Click here to listen to this post on Youtube!
I hear other freelancers say “I hate social media!” while complaining that they aren’t booking as many jobs as they want. A few questions come to mind. “What don’t you like about it?” “What do you consider ‘social media’?”, “How else do you plan to advertise your services?” and “how can you make social media less cringy for yourself?”
One reason people don’t like social media is because they consider it to be a fake representation of a person. Most people post about the good things that happen to them, and leave out the dirty details. They use filters to make their skin look brighter and clearer in photos. This can rub some people the wrong way. Perhaps though, for a freelancer or a public persona, it’s just being professional. Compare a social media post to a commercial on TV, or a magazine ad. Professional actors are hired for commercials to pretend they love the products. Pictures of cereal in print are arranged with glue instead of milk. Compared to traditional advertising, social media doesn’t seem so fake.
A lot of people claim they don’t use social media, when in reality, they look up Youtube videos, use Zoom, or even scroll Reddit posts daily. Social media, to some people, is Facebook. Everything else is just- the internet? Actually social media is any media that is interactive. Famous actors and musicians can go on talk shows to promote their work. The rest of us go on the open platforms. There are so many nowadays that there is likely at least one that will be useful (and maybe even fun) for any freelancer.
We used to have The Yellow Pages to advertise all sorts of small businesses. Apparently it still exists today, but I haven’t owned a phone book in years. I only know it exists because I just Googled it. We might compare social media advertising to pre-social media Yellow Pages. Imagine a 1990s plumber refusing to be listed in the phone book because they just didn’t like it. They would have had a much harder time getting any work. Google is today’s Yellow Pages, but you can’t just use a company name starting with “A” to guarantee that your page will get views. You need to have a lot of content (or pay big money to Google) to be searchable. TV and radio commercials are too expensive. Direct email marketing may be an option, but is also an easy way to make some bad first impressions and end up spam folders.
One way to avoid social media cringe is to separate your public persona from your private one. Have separate accounts for your business and personal profiles (if you use social media for both). Don’t bother your friends and family by posting things on your personal account that seem like sales pitches. I’ve unfriended people because their Facebook accounts turned into multi-level marketing platforms. Expect that your audiences for your work posts will be different from audiences on your personal accounts. Post content accordingly. Post the kind of content you like, and that you would like to see. Come up with a campaign that gets you excited. Don’t just post every day because you think you have to.
Thinking differently about social media is helpful to any freelancer or business owner who “hates social media”. Advertising is a part of doing business, and like it or not, the way we advertise nowadays is through social media. While it may be necessary, it doesn’t have to be evil.
Thanks for reading!
Rebecca H. Lee
Visit my website at becksvoice.com!
Follow me on social media!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-h-lee-audiobook-narrator/
https://bsky.app/profile/beckcentric.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/@RebeccaHLee
https://www.instagram.com/beckcentric/https://www.facebook.com/beckcentric
https://www.tiktok.com/@beckcentric
