As I started working freelance, one of the most important things to do seemed to start posting content. Does it sound weird to you ? Or maybe you wonder what all the fuss is about ? Let’s dive into this topic together !
The first thing I realized as a new freelancer, was that visibility was key. If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t get any clients… well most of the time, it’s not that you’re bad, it’s just that people don’t know that you’re here, providing these services ! So somehow, you need to find a way to promote yourself, so that more people get to learn about what you can offer.
And so, content is the easiest and cheapest way to achieve that. Whether it’s on social media, or through a blog, or a Youtube channel… It’s free. All you need is your brain and a bit of organization. (Hello content planning ! ~)
So first, visibility. People have to know you, hear about you, so that they can come talk to you, and maybe hire you. Second is building your community. Post is nice, but what is greater than that, is the moment where you realize you’re building your audience. Some people will follow you, like your content, comment, or send you a message to tell you how nice your content is, how it helped them and… that’s when you know you’re doing it right. It’s nice to have this community of people who support you, maybe some will even recommend you to other people, and honestly, word-of-mouth is so much more effective than paid ads. There’s a notion of trust in this that you won’t be able to build by just paying for automated promotion.
Third point, this makes you human. There are a lot of people trying to sell their services online. But the fact that you go out of your way (out of your usual job/services) to share things with people, it’s going to make you human in their eyes. You’re no longer just a marketer they’re going to ignore right away because ‘uuurgh hate these sales people‘, no. Through your content, you show who you are, whether it’s through your words, or maybe by showing your face and talking in a video, whatever you’re comfortable with. And showing who you are, means that people can relate to you (or not, haha), they can feel sympathy for you, and this can make them want to work with you, or even just have a chat with you that can lead to them recommending you to someone else for example. Or just becoming friends with you. Yes because business is great, but it doesn’t stop you from making friends actually haha.
Posting content is also a great way for a freelancer to practice their communication skills. How to you present your services, what you do, how do you pitch that ? Posting content related to your activity will help you structure your ideas, your expertise, what are your goals, your target audience, how you can help them etc. It’s going to make you think, a lot, and that can only improve the efficiency of your communication with others.
Fifth point, it’s good for your image. Posting regular content, quality content, is something that anyone can do, but only a few manage to stick to it. Consistency demands a lot of work, continuous work, week after week, without fail. This shows a lot about your personality. It shows that you’re reliable, a hard-worker, a self-starter, it shows that you can keep up with deadlines, you can achieve your goals, and the quality of your content will reflect the quality of your work in general, your work ethics. I’m not saying that your content has to be perfect and professional etc, no. But for example if there are no spelling mistakes, that the design is nice, the article though-provoking, or the video entertaining… It just shows a great side of yourself.
And finally… posting content may help you in the future, as a resources database. Whether it’s for your clients, or maybe someday you will want to create a course and you need to know where to start… your content will help you, no matter what. Once you explain something in a piece of content, you just have to send the link afterwards, no need to explain it again a million times.
I hope this article was useful to you, and if you didn’t feel like posting content, I hope this convinced you haha.
Have a lovely day, and see you next Wednesday !
Marie.
Marie K. Ricci - Author | Translator 