smartest advice I’ve ever heard for service providers, who want to do all these marketing things that all the gurus and business coaches say you need to do is,
“Your marketing efforts should directly reflect the amount of clients you need each month to reach your goal.”
How to Use Social Media to Find Clients
When you are brand new to freelancing, you are looking for stability in your freelance business. You are looking to make a steady 3, 4, 5, or 6 thousand dollars a month, every month.
This is why I strongly encourage you to focus on finding retainer clients using services like monthly social media management, virtual assistance, podcast management, Pinterest management, monthly copywriting, or content writing. Versus project-type services like website design or website copy. While those are great services that can have a mix of recurring retainer projects they won’t help you meet your monthly income as reliably as a monthly retainer.
When you start you want to look for monthly recurring clients to meet your income goals. Because you only need a handful of clients to meet those income goals. And once you land one client, that client is typically a client long-term or on an ongoing basis.
So, land one client for the income that you can rely on month-in and month-out. Your second client, do the same thing, then the third, and fourth until you meet your income goals.
Once you’ve met your monthly income goals, you have come into this position where you don’t need to spend a ton of time networking anymore. (It’s never a good idea to completely shut off networking, but if you are booked out you don’t need a ton of time trying to make those connections.) So, the caveat is, in this situation, you don’t need clients and can focus on doing some project-based work. Now you might want to think about building up your social media presence as a way to keep your pool of potential clients full.
Q&A
Q: If I want to offer social media management services, won’t potential clients want to see that I have an active social presence?
Not necessarily, and especially not if you are starting, and your pricing is in the beginner stage. Clients will know there is no way you will have that.
If you already have experience, but no social media presence for your own business, you can speak to the results you’ve gotten for clients. Show case studies and back-end analytics to paint a picture of what you can do for potential clients.
Q: When do I need social media to freelance?
The only time you should work on a social media presence is when you want to. When it’s something that gets you excited and is something that you want to work on, then absolutely do it!
Is it needed? No.
What is needed? A solid foundation, and if you need help building a solid foundation The Live Free Academy and The Live Free Podcast have got you covered. First, check out Episode 123 and Episode 201 of The Live Free Podcast to learn about what is needed to build a solid foundation.
If you need help building your solid foundation and are ready to land clients—check out The Live Free Academy. This course will help you start and build a freelance business with the tools and templates you need to build a solid foundation. You’ll have skills training, a community of freelancers just like you, plus me with weekly coaching calls, job leads, and the accountability to hit your goals with monthly challenges. Go to MicalaQuinn.com/Academy to join today!
