5 Social Media Tips For Freelancers

By Joe Wallace

It’s funny how history repeats itself. Ten years ago, freelancers and business owners were wondering if they should start websites to promote the business. It wasn’t quite mandatory yet back then. Today people have the same issues with social media. “Should I get more involved with Twitter and Facebook?”

That question is like, soooo last century.

Of COURSE you should be. But for the right reasons and with the right strategies.

Gang of Four founder and social web contrarian Dave Allen is fond of saying that simply having a Facebook and Twitter account does not equal having a digital strategy, and I have to agree. So many people DO believe that, though–that using social media IS the strategy as opposed to simply having another tool in the box to use.

The first place I start when telling people how to use Twitter and Facebook? Make a plan and decide what you want to DO with these tools. It’s not enough to post things and hope people pay attention.

Once you have a strategy and know what you want to accomplish with your social media accounts, then you are ready to really take advantage of the following advice:

1. Don’t be content to post an endless stream of quotations and self-promotion. People want to know YOU’RE there.
2. Opinions vary, but I’m of the mind that posting links in every post isn’t the best way to use social media. Sometimes we all fall into a rut here–myself included, but refer to #1. People want to know YOU are there…not just your agenda.
3. Following the right people is an art–don’t just populate your friends and following lists for the sake of the numbers like we ALL did when we first got our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Be selective. Target your audience and go after THEM.
4. Don’t ignore your DM, inbox, and other tw0-way communication tools associated with your social media account. Sometimes you learn a lot about how NOT to use the social web by weeding out the spam and useless messages you’re going to get.
5. It’s very tempting for freelancers to lean in favor of potential clients or colleagues when friending and following. Don’t be so self-conscious about your friends and follows–add the people who are relevant to what you’re doing on the web and let the chips fall where they may.

What You Don’t Know About Twitter CAN Hurt You

by Joe Wallace

Over the last few years, in addition to freelance writer and editor, I’ve also added social media specialist to my list of titles. I got started doing MySpace accounts for music projects and music journalist sites and branched out over time as Twitter, Facebook and other social media gained traction.

Among the many trends I’ve noticed among social media, one thing remains constant regardless of platform preference; there are always people willing to find new ways to send spam. Twitter is a no-brainer when it comes to spam–it’s too easy to tweet, tweet, tweet ad nauseum and send annoying direct messages until the keyboard breaks.

But it’s also just as easy to block spammers, so a bit more innovation is required to send out the annoyance.

One way spammers are using Twitter can actually affect YOUR account’s reputation, get you blocked by potential readers, clients or customers, and give you a bad name all round. And if you’re not disciplined enough to check your account on a daily basis, you might never know it’s happening. … Continue Reading

Social Media For Writers

This post is sponsored by FiledBy – where authors can claim their free website and build their online marketing platform

by Catherine L. Tully

I stumbled across a real gem of a site in Social Media for Writers and thought I’d share it with you today. It was great to see something specifically devoted to writers out there, and this site has a little something for everyone…

If you are a rank beginner when it comes to social media sites, the author (Donna Talarico) provides a good overview of two of the best out there–Twitter and Facebook. More advanced users will appreciate things such as information about promoting your blog on Twitter or information on how to use Twitter lists.

One of the most refreshing things about this site is the easy tone that Talarico uses. She communicates good information without talking down to writers, but it isn’t so basic that you’ll be bored. Take a few minutes to check this site out and see what you can learn about making social media work for you.

And if you haven’t already joined us on Twitter or Facebook, please drop by and sign on. We should all be connected!

This post was sponsored by FiledBy – where authors can claim their free website and build their online marketing platform

Social Media ist das Opium des Volkes

by Mike O’Mary

Okay, so maybe Karl Marx was talking about religion instead of social media when he tagged an institution as “the opiate of the people.” But if Karl were alive today, I don’t think he’d argue with calling social media an opiate. Speaking for myself, I swore off television years ago only to end up spending those newfound hours in front of the computer every day. Sucked in again!

