Social media key to freelance success
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The Southern African Freelancers' Association (Safrea) is looking forward to improving service, both to members and to potential clients, with its new website that launches today.
The new site brings many new features that are intended to help members sell their services and to make it easier for potential clients to find the freelancers who suit their needs. The new, more flexible search feature, for example, enables clients to shortlist freelancers by entering key words such as "aerial photographer" or "academic translator afrikaans english".
Read details about Yonhap International Press Photo Awards
The 2011 Press Freedom Day offers little to celebrate while SA freelance photographer, Anton Hammerl, remains in Libyan military detention since 5 April, without direct government intervention.
Representatives of the Southern African Freelancers’ Association (SAFREA) and various individual members belonging to this organisation have added their signatures to a new letter that appeals for information on the whereabouts and safety - and the release - of South African photojournalist Anton Hammerl.
The Southern African Freelancers Association (Safrea) is shocked and deeply saddened by the senseless killing of South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl and requests a formal investigation into the matter.
Freelancers belonging