If you’re looking to get ahead of the competition then the use of social media is essential. When Contracting or Freelancing, you have to think like you’re running your own small business.
Twitter is the conversational epicentre of the social media landscape and millions of people use it to send out short snippets of info every day. It’s streamlined, concise, and you have to communicate in posts of 140-characters or less. Twitter can be a superb way of sending information quickly to large numbers of people.
Setting up your Twitter account
Setting up a Twitter profile for your business is easy and quick to do. Remember these key points:
Ensure that you provide as much info as possible about who you are and what you do. Remember that many people actually use Twitter as a search engine (in addition to a conversational tool), so provide the key info about your business – including your web address and a brief description of your services.
Pick a simple username that reflects your business. If your company is Joe Bloggs IT Consultancy Ltd, try something like @JoesITConsultancy. You may have to be creative to find a unique username that no one else has taken.
DON’T try to piggyback on an already established brand, unless you have a commercial agreement in place to do so.
Try to customise your page. A striking page in your brand colours looks much better than a dull, empty one.
Tips for using Twitter
Keep it regularly populated with useful, engaging content.
Use hashtags to make your tweets easily searchable.
Be yourself. Followers are more likely to interact with you if you provide a personal touch to your tweets. Remember to be interested in what your followers have to say and respond quickly to any of their questions and comments.
Remember that Twitter is a public forum and anything you say can be viewed by anyone. Don’t broadcast confidential information that you don’t want others to see. If you do need to tweet anything confidential, send a direct message to an individual through Twitter (this is only viewable by the recipient).
There are a host of useful tools that can help you to manage your tweets more effectively. Our favourites include Hootsuite and TweetDeck.
To get started follow your friends, other Contractors and Freelancers, business acquaintances, and customers. Look out for people that you’d like to hear more from and follow them too – including us at @GorillaAccounts.
You have limited space to play with when you’re tweeting. If you’re including links to URLs, don’t write them out in full – try using a service like bit.ly or tinyurl that will shorten the links, so you aren’t wasting any of your precious 140 characters.
You’ll see the results of your effort soon enough, and before long you won’t be able to remember a time when social media wasn’t a normal part of your daily routine.
If you’re looking to get ahead of the competition then a robust social strategy is essential. When working for yourself, you have to think like you’re running your own small business. Through our affiliate partner we can help you get ahead of the game by offering a range of marketing solutions individually tailored to contractors and freelancers.
Here at Gorilla, we provide a premium accountancy package for the monthly cost of £85 + VAT, the package has been specifically designed for on the go Contractors and Freelancers based in the UK. It includes unlimited access to FreeAgent’s cloud accounting online software and your own dedicated accountant who will provide you with unlimited support.
If you’re interested, give us a call direct on 0330 024 0406.
