As a author, you might be probably already utilizing social media to advertise your printed work—or you need to be! And because you’re already a wordsmith, cobbling collectively intelligent and fascinating tweets, Fb posts, and descriptions for Pinterest and Instagram comes pretty simply to you.
Realizing this, have you ever thought-about placing your writing abilities to work by providing social media providers?
Companies in all places are leaping into the world of social media, however tons of them simply don’t have the time or know-how. Whereas they might not at all times promote their want for a social media supervisor or content material creator on LinkedIn or Craigslist, you may simply determine 5 companies in your metropolis which might be doing a poor job with social media. (After all, you’re not restricted to native purchasers on the subject of social media, however they’re a fantastic first choice.)
Begin along with your present purchasers, those who already know your work as a author. Merely shoot them a message letting them know that you’re now providing social media providers and ask whether or not they know anybody who wants this sort of assist—or in the event that they want it themselves. In case your purchasers are prepared to contact their networks, craft an e mail to make it simple for them. Add an incentive by providing a free hour of labor in trade for every referral.
To land new purchasers, attain out to a few of your favourite native eating places, retailers or bars. Identical to you would possibly pitch an editor by main with a praise on their latest work, you are able to do the identical whenever you contact a enterprise you already get pleasure from.
I’ve been in a position to land a number of new purchasers by gently stating a straightforward solution to enhance their social media, like claiming their Fb self-importance URL, beefing up their Fb About web page, or including milestones to their historical past. Together with ideas like these in your pitch exhibits that you understand your stuff and provides worth for the enterprise—you’re serving to them out earlier than they’ve even employed you.
Discovering ongoing work along with your new purchasers
Signing a brand new social media consumer opens the door to the potential of taking up extra writing-based duties. Possibly you may launch or contribute to their weblog, or write and distribute their month-to-month e-newsletter. Maybe they want some canned response emails, press releases or up to date web site copy.
Once you start new relationships with companies that continually want content material advertising, you set your self up for regular gigs that don’t require pitching an editor or scouring a job board. And that’s a pleasant place to be.
Method pricing for this work in the identical approach you do your writing providers. It’s possible you’ll need to supply an hourly price to begin out, however ultimately I’d advocate transferring to a month-to-month retainer bundle. That is principally your hourly price multiplied by the variety of hours you anticipate spending on work for the consumer.
Webpage FX has an in depth price sheet for his or her social media providers to provide you an thought of what you would possibly need to cost. After all, you would possibly need to begin out with a decrease price to land that first social media consumer, however you’ll be capable to elevate it as you acquire expertise and consumer testimonials. The Write Life founder Alexis Grant additionally presents assets that will help you construct your social media enterprise.
Remember the fact that you’ll common at the very least one hour per day (generally three to 4 hours), on daily basis, creating content material and responding to buyer messages, so you should definitely add some cushion to your price. Social media by no means sleeps, and additional duties often creep in, so reevaluate the venture scope periodically.