7 Twitter Marketing Tips For Freelancers That Actually Work

While the microblogging site Twitter may have as many as 300 million users, a lot of freelancers still do not leverage that reach to market themselves and get in new revenue streams. 

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However, keeping in mind that most Twitter users are on the platform to get their daily news and to connect over topics of mutual interest makes Twitter the ideal marketing platform for freelancers.

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If you’re a freelancer wondering how to grow your Twitter account into an effective means of connecting with prospective clients, worry not. We’ve spoken to the experts and collated 7 Twitter marketing tips for freelancers to help get you started. 

Twitter marketing tips for freelancers

If you’re a B2B freelancer or a freelancer in a creative industry, you’d be happy to learn that a lot of marketing professionals, agencies, agents, and business owners often use Twitter to tweet about freelancers' openings, calls for pitches, and requests for portfolios. 

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That knowledge alone ought to be enough to pique your interest, without having to get into the other advantages of marketing yourself on Twitter, such as the fact that you do not need to follow a person or send them a “friend request” to be able to reach out to them on Twitter. 

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And we’re definitely not going to get into how to create a Twitter account, because if you have other social media accounts, then you already know how to sign up. Instead, let’s jump right into the thick of building the ideal freelancer Twitter marketing strategy.

1. Leverage your bio space and pinned tweet

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As always, you want to make a favorable first impression, so make the best of your bio space and pinned tweet. 

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Now, your bio space is limited to 160 characters, so make your bio short but informative. For example, if you’re a freelance graphic designer who specializes in logos, you could have the title read, “Freelance graphic logo designer.”

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Follow that up with a link to where you want to lead prospective clients from there, such as to your blog, website, or portfolio. A recent professional photograph would help add a face to the description.

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A pinned tweet is a static tweet that will be the first thing anyone visiting your profile will see. With a character limit of 280 characters, use this space judiciously to showcase your best work, talk about what you specialize in, or even publish your rate card.

2. Stay active to get noticed

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In order to get noticed on any social media platform, being active is essential, and that holds true on Twitter as well. There are multiple ways of doing this.

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One way is to share snippets of your latest work or tidbits about professional experiences that may help others as regularly as possible. Remember, not everything you share needs to be positive. You could even tweet about a mistake you made working on a project that you learned from. 

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A lot of people find content like this relatable, and you will soon find the number of followers you have on Twitter growing. 

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Even if you do not have enough original content to share regularly, tweeting and retweeting industry-related news and topics work just as well. In fact, some marketing specialists are of the opinion that the most successful ratio to staying active on Twitter is an 80/20 ratio, 80% being retweeting content generated by others or sharing industry news, and 20% being original content.

3. Join curated feeds or create one

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If you want to stay informed with the latest in niche circles that are of interest to you but don’t want your main Twitter feed overcrowded, you will need to either join curated feeds or create a list for yourself.

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This can be done easily by clicking on the “Lists” tab underneath the profile button and searching for the lists you are interested in. 

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For example, if you are into generating marketing content, looking for “Marketing content writers” under lists will give you access to the latest tweets and opportunities in that space. 

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You can use this facility to either join curated feeds that already exist or just as easily customize a feed for yourself based on your interests. And if your bio and pinned postgame are on point, you’ll find other people adding you to their lists as well, all of which will mean your tweets will get a lot more attention.

4. Interact with your community

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As important as tweeting and retweeting is, it is equally important that you follow people and businesses from your target industry. Furthermore, it would be prudent of you to engage with them as and when opportunities arise.

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In order to be able to connect with people from your community and add value to ongoing conversions, a good place to start would be to be aware of the latest developments, changes, and breakthroughs in your industry. 

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For example, if you see a poll or tweet related to your field of expertise that you feel you could add value to, do so without hesitation. Doing so could open up doors to conversations that could well lead to business opportunities.

5. DM your prospective clients

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One of the greatest advantages to being on Twitter as a freelancer, as we mentioned earlier, is that you do not really need to befriend someone to be able to contact them. What this means is that if you have a list of clients that you want to work with and that you know hire freelancers, you can DM them with links proving you have the skills to work with them.

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Doing so may just get your foot in the door for you to build on from there. The worst thing that could happen is that they may not have opportunities at that moment, but you would have successfully brought yourself to their attention. 

6. Use hashtags to your advantage

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Knowing what hashtags to use and which ones to follow is definitely a Twitter marketing pro tip that you need to pay attention to. For example, using hashtags like #freelancewriter or #freelanceravailable may draw the attention of business owners looking to hire freelancers for a project.

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Similarly, following hashtags that read #freelanceopportunity or #portfoliosneeded are likely to help you discover open opportunities on Twitter. 

7. Learn how to use images and external links

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As with all social media platforms, how well your posts do on Twitter depends on how the algorithm behaves. Here are two hacks you ought to keep in mind while marketing your freelancer profile on Twitter.

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First off, both the Twitter algorithm and the people who use the platform love images. That means using an image related to the topic of your tweet is likely to get it more mileage and you, more followers.

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On the other hand, tweets without external links work better on Twitter, so if you want to add a link to your tweet, the best place to do so would be as a comment. 

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Being a freelancer means you are responsible for a lot of things that employees take for granted, including getting paid on time and paying your taxes.

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Prio’s invoice generator not only helps you save time by allowing you to auto-generate repetitive invoices based on a pre-set schedule, but it also makes tracking down pending payments easier for you. Another added benefit is that these invoices will help you calculate what you owe in taxes, so you never get into trouble with the IRS.

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We also have an efficient and easy-to-use time tracker, the data from which can help you judge if the time and effort you put into a project is justified by your income from it. This will help you plan itches for future projects more easily.

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Visit Prio today to learn more about our suite of freelancer tools, most of which you can use for free! 

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