Tag: Social Media

Net gains (4)

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Search engine optimisation

Search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, sounds like a complex science that only technical geeks could understand. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone can search engine optimise their own writing and websites by focusing on two things only: using keywords and including links.

Search engines such as Google send programs, called spiders, crawling round the World Wide Web looking for keywords . You can boost your search engine ranking by including the keywords that people might be searching for and by including links to relevant websites. A real bonus would be links back to your website from other sites containing similar keywords.

Keywords

Let's start with keywords. if you're an actor you might describe yourself as a “thespian", “player", “performer", “lead", “understudy", “character", “role-player" or “entertainer" or a whole host of other terms. A woman might prefer to be known as an actor rather than an actress. But you need to think what words people might be typing into Google. The answer is probably actor or actress so you will need to use those words, rather than elegant alternatives.

Similarly, a journalist will need to decide whether people are really searching for the words “contributor", “correspondent", “hack", “scribe", “newspaperman" or “stringer". You might need to use words such as “broadcaster" if relevant or describing words as well as the word journalist – for example, newspaper, magazine, radio, TV, broadcast or online. But the key word will be journalist.

Links

Then you need to think about links. If you've done a piece for work or been involved in a project that has a website link to it - and link direct to the page where your name is mentioned not to a generic homepage (this is called a deep link). If you can, where a website mentions you get them to link to your website.

You can also link to related websites. For example, if you have appeared at a particular theatre and you've mentioned that, link to the theatre's website. TV and radio programmes have their own websites or pages you can link to. Concert venues, bands, orchestras – you name it – most things now have their own websites. Link to them.

And if there are reviews of anything you've done, in newspapers, magazines or online, there will be a web page you can link to.

All the time

Whenever you write anything on your website, try to think of relevant links you can use. And whenever you get a chance, try to get others to link to you. If all the members of an orchestra or all the actors in a play link their own websites to each other in articles about that project, those are good SEO links.

There is other SEO wizardry you can use but nothing will have as big an effect, or is as simple, as using the right keywords and the right links.

Net gains (3)

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www.why not?

Every creative freelance should have a website. This need not cost a fortune or involve paying someone else to build it for you. These days it is relatively simple to build a basic website of your own, using templates other people have designed that you can tweak to suit your own needs.

Short URLs

The first thing you need to think about is your domain name: this is the words and letters that appear after the www. in a URL (the address on the internet showing at the top of your web browser).

Although you clearly want your name, or your business name, or something easily identifiable as you, you also want something short, if possible. It's much easier to give out a short, memorable, domain name than a long one. You will also be able to set up email addresses using your domain name and short email addresses are better than long ones as there is less scope for people inaccurately typing in the e-mail address.

I learned this the hard way so I have gone from chris@ whealassociates.com to chriswheal.com and finally to wheal.co.

What you need for a website

These days there are web hosts that provide all you need. A basic hosting package can cost a little over £2 a month. Registering a .co.uk domain name will cost about £7 a year. So for about £35 a year you can have your own website, which you can add to and edit without paying anybody else.

A web host that provides a control panel interface will often allow you to install a free content management system, such as WordPress or Joomla. The content management system effectively is a website building tool. Within WordPress, for example, there are hundreds of free themes (templates) that you can choose from, many of them with significant flexibility in terms of layout, colour and fonts.

You don't need much on your website. You need an "about" page that perhaps includes your CV. You might want to include some examples of your work and some endorsements or recommendations from clients, for example. Your website need only be three or four pages to cover most of this. Feel free to add more.

Change is the only constant

But what your website must do is change frequently and the easiest way to do that is to blog. You do not need to blog about every tiny thing you do but try to update it with something newsworthy or a relevant comment as often as you can. Set yourself a target of at least twice a week.

You will also need to ensure your website has plenty of links to other relevant websites, particularly websites that include your own work or for whom you have worked as clients. You might also include newsfeeds (RSS) and your own social media status updates (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have easy to follow instructions to create your own status update widgets to go on your website).

It is also worth spending a small amount of time making sure your website is search engine optimised. Most content management systems have plug-ins (extra functions) freely available that enable you to write extra information to help search engines find you. But more on that later…

Net gains (2)

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Where to start

If you don't want everybody to know about it, don't put it online. I know that sounds obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people think they can detail their night-time athletics, narcissistic excesses and alcoholic binges on Facebook and then be surprised, and embarrassed, when it’s read back to them.

And please don't try to hide behind privacy settings. They don't work. In any case we are talking about building an online presence, not building an online privacy wall. If you want to keep something private keep it offline. If you want to build an online presence then open up your privacy settings.

