Do Better Business with Social Media Marketing

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Robyn Roste

While it’s important to choose tactics that work for you and your personality in your freelance writing business, social media marketing can do a lot for discoverability and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Social media marketing for business

No matter if you’re a solopreneur or an established freelancer, businesses need to reach people (preferably their ideal people) if they’re going to survive.

The whole idea is to become known in your industry, building full and healthy business relationships with your prospects.

Honestly, the relationship-building aspect of marketing cannot be overstated. Everything in business points back to one-to-one relationships built on a foundation of trust and likability.

There are so many different ways to market and while it’s important to choose tactics that work for you and your personality, social media can do a lot for discoverability and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Since social media can take over your life I also wanted to add a disclaimer. This is a great tool for discoverability, to reach new audiences and build relationships. However, it shouldn’t be your entire business marketing strategy.

By the way, optimizing your social media profiles is important! You want to ensure potential clients know who you are, what you do, and why they should hire you.

Download your free ebook from my resource library! All you have to do is pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password.

Once you’re in the library, navigate to the social media section and download the ebook called “Social Media Optimization.”

To demonstrate where I think social media marketing belongs I’ve created a little infographic for you

Here are a few reasons why you should consider adding social media into your marketing plan.

It’s easy

Most likely you’re already on at least one social media platform and you understand how it works. Start there and figure out natural ways to talk about your business.

This could be by

The most important thing is to find something that works for you and to stick with it. Just be careful not to fall into the trap of spending hours and hours worrying about your content or looking for the perfect hashtags. Set a time limit and stick to your boundaries.

It’s free

Posting on social media is free so why wouldn’t you do it?

Yes, many platforms are pay-to-play meaning if you want to increase your reach you have to put money behind it but even still, it’s a great opportunity to test your posts and see how your prospects and readers engage with it.

Just remember this is one spoke in the bicycle wheel that is your marketing strategy. Keep it simple, keep it in perspective.

Extra reading: How to Avoid Social Media Overwhelm

It’s not as simple as random posts though!

Yes you can post anything and use social media as a thowing-spaghetti-at-the-wall type of expirament.

However, social media always is most effective when there’s a strategy behind it and a larger goal at play.

Take the way agencies work, for example.

They plan out all kinds of campaigns and strategies
They time their posts, thinking about people’s habits and interests
There are even social media marketing firms that focus on boosting a company’s brand through social media

Extra reading: Setting Social Media Goals: How to Do It and What to Track

Billions of opportunities to be discovered

There are so many people surfing social media platforms at any given time, so if you post the right content on the right platform in the right way, you may reach your ideal client.

Of course, going viral is never something you can plan for or count on but it’s nice when it happens. And it won’t if you never post anything.

Need help posting? Try Seasonal Ideas and Prompts for Social Media

Social media is here to stay

Maybe you hate it and feel like there’s no point in figuring out social media because it will be gone soon. I’m sorry to say that’s probably not gonna happen.

While individual platforms may flex and flux the global connectivity phenomenon is something you’re just going to have to deal with.

I mean, unless you figure out a different way to be discovered. It’s definitely possible, yes. But I don’t know how.

Hate social media? Maybe you also hate marketing. Read this post → Marketing Ideas for People Who Hate Marketing

While it's important to choose tactics that work for you and your personality in your freelance writing business, social media marketing can do a lot for discoverability and shouldn't be overlooked.

One more thing. You may be interested in my free resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.

This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.

You may also like How to Create a Social Media Portfolio

How to Get More Email Subscribers

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Robyn Roste

Once you get over the hump of actually starting a list now it’s time to figure out how to get more email subscribers.

How to Get More Email Subscribers | Tips for Freelancers

Because what’s the point in doing all the work of running an email list if you aren’t talking to anyone?

But let’s back up for a minute. Maybe you’re a freelance writer who doesn’t do much online marketing. You might think a concept like getting more email subscribers, or even having an email list, is a bit overkill. I mean, what’s the point, right?

If I’m describing you then here’s my quick pitch for having an email list:

You can nurture relationships with potential clients who aren’t ready to hire you yet
It helps people who are on the fence about hiring you get to know you better
Want to stay in touch with previous clients? This is a non-awkward way of doing this!
It helps you build authority in your niche (I mean, you’re writing about it literally all the time, this reinforces your expertise!)

Anyway, I could go on about this but it’s not today’s topic so instead I’ll drop a graphic below for you to consider. In today’s freelance environment, platform building both has merit and helps you escape the dreaded feast or famine cycle. (More on THAT later.)

