We have been social media marketers for a long, long time. And although we’re fully booked with clients, we’re still generating leads on a weekly basis.
We often have freelancers reach out to tell us that they’re struggling to get leads, and when we go and look at their business, there are often some simple tweaks they could make to get more leads.
Some of these tips are so simple you’ll be able to implement them before you even finish reading! And we’re also going to give you one sneaky tip that might just blow your mind, so keep reading until the end for that one!
8 tweaks to generate more leads for your freelance business
First things first, if you’re struggling to get leads and you’re not marketing yourself on social media, you need to get that sorted out!
If a client told you they needed help getting new business, you would automatically look at their social presence. If you discovered they’re not active on social media, you would tell them that that’s an issue. And we hate to be the bearers of bad news but you need to take your own advice here!
All of the advice we’re sharing in this blog post is under the assumption that you are active on social media, so that would be your first step if you’re not already actively marketing your business on social media.
1. Optimise your bio with your name
Is your name included in your bio?
The other day, someone commented on our Instagram post, and we wanted to reply to that comment using their name. This person's name wasn’t visible in their handle, so we went to their bio, and it wasn’t there either.
Reaching out to someone on social media when you don’t know their name can be extremely awkward. Nobody wants to write “hey @theirusername” or “hey girl” because it loses that personal touch – and its a bit cringe, right?
Having your name in your bio is a simple way to humanise yourself and start an initial connection with your audience. If you don’t have your name in your bio, go and do this right now before you keep reading this blog post. We’ll wait…
2. Mention your ideal client in your bio
If you want to attract and work with a certain type of person, those people need to know that you want to work with them. It’s not enough to just say that you’re a social media marketer because there are so many of them out there. Who specifically do you help with social media marketing?
If you aren’t specific about who you serve, people will assume you’re a jack of all trades – and that’s not always a good thing because people want to work with someone who can specifically help them to achieve their individual goals.
For example, if your bio says “I help people create great Reels”. You can change it to be more specific and mention who you can help, “I help business coaches create great reels”.
One thing to keep in mind is that this isn’t set in stone. It could just be the offer or workshop you’re promoting at the moment. So don’t worry about trapping yourself into a box because you can change it any time!
Narrowing down who you serve doesn’t mean that you’re going to get fewer leads. In actual fact, the more specific you are, the more your ideal client will come and want to hire you. People want to feel like you are able to help them specifically.
They don't want to know that you can help every small business in the world, they want to know that you can specifically help them.
3. Optimise your Facebook profile
Regardless of whether you use Facebook for business or not, make sure your bio is up to date. Link to your website, and business accounts and explain what you do. You never know who knows who might come across you on Facebook!
One day your second cousin might have a friend that is looking for a social media marketer, and so they direct them your way. If they look you up on Facebook and see your optimised profile, they’ll be able to take action and go to your website or follow you on socials.
If you’re active in Facebook groups and someone goes to your profile, they’ll be able to see that small area where you explain who you are and what you do and from there, they can check you out further. If this information isn’t there, they’re simply going to move on because people are lazy!
Naturally, human beings are lazy. We want everything given to us on a plate. And unfortunately, people aren't going to go and find you off their own backs. You need to make sure that you are accessible as possible and that it's easy for people to get the information they need to be able to make a decision as to whether they want to work with you.
4. Make sure that your content speaks to your ideal clients
This might sound really obvious, but so many people don't do this.
On Instagram, make sure you’ve got at least one recent post that calls out your ideal client on the graphic itself. That way, if someone clicks on your profile and sees that your bio sounds like you’re talking to them, and your content immediately reaffirms that, then that will pique their interest. But also, if that piece of content is featured on the Explore page or if someone shares it in their stories, your ideal client is drawn to that.
The same can be said for your cover photo on Facebook and LinkedIn. Make sure you’re speaking to your ideal clients as often as you can. Call them out directly, so they know you’re talking to them!
5. Engage with your ideal clients, not your peers
Within our marketing course, social prf, we often notice that our students (who are mainly social media managers) have been focusing on engaging with other social media managers. This is fine to an extent because it’s great to build a network. However, you also need to be engaging with your ideal client.
Your ideal client is not necessarily going to come to you, sometimes you have to dangle the carrot by engaging with them first and building those relationships.
The same can be said for the content you create. We see so many social media managers creating content that’s far too advanced for their audience, and the only people who are going to understand it are those who are in the same industry – their competitors. This type of content isn’t going to attract the people who need help, so always keep your ideal client in mind when creating content.
6. Engage in your DMs
Start conversations with people! Reply to your ideal clients' stories, have conversations and build relationships! It doesn’t have to be all business and work focused, it can be simple chit-chat and nice conversations.
Again, make sure your name is in your bio so that you immediately have that human element!
7. Tell your audience when you’re taking on clients
When you have the capacity to take on another client, let your audience know! If you don’t tell them, how are they supposed to know they can work with you?
There may be someone in your audience right now sitting patiently, waiting for you to announce that you’re taking on clients so they can sign up. But if you don’t tell them, they are never going to take action.
So if you have the capacity to take on clients right now, go and create a post to let your audience know!
8. Use your business email for everything
My friend, Sarah (check her out here) shared a small but mighty tip with me a while ago, and it has been a game changer for me!
Use your business email to sign up for everything. And I mean everything… from signing up for your kid's clubs to booking a dog walker to inquiring about availability in a hotel…
When you do this, you are advertising yourself because your email signature will say what you do and how to connect with you, and the domain nail from your email address makes it easy for people to investigate your business further.
You never know who you might be reaching this way! The hotel you’re booking for a weekend away might be looking for a social media manager, and bam, there you are at the perfect time!
Just to be clear, your business email is one that ends with your domain, not one that ends in @gmail.com or @hotmail.com. For example, our business email is hello@thetwolauras.com, so yours should be something similar to that.
Time to try it for yourself!
So there you have it – 8 quick tips that you can implement right away to bring more leads into your business!
Which of these tips are you going to go and implement first? Come and let us know in our community The Social Media Managers Hub.