So what social media do you need to be on? Let's first look at the mainstream, obvious channels.

Facebook

Facebook can be fun. It's great for keeping in touch with old friends, distant relations and former work colleagues. There is a business network side to Facebook now called BranchOut. For that to work properly people will need to be able to see your basic profile details to know who you are and where you have worked. That also means you must make sure your Facebook profile is updated regularly.

You might also want to consider creating a Facebook page about yourself or a particular aspect of your business. But only do so if you are prepared to update it regularly, probably daily, certainly weekly.

Facebook is an important social medium even if you predominantly use it for social activities. Potential work colleagues like to know what you're up to outside work. Most employers now look at potential workers' Facebook activity. It's fine to be chatty and sociable; it's not fine to be drunk and disorderly.

Twitter

Twitter is a place for 140-character soundbites, a place to seek information, comment and to learn. Some people have more than one Twitter account so they can keep their work and social accounts separate. However, there have been too many errors where people have used the wrong account to make a highly personalised, abusive comment and been caught out.

Generally, Twitter users are keen to hear your work-related tweets and to know a little bit about your personal life and views. A healthy balance works well. So follow other people in your field, important potential clients and useful sources of work-related information, but also follow your favourite celebrities, sportspeople and friends.

Tweet about what you are doing. Let people know what you're doing workwise but don't be boring and only tweet about work. And comment on other people’s tweets, reply to conversations and retweet salient tweets from others.

You never know when one of your tweets will be picked up or you will spot a gem of information in someone else's tweet that could lead to work.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the professional social network. This really is the place to make sure your profile contains current examples of your work, details of your recent activities and links to relevant websites.

It is worth spending a little time each week or so looking at your connections and seeking out relevant and useful connections to people with whom you have worked in the past. And when you send them a request to connect, don't just leave the basic text in the box; write something personal about when you worked with them.

It is also worth joining relevant groups on LinkedIn or even setting up your own – a reunion group from a former employer, for example, or an event you attended with a number of other LinkedIn members.

YouTube

YouTube is a place for videos but it is much more than that. If you don't already know, learn how to make a YouTube video. Anyone can put video on YouTube – so why not do it.

Basic video editing software is installed on most computers these days and bog standard cameras that fit on belts or in handbags can take good-quality video. Android and iPhone smartphones have the ability to take YouTube video and upload them to your account instantly.

You can then link your individual YouTube videos to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as embedding the videos in your blog or website.

There is also a comment function on YouTube. Use it. Comment on relevant videos and encourage people to comment on yours. Remember: YouTube is now owned by Google so having a video presence will boost your online ranking.

It’s a start

Get these right, and update your Google profile to include them all, and you will start to build a web presence at zero cost.

Free Webinar 8 November 5 Steps for Social Media Lead Generation

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There's plenty of help online to help freelance creatives generate business. For those of you who may be interested, there is a free live webinar taking place in the USA on November 8 at 18.00 (GMT). The webinar will last 60 minutes.

HubSpot's Kipp Bodnar will unveil a 5-step process for generating leads using social media. This process will dispel common misconceptions of social media marketing and serve as the foundation of a successful social media strategy.

During this free webinar you will learn:

  • The fundamental tactics to social media lead generation
  • Technquies for maximizing social media reach and lead flow
  • A framework for content discovery to drive leads
  • How to test a social media lead generation campaign

If you are interested you will need to sign up to the Webinar page.

 

Finding your way through the jungle – the different types of social media

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Whether you're a big fan or a 'rabbit in the headlights' when it comes to social media, the phenomenon is here to stay and developing apace.

For freelances, it can be a productive and cost-effective way of marketing yourself - especially as many of your target audience will be using this form of communication. This means it's worth trying to get your head around the possibilities and keep up with the changes.

So, what about an overview as a starter for ten?

There are varied types of social media and it's become an umbrella term for a wide variety of online platforms and ways of communicating.

Wikipedia’s entry on Social Media is helpful here as it cites Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, who created a classification scheme for social media types in their article, Business Horizons (2010). The grouping of the different forms into types is particularly useful in thinking about social media platforms.

According to Kaplan and Haenlein there are six different types of social media:

  • collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia)
  • blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter)
  • content communities (e.g. Youtube)
  • social networking sites (e.g. Facebook)
  • virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft)
  • virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life).

Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.

The following clip gets a little deeper into the idea.

If you are reading this and would like to comment, please let us know which types of social media you're using and which ones you would like to learn more about so that you can use them for your business? If we get feedback we can look at scheduling Lunchtime and Twilight training sessions.