How much time do you spend on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Classmates, YouTube, Flickr, Google Buzz, Bebo, Flixster, MyLife, etc., etc.? And I’m not even talking about the time you spend checking your e-mail accounts, blogs, bank/brokerage accounts, shopping, travel, and all that other “essential” stuff. Talk about a huge time suck.

To be clear, social media is pretty amazing. You have hundreds — sometimes thousands — of personal and business connections at your fingertips. This simply was not possible ten years ago. Old college friends were just that…old college friends. Maybe you saw them at your 10th or 20th or 50th reunion. Now you can see them every day. Perhaps all you learn is that they spend oodles of time fertilizing eggplant in FarmVille. But hey, you’ll have something to talk about at the next reunion, right? (”Hey, Greg…how’d that degree in library science turn out? Oh. Sorry. Nice eggplant farm though.”)

I started to say that social media is pretty amazing. And that it has its place. It’s helped me spread the word about my new book publishing business faster and cheaper and to a broader audience than I could have done with traditional PR or marketing. And I’ve made some new friends along the way. It’s been great. But I really did get sucked in. Here’s what happened: I was spending LOTS of time each day trying to keep up with all of my social media accounts, and then staying up very late at night doing all the other things that are traditionally associated with book publishing. That had to stop. My job is editing and publishing. My job is not social media gadfly — no matter how entertaining, compelling or (dare I say it) ADDICTING social media might be.

Here is a longer version of the famous Karl Marx quote. Again, I have substituted “social media” for “religion”:
[Social media] is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

It’s your life. Don’t live it all virtually.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, an independent book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 15 topics.

Grammar, Grammar, Grammar!

This post is sposnored by FiledBy – where authors can claim their free website and build their online marketing platform.

by Catherine L. Tully

I know I have mentioned this great resource before, but only in passing. Grammar Girl is a heavy-duty tool for the writer–new or experienced. Mignon Fogarty is the name behind this character, and her “Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing” include goodies such as:

• Affect vs. Effect
• Toward vs. Towards
• All Right vs. Alright
• Lay vs. Lie

These are excellent, bite-sized tips for the writer that can mean the difference between getting a query nod and having the editor hit delete. Let’s face it–in this business, you’ve got to know what you are doing when it comes to grammar and sentence structure.

It doesn’t really matter how you decide to keep up with Grammar Girl. She’s on Twitter and she even has her own podcast on iTunes. A little honesty? It’s the only podcast that I have actually downloaded and listened to on my iPhone.

Naturally, if you prefer a good, old-fashioned book you can go that route as well.

Why am I so excited about this? Well, grammar is huge, and it is usually presented in the most awful, boring format. Grammar Girl gives it to you straight, but in a palatable way, without taking too long to get the point across. I’m a serious fan.

This post was brought to you by FiledBy

Follow Friday?

 by Catherine L. Tully

If you don’t know what the title of this post means…get ready to learn a great promotional strategy on Twitter. “Follow Fridays” is a way to figure out who to follow–and to share those you follow with others. To participate, simply tweet the words #followfriday (don’t forget the “hashtag” # before it) and then the username of the person you wish to share with the @ sign. For example, #followfriday @freelancezone @catherinetully.

It’s that simple. You can add as many people as characters allow (140) and if you run out of space, you can create another tweet. Try it–it’s fun!

Using Social Media

by Catherine L. Tully

How do you use social media? I’m getting into it pretty heavy and I’m really enjoying what it does for me. Joe and I use Twitter and Facebook for this site (come join us if you haven’t already!), and I use LinkedIn as well. The learning curve on all of them is a little to deal with on the front end, but they are fairly user-friendly overall. It can get a little complicated when you try and use some of the more advanced features, but all writers can benefit from having an account set up.

If you haven’t yet jumped on the social media bandwagon, try it. Set up a Twitter account and tweet. Create a Facebook page for your business. Take the time to walk through the LinkedIn profile and get that out there. It’s worth the effort–trust me!

Unfollow Thursday

I am starting a new Twitter fad. Are you sick of getting stupid spam Tweets about “I just added you to my Mafia family, you should accept my invitation” and teeth whitening? Are you as fed up as I am with 500 million tweets daily about stupid spammy nonsense? “I make $500 a day, you can too!”