This infographic shows you where I think email marketing comes in to play in the freelancer’s sales funnel.

Just my opinion, but I stand by it.

The new freelance writer's sale funnel by Robyn Roste. First level, discovery. Second level, nurture. Third level, small product sales. Fourth level, high-priced services.

For more about WHY I think you should have an email list check out the article I wrote for Story Board, Why Freelancers in Marketing and Communications Should Have an Email List.

How to get more email subscribers

Tip 1: Ask people to join your list

Yes this is as simple as it sounds. If you want more email subscribers then ask people to join your list.

Here are a few ways you can do this:

Make sure your social media followers know about your list and have opportunities to join up every now and then
Invite people you meet at networking events to join your list (or ask if you can add them—get permission!)
Add a link to your sign-up form in your email footer
Embed sign-up forms on your blog posts or on your website pages (like your “About” page, for example)

Now, there is a caveat here. You want to invite people to join your list who are a good fit for your business.

This means you have to know what you do, who you serve and why your service matters to them.

By the way, I’ve created a worksheet to help you work through these questions. Just pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password for my free resource library. When you’re there, navigate to the Freelancing category and download the “Freelancer Positioning Worksheet.”

Want to go deeper here? Check out Want to Work from Home? Consider Freelance Writing!

Tip 2: Offer some sort of incentive for signing up

This makes sense if you think about it.

“Hey join my email list” is one thing.

But isn’t “Sign up for my list and you’ll get this extra special thing that you can’t get anywhere else” better?

What can you offer people that makes giving you their email address worth it?
What will make it a fair trade?
How can you surprise and delight your subscribers?

Think about incentives as two pieces.

First, you want to give people a compelling reason to join your list. Perhaps this is a free download or template or something they’ll find helpful.

The important thing to keep in mind is you want to come up with something that both represents your brand well, and solves a problem for your ideal reader or customer.

Second, you want to send relevant, interesting information in your actual emails.

While getting people on your list is important, giving them a reason to stay is next level.

Tip 3: Encourage your email subscribers to forward your newsletter

Because you’re sending interesting and exclusive stuff to ideal readers (right!? Go back to Tips 1 and 2 if this is new information) it should resonate with them.

And people love sharing information that strikes a chord.

So encourage your email subscribers to share your newsletters with others. This serves as a win-win. They share something helpful with their audience and you’re gaining visibility.

This simple request can have big rewards. Don’t underestimate the power of a referral!

Download this free List Love Ebook to help you get more email subscribers.

If you want to go deeper into list building Jennifer Maker has written a fabulous ebook on the subject. She grew her email list to 20,000 subscribers in less than a year so she knows her stuff. It’s an excellent, quick read and I know you’ll take something away you can implement today.

You can grab this FREE ebook from my affiliate link → LIST LOVE Introduction to List Building

Like I said, this is a free book. But by using my link, if this if you purchase anything from Jennifer Maker later (she has tons of valuable books and courses) then I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

4 Top Tips to Take Your Content Writing and Marketing to New Heights

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Robyn Roste

Content writing and marketing is a long game, no doubt. But if you can stick with it you won’t regret investing your time and energy into this stream.

A photo of a freelancer sitting behind a computer working on her content writing and marketing (probably). There's a full bookshelf in the background with all the spines turned backwards.

As a freelancer, your business will only benefit from a strong content marketing strategy. Sure, you can make a decent income from outreach and pitching, but content creation launches you into something called INBOUND marketing, which allows you to scale.

In fact, something like 73% of B2B and 70% of B2C firms actively incorporate content writing and content marketing as a key part of their digital strategy.

Tips for Improving Your Content Writing and Marketing

Our course, I don’t advocate for random acts of content. You need a system. Here are four tips to help set you up for success.

Make content creation a habit

The Internet will tell you it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something, and this applies to content marketing as well. You’re likely already an excellent writer but for whatever reason, doing marketing for your own business is significantly harder than content creation for other people!

So prepare to practice. Make it a habit. You’ll improve.

Maintaining a content creation practice requires discipline. So, creating a writing schedule will be helpful in this! In addition to encouraging you to stay on schedule, it will also help you continue to improve in both writing and marketing.

Try collaborating

If you’re in the digital marketing or blogging world, then you’ve heard about bundles and summits before. These are collaborations between creators on a particular niche, industry, theme, etc.

Basically, everyone contributes a resource or training and agrees to promote the product or event to their audience. This can be an excellent way to create new content (nothing like an external deadline to motivate you!), network, and expand your reach.

Most people become involved with these collaborations through outreach directly to the creator or through applying to be involved. It may take a few tries to get into your first collaboration but once you become a known name it does become easier.

