A LinkedIn Hack to Land More Freelance Writing Gigs

If you decided to become a freelance writer, one of the best ways to start getting out there and telling others you are a freelance writer is to use social media. For freelance writers, I suggest you stick to Twitter and LinkedIn first. Later on you can dabble in Instagram or Facebook if you feel you can land more freelance jobs there. Now, I know for many of you, social media is NOT something you are interesting in doing. I get you. When I first started, I never used Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest. I had a personal Facebook profile to keep in touch with my family. Thats it. I was NOT on social media. So, when I decided to work from home as a freelance writer I had to learn about social media. I didnt even know what tagging was or the purpose of LinkedIn. I had to learn which social media platforms to use for my freelance writing business and how to effectively market my business on those social platforms. How to Market on LinkedIn Of the two social media platforms, LinkedIn is the best platform to network and really find the best type of client for you. I view LinkedIn as the professional Facebook platform. You have a profile that shares who you are and what you do and instead of posting cute and fun things, you post your past work experience. You can join LinkedIn groups and you can follow Company pages. You can also connect with other freelance writers or request to follow other types of freelancers. Now, for years, Ive had my profile sit on LinkedIn as is. Over time I added new projects and occasionally updated my title and bio. But, nothing too drastic. LinkedIn over time has also changed and has updated their profile features. In light of this, I decided to shake things up. In my YouTube Video, I share with you a LinkedIn hack that you can use to land more gigs. Check out the video and make sure to subscribe to my channel to be notified first when new videos get published! Being Visual on LinkedIn The new thing I started doing on LinkedIn was take advantage of the banner image for my profile. Before this hack I just posted a pretty stock photo for my banner image. But, I decided to do some experiments to see if I optimized my banner image would I attract my ideal client – digitally native brands – and get more views to my profile? This is what my new banner image looks like: Heres what I did: I mention my name and my writer website and blog I put a photo of me doing a Facebook Live (talking on microphone) Metrics to show potential client I write digital marketing content but that Im also a digital marketer Remember, most prospects will take a quick look to see if you are the writer for them. You have less than 5 seconds to convince them you can write for them. So, your banner image can help you keep the attention of potential clients. Have The Right Information on Your Banner No matter what niche you are in – pet writing, real estate writing – its important to have the right information on your banner image. Personally, I feel they are your name, your blog and your niche if possible. Its okay to be redundant in your banner image. I have two images of me – thats okay! It makes me more personal. How Does This Help With Landing More Freelance Gigs? Doing this one thing makes you more personable and more unique. Prospects will remember your profile if you have a customized LinkedIn banner image. Once I updated my banner image and did some marketing tactics that I explain show in Write Your Way to Your First $1k, I improved the views to my profile by 57%. This hack is a warm pitching hack as well and takes time to develop clients. But, its my favorite strategy to land long-term recurring freelance work. How to Create a Customized LinkedIn Banner Image The editing tool I used to create my LinkedIn banner image was Canva. Its a free tool that has templates – like the LinkedIn banner template – to use. If you want to see how I created this banner, make sure to check my YouTube video! 3 Marketing Tactics to Help You Land More Freelance Writing Jobs On top of using LinkedIn, you should also be trying other platforms to market your writing business. Here are my top three. 1. Guest Posting Guest posting is by far the best strategy as it has a high ROI – rate of return. By guest posting on other peoples sites you reach a new audience and it may land you work from the blog owner too! Guest posting also helps you build your portfolio. With a bylined article, you can link to that on your Portfolio page or upload this to your Contently portfolio. 2. Networking I have mentioned previously, but networking is the backbone of your freelance writing business. Without networking, you will not succeed! Its that important. Networking can be as simple as following other companies and as complex as guest posting or emailing them. Some of my best freelance writing jobs was a result of networking! 3. Starting a Blog Content marketing still relies on blogging. Businesses use blogs as their lead generation strategy and its no different for you – the freelance writer! You can start a blog to attract some amazing clients. It has happened to me numerous times. If you need help starting a blog for your freelance writing business, make sure to check my totally simple step-by-step video. Get On LinkedIn Okay – I want you to try this LinkedIn hack and when youre done, share your LinkedIn profile so I can view it! Thanks and remember to share this post!