That’s why I’ve declared Thursdays as UNFOLLOW THURSDAY. It works exactly the same as FOLLOW FRIDAY, except in reverse. Name your names, folks–shame them into ending the Twitter spam all together.

For those who don’t know about FOLLOW FRIDAY, and now UNFOLLOW THURSDAY, you simply type in Follow Friday: @TinyNugget, @Freelancezone, @CrimsonForehead, whoever else you want to follow and announce to the world that you’ve followed them … Continue Reading

TweetMyJobs Changes the Game

Freelance job sites like eLance and other for-a-fee providers, quake in your boots. TweetMyJobs has just changed your landscape probably forever with what its marketing hype calls “the largest Twitter job board in the world”. Pretty bold stuff for a company that didn’t exist this time last year, but that’s how things move in the Twitter world–it wasn’t three years ago Twitter wasn’t even a player in the game, now they rule a massive chunk of the online market.

I used TweetMyJobs for the first time yesterday to see what the fuss was about, and I can tell you that the for-pay sites are in trouble. Subscriber-based job sites have reached the end of their usefulness thanks to TweetMyJobs, and unless this fails to catch on with the folks posting the jobs themselves, FREElance is about to be FREE once again. … Continue Reading

Social Media For Writers Blog

by Catherine L. Tully

Well, well…look what I found today! A blog that is dedicated to social media for writers! It looks fairly new, but has some info on Twitter and Facebook thus far, and it says that LinkedIn is coming soon…

What I’ve seen so far–I like. Keep an eye on this one–it could really be a great resource.

Using Twitter With Purpose

by Catherine L. Tully

Do you just get on Twitter and tweet away about whatever comes to mind? If so, you aren’t taking full advantage of the power of this social networking tool. Writers need to be thinking about how they are marketing themselves and their services when they post.

To that end, I’d like to point out a Twitter Guide that breaks a lot of the information out there down in a very palatable way. Mashable divides things up into three common sense categories… … Continue Reading

Twitter 101 Business Guide

by Joe Wallace

One of my favorite new media commentators is Dave Allen, of Gang of Four fame. In addition to a very busy speaking and traveling schedule, he’s got a few going concerns on the web, one of which is the ever-relevant Social Cache.  Check out the recent post on the Twitter 101 for Business guide, now available as a free download from Social Cache (hosted from Allen’s other site Pampelmoose.com).

If you’re still trying to figure out what this Twitter thing is all about and why you should be paying attention, try this free download courtesy of Social Cache and get yourself schooled. (Please note this is a link to the post, not the PDF itself–that’s located within the post itself.)

If you’re not familiar with Social Cache, have a look around the site…it’s definitely worth your time.

Twitterfeed-Type Services Down After Hack Attacks

Bloggers who use Twitterfeed and similar services to send updates to their Twitter accounts when they create blog posts are still unable (at press time) to run automated posts to Twitter.

Twitterfeed.com and other services were blocked by Twitter following Thursday’s denial-of-service attacks. Twitter has implemented very aggressive IP address filtering according to an update at GetSatisfaction. Twitter promises to look into the issue but there’s no telling when auto-update services like Twitterfeed might be permitted to resume. Bottom line, if you’re having trouble with those automatic blog post updates on Twitter, it’s not Twitterfeed’s fault, access has been denied by Twitter until further notice.

Twitter Problems?

by Catherine L. Tully

If you have had problems getting your tweet fix today you are not alone. Apparantly Twitter has been hit by a “denial of service” attack, and the popular social networking site has had issues because of it. Early reports suggest that Facebook may have had problems as well. The latest is here on CNN, but more is sure to follow. Just thought you might like to know what is up! I was trying to get on and had no luck, so I looked into it and found I wasn’t the only one!

Twitter Tips For Writers

by Catherine L. Tully

If you are a fan of Twitter, here’s a great resource to help freelance writers get the most out of their tweets: Twitorials. There are a wide range of tips on here, ranging from basics, such as how to follow someone on Twitter, to more complex tasks, such as how to create a custom background. I’m going to try some of these out myself!

By TwitterButtons.com