Keep it simple

I love digital marketing and everything that comes with it: email, funnels, automation, order bumps, down sells, flash sales…everything.

However.

There’s no need to make marketing more complicated than it has to be.

If you’re just getting started then here is all you need:

Something to say
Something to sell
Somewhere to say it

This could mean creating 50+ short-form videos to post as Reels, Shorts, and TikToks. It could. But if that doesn’t feel simple then find something that does.

Maybe it’s a text post on Threads.

Or it’s a Facebook Live in your Group.

Or it’s a blog post that you repurpose for your email list.

Find what works for you, make it easy, keep it simple. That’s how you sustain your content marketing.

Analyze and improve

Getting started is more important than getting it right, and the truth is you’re not going to nail it out of the gate. Again, content marketing is a long game.

Data and analytics are a huge help in figuring out how to improve your content creation efforts. While you don’t want to turn into someone who’s just chasing the algorithm and trying to go viral, you can learn from your stats.

And I know everyone is resisting the big Google Analytics upgrade but hear me now, it’s happening. (Actually, it already happened.) If you don’t want to deal with it, that’s fine. But in that case, consider hiring a knowledgeable GA4 consultant. Let them know what data is meaningful to you and they can build reports for you so you can stay on top of what’s working, what’s not, and where there are opportunities to explore.

Content writing and marketing is a long game, no doubt. But if you can stick with it you won't regret investing your time and energy into this stream.

This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.

How to Create a Writing Schedule | 3 Steps

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Robyn Roste

When you’re ready to write a book and you know the genre and how many words it will be, your next step is to create a writing schedule.

Want these tips as a PDF download? Grab them from my resource library. Put your email in the form below and I’ll send you the password!

Once you’re in the library navigate to the writing section and look for “Create a Writing Schedule Worksheet.”

A lot of people skip this step and launch into writing their book.

And I get it, you’re enthusiastic. You want to dive right in. Whee!

But if you are serious about finishing your book (not just starting) then take a minute to create a writing schedule. You won’t regret it.

I’m skipping past a couple important pieces of the book writing process, researching and outlining. Make sure you also build in time for this but know it’s not part of the book writing part—it’s extra.

How to create a writing schedule

When you create a writing schedule you’re building a strategy to ensure writing becomes integrated into your lifestyle so you reach your larger goals.

This strategy prepares you for days you don’t feel like writing or for illness or for whatever else life throws at you.

Step one: decide when you want to complete your first draft. Your first draft won’t be your final product, but getting this first draft done is one of the biggest steps in the book-writing process.

Pick a specific date and write it down.

Step two: Figure out how many words per day you can write. You’ll hear about people who can write thousands of words per day and expect you can do the same. Don’t assume.

The average amount of words you can write per day or in one sitting is different for everyone so learn what works best for you and build your schedule around it.

Once you know this number, write it down.

Step three: Build a realistic writing schedule. To write a book you need blocks of focused time. How much do you have available? What do you need to put in place to protect it?

When you make time to write in your day-to-day schedule there’s a much better chance of it happening. So make time. Block it out in your calendar. Put it in your schedule. Say you’re unavailable during writing time.

And make sure it’s sustainable so you stick with it.

Want these tips as a PDF download? Grab them from my resource library. Put your email in the form below and I’ll send you the password!

Once you’re in the library navigate to the writing section and look for “Create a Writing Schedule Worksheet.”

Once you have your end date, your average daily word count and your writing schedule decided it’s time to work backwards.

Start with the end in mind and break up your book into monthly, then weekly, then daily goals. Build in time for the unexpected—remember, we’re working with reality here and life happens even when we’re writing a book.

By taking time to create a writing schedule you change your internal dialogue from “Someday I’ll write a book,” to “By THIS DATE I’ll write a book.” That’s a huge difference.

And by breaking down this massive project into small, daily steps, it won’t be so overwhelming. Each day you’ll sit at your writing station with purpose and you’ll write. And by your deadline, if you’ve planned it well, you’ll finish your book.

Create strategies so you stick to your schedule. There will be days you don’t feel like writing. Find ways to write anyway.

This training was presented at Write Canada 2019 (June 13-15, 2019). Learn more about this training and other workshops I present on my speaking page.

Pin for Later

When you're ready to write a book and you know the genre and how many words it will be, your next step is to create a writing schedule.

When you create a writing schedule you're building a strategy to ensure writing becomes integrated into your lifestyle so you reach your larger goals.

This strategy prepares you for days you don't feel like writing or for illness or for whatever else life throws at you.

