Category Archives: social networking

advice, blogging, freelance money, social networking

Build Your Online Platform Now

If you’re launching a freelance career or getting ready to wow us with a break-out novel, don’t wait to start building your platform. All authors need a platform as a way to reach readers, but it can also help you sell your book to an agent, attract attention for interviews, guest appearances…. and other wonderful things that bring more money your way. Getting accepted for freelance assignment is easier when you can direct an editor to a page bursting with clips and ideas.

BlogPlatform

With your website or blog as the core of your platform, widen your connection by linking your blog posts to Facebook, tweeting about new posts, and connecting with others through the dizzy array of online portals.  Most success with social media requires we give more than we take. So spend a few minutes each week boosting someone else’s work too, by leaving a comment, or writing an online review of a good book.

To keep your traffic growing, don’t let your loyal readers get bored when they visit your blog. Have fresh material at least once a week, and include photos, links and quotes. That’s what we’re used to seeing when we read a magazine, and you want your visitors to get the full reading experience whenever they stop by.

If you’d like to get better referrals from Facebook, consider setting up a Facebook Page, rather than asking professionals in the writing industry to visit your Facebook personal profile. Create a free page at facebook.com/pages, for your freelance business. To begin, you must already have an existing personal profile. This is a quick way to display your writing portfolio.

Unlike a personal Facebook profile, your business page should have a service and information component, not personal chatter. A Facebook page acts more like a website, and in fact, can take the place of a website if you put some time into structuring it. There are loads of templates at the Facebook site. The page design has pre-installed features to get you started and you can include add-ons for a guestbook, clips of your work, and even promote your books. This is a professional way to display your portfolio and let editors see that you’re savvy in social media – another plus in getting hired today.

What goes around comes around, so get visible out there and share some energy!

BIO: Helen Gallagher joined Freelance-Zone.com to share her thoughts on small business and technology. Her blogs and books are accessible through www.releaseyourwriting.com. She is a member of ASJA, Small Publishers Artists & Writers Network, and several great Chicago-area writing groups.

advice, blogging, social networking

The Power Of Twitter

1 Comment

Director Spike Lee has issued an apology for a misguided Twitter post connected to the Trayvon Martin shooting. Lee retweeted a private address for someone he mistakenly assumed was the accused shooter in Martin case.

This isn’t the forum to discuss the issue or personal feelings about it; the point here being that in the minds of some, Spike Lee did an incredible amount of damage to his professional reputation by participating in a re-tweet frenzy that was not only ill-advised and wrong, but also horribly mistaken. The victims of the retweet campaign are an elderly couple with no connection whatsoever to case.

Even if the re-tweeted address WAS accurate, the idea of tweeting a home address to angry people seems tantamount to organizing a lynch mob. But that discussion must be saved for a different forum. What can we learn from this social media incident?

The moral of the story–especially for professionals using Twiiter–is pretty clear. But “Your personal views should be saved for your personal account” isn’t it. That one’s a no-brainer.

Perhaps we can all take a lesson from professional journalists and apply it to social media phenomena like the Spike Lee retweet incident. Good journalists are compelled to verify the sources of their information and evaluate whether a particular detail is relevant and worth pursuing. Does the information add credibility to the story being worked?

Before jumping on the “send this to everyone you know” bandwagon, it’s a good idea to consider a similar procedure–especially if you’re using a social media account tied to your freelance work. What do you REALLY KNOW about this subject you’re being asked to disseminate to the rest of the world? Do you really trust the sources you’re being asked to hang your reputation on as you retweet or repost to your friends, fans, or followers?

Food for thought.

–Joe Wallace

social networking

Using the New Facebook Timeline to Make Mo’ Money

By Amanda Smyth Connor

Surely you’ve heard about the new Facebook Timeline Structure – and if you haven’t, you’re soon in for a surprise when your profile

Screen Shot 2012-03-21 at 9.22.13 PM

is forcibly switched to the new structure in the near future.

How do I feel about the new Facebook Timeline? I freaking LOVE IT! And that’s an understatement.

Sure, sure. We all hate change. I get it. “But I love my Facebook just the way it is! Boo modern advances in technology!” I would argue that if you’re feeling this way, you haven’t yet fully grasped the epic awesomeness that is this new timeline feature and all of the amazing ways that Facebook can make you look good and score you mo’ business. That’s right, I said MO’ BUSINESS.

1:  Regardless of whether you have a business page set up for yourself or you use Facebook as a personal profile, you should begin thinking of your Facebook page as a living resume.

2: Choose a cover photo that is professional and engaging. Check out what Dove is doing in the inset image – they have attracted customers to their page by humanizing their company. For other great examples of companies who are engaging their core customer base, check out Coca Cola, Old Spice and Starbucks on Facebook. They are using cover images that attract a specific customer base, so in presenting yourself as a dynamic freelance writer, don’t think “small business,” think “What would Starbucks do?” – Answer: They would utilize an engaging cover image that makes people want to use their services.

3. Set up your new timeline to emphasize amazing milestones in your career. I’m going to use a unique Facebook page as an example of how to do this – Carmen Sandiego (I run this Facebook page – self promotion!)  If you click on any date on the timeline listed on the right hand side of the screen, you can see Carmen’s “career milestones.” You should consider setting up your profile to reflect your education (1990 – Graduated from Blank University with a degree in Journalism and Creative Writing,) career highlights (1993 – hired to work as Staff Writer for Blank Magazine – published 30 feature length articles (and add a photo of a clipping)) and major milestones (2003 – Opened the doors to “Blank Freelance Business” where I have written over 200 blogs, features, etc for 50 clients, including Blank, Blank and Blank) and include an engaging photo or image that best captures your work.

4. Highlight Top Status Updates: Once you have added a great status update to your profile, consider “Highlighting” it by clicking the Star icon in the upper right hand corner of the status update. This will increase the physical size of your status update and will draw visitors eyes to it quickly once they reach your page. Are you accepting new clients now? Let people know and make sure you highlight that update!

For more info on getting the most out of Facebook Timelines, check out this great webinar from Social Candy that shows you what you might be missing.

Amanda Smyth Connor is a social media strategist for a one of the biggest publishing companies in the country and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

advice, blogging, editorial, social networking

First Impressions Count

Joe Wallace Turntabling Rare RecordsI was just looking at a website designed to sell gear to freelancers, offering personalized service at a better price than with larger resellers. The site’s copy included, “We will connect you with the latest technology”.

But the site design was horribly out of date by about ten years. My first impression was definitely not good–how could a company offer to sell me “the latest technology” when the site itself didn’t keep up with that concept?

As it turns out, after a few minutes of exploring I discovered that the site had been last updated a decade ago, but was still haunting the Internet with its promises. And as far as being inactive goes, it’s probably a good thing–I shudder to think what would be happening to that business right now if it were a going concern.

I hate to admit this, but seeing that made me click over to my own resume page to give a critical once-over to it first-impressionwise. And naturally I found a few faults in my own presentation. Faults that will take a small bit of time to correct and update, but faults nonetheless.

The old wheeze is true–you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Sometimes making one tweak is enough to steer someone away from the wrong idea at first glance.

In the case of the site I found, simply not making the claim to hook up buyers with “the latest technology” and finding a more effective sales pitch would have gone over a lot better. Sure, that’s all moot because the site seems as dead as the Dodo. But it’s a valid point, regardless. Can you tweak your own presentation by a few sentences and make it more effective? In my own case, definitely.

Joe Wallace is an audio junkie who collects rare and weird vinyl records, vintage analog synthesizers, and likes recording when he’s not pounding the freelance pavement. His vinyl blog, Turntabling.net, is a repository for all sorts of weirdness and rare goodness on vinyl.

advice, blogging, editorial, social networking

Blogger Advice: Are You Guilty Of This?

2 Comments

Joe Wallace Turntabling Rare Recordsby Joe Wallace

Last night I read yet another blogger advice post telling people how to make their blogs an “internet sensation”. By the time I was done reading it I was so annoyed that I threw my laptop across the room counted to ten and said pleasant things to myself in an effort to prevent having a major wig-out.

Here’s a bit of advice for people who want to give a bit of advice: BE SPECIFIC.

If you want to tell people how to make their blogs more noticeable on the Internet, try giving them something actionable, like “Insure the headline of your blog contains an SEO-friendly keyword related to your topic and also make sure that keyword is repeated within the first two sentences. You don’t need to stuff keywords, just make sure you have something Google can latch onto within both the headline and opening statements.”

This is much better than the nonsense I read last night, which was basically a straight-faced, humorless version of what you’ll see in this clip. Don’t be like the people in this short video…seriously.


Joe Wallace is a writer, author, social media manager, video editor, and musician. He manages to combine all these pursuits at his vinyl blog Turntabling.net. He is available for assignments–contact him at jwallace(at)joe-wallace.com.

blogging, editorial, social networking

Social Media Shakeup for Journalists?

2 Comments

It’s been around long enough that we can stop calling it “new media”, and now that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the rest are becoming more firmly entrenched in the day-to-day business of commerce and earning a living, the big questions are starting to get more attention.

As in, what’s considered “ethical” and “professional” when it comes to the use of social media in an editorial context?

For a lot of freelancers, it’s just a question of making sure you don’t alienate your current or potential future employers with a lot of random, possibly off-putting posts you’re likely to regret the next day after the fun is over.

But for others, it’s a lot more serious than that. Case in point, a recent blog post by Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing.net reporting that Sky News has issued strict new social media rules for its journalists with regard to Twitter use on official accounts.

Doctorow writes, “Under the new policy, Sky reporters are prohibited from retweeting from rival journalists and the public (though they are allowed to retweet each other). They are also not allowed to tweet about subjects that aren’t their beat. Finally, they’re prohibited from “personal” tweets in their professional accounts.”

When it was still called “new media” and the anything-goes frontier had many treading without care or caution, some thrived, some lost their jobs, and some just didn’t participate in the social media fun and games. But all that’s changing and more than ever, freelance or not, social media is a vital part of networking and information gathering.

The fact that professional codes of conduct are being formed on an organizational basis means in the next couple of years you might wake up finding a de facto standard of professionalism with regard to these things that wasn’t here at the time I’m writing this.

Sure, there are plenty of unwritten rules of the road now, but lest we forget, once upon a time the rules of journalistic ethics weren’t so formalized, either.

Now, it’s easy (at least for an experienced observer) to distinguish between the practices of a blogger, who can rant on and on with few consequences (except to reputation and future employability) and a bona fide journalist who is guided by a set of rules for fact-checking, source verification, attribution, etc. Not that all journos follow those rules all the time, but you see where I’m coming from…

These types of stories are the ones to watch for anyone interested in social media theory, journalism, etc.

Joe Wallace Vinyl Collector and authorJoe Wallace is a writer, editor, social media manager, and collector of weirdness on vinyl LPs.

Wallace runs the vinyl record collector’s blog, Turntabling.net, has snarky things to say about bad album covers, and writes short italicized bios about himself in the third person.

His book, WTF Records: A Turntabling.net Guide to Weird and Wonderful Vinyl, is in the final stages and should be inflicted on an unsuspecting public by Christmas. He’s not saying WHICH Christmas yet, mind you…