This training is available in my resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.

This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.

By taking time to create a writing schedule you change your internal dialogue from "Someday I'll write a book," to "By THIS DATE I'll write a book."

By taking time to create a writing schedule you change your internal dialogue from "Someday I'll write a book," to "By THIS DATE I'll write a book." That's a huge difference.

How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Robyn Roste

Before I got into the habit of writing and publishing on a schedule I couldn’t figure out how to brainstorm ideas. It was pretty hard in fact, to the point where I felt regular terror when I sat down to write.

The blank page would stare at me, judging. Sometimes there would be so much pressure I would crumple under it, give up and watch television instead.

And after enough time of that happening I would skip the pretending to write part altogether and go straight to television.

But this didn’t make me feel good about myself so after allowing the self-pity to continue for an awkward amount of time I pulled up my socks and learned how to brainstorm ideas for writing. And I’m pleased to say it’s something you can do too.

How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing

This is a little exercise I picked up over the years and since making it work for me I have never sat down wondering what to write.

Writing is no longer a terrifying experience but something I look forward to and find pleasure in. I hope my brainstorm ideas and/or method helps you.

First, you need to know who your ideal reader is. This may seem like a strange step for brainstorming ideas for writing but trust me, this is a key step. Even if it’s a loose definition, think about the person (real or fictional) who would most be interested in reading your work.

By the way, I’ve created a worksheet to help you with this. Just pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password for my resource library. When you’re there, navigate to the writing category and download the “How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing Worksheet.”

Answer these questions

What does your ideal reader tend to focus on?
On social media, what does your ideal reader like sharing about?
From what you can gather, what is your ideal reader most need/want/desire?

Once you know the answers to those initial questions answer this one: what problem are you solving for your ideal reader through your writing?

Through thinking about your ideal reader you should have a few words and phrases jotted down. Take a look and add a few more words to the page.

This time, write down everything you’d like to write about one day. It can be vague or specific, long or short. Just jot down as much as you can think of in a five-minute period.

Look at the list you came up with and compare it to your first one—are you seeing any good brainstorming ideas? Are you seeing some common threads?

Find four topics that match both what you want to write about and what your ideal reader is struggling with. Once you find four, write them down.

This last step is the most fun

Decide how much you’re going to write and break down your topics into sub-categories.

For example, if I have four main topics and I decide I want to write one blog post per week, then I need 52 sub-categories. That is around 13 ideas per topic. While this seems like a lot I don’t need more than a word or short phrase at this point.

I’ll list a few of my brainstorm ideas for the next few blog posts below as an example of what I mean.

How to brainstorm blog posts (that’s this post, by the way)
Keywords
Places to find freelance jobs
Prescriptive non-fiction
Where to get free stock photos

But what if you can’t think of sub-categories? Or what if you have a few ideas but can’t get to 13? Here are a few suggestions for finding topic ideas.

This is a little exercise I picked up over the years and since making it work for me I have never sat down wondering what to write.

Writing is no longer a terrifying experience but something I look forward to and find pleasure in. I hope my brainstorm ideas and/or method helps you.

Brainstorm ideas for coming up with sub-categories

Pay attention to questions people ask you. If you hear a question you think your ideal reader would ask, write it down
If you’re in any online networking groups, take a look around and see the types of questions being asked and the conversations happening. Again, if you see something your ideal reader might be interested in, write it down
Go through your emails and see what types of topics the people you follow are addressing. Anything interesting in there? Is there a new angle or spin you can put on the topic and to help your ideal reader in some way?
Pick a topic from your list of “I’d like to write about this one day” ideas. Maybe it’s not a top four topic but it might make a perfect sub-category!

If you try these ideas and are still super stuck, here’s a helpful seven-step method to come up with brainstorm ideas fast from HubSpot.

This is the main way I come up with brainstorm ideas whenever I’m working on something new. I’ll condense the steps here for a quick reminder.

Steps for finding brainstorm ideas

First, I put myself in the shoes of my ideal reader and think about what s/he would like to read
Second, I write a quick list of everything I’m interested in writing about one day
Third, I compare the first two lists and see where they intersect. I look for four main topics from this process
Fourth, I brainstorm sub-categories to fit under the four main topics by looking at what people are already asking about, by watching what other people are talking about and by writing about things I think my ideal reader will resonate with

Have you tried this method before? I’d love to compare notes!

How to brainstorm ideas for writing worksheet

Make sure to grab the worksheet for this training. Just pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password for my resource library. When you’re there, navigate to the writing category and download the “How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing Worksheet.”

Robyn Roste

One Word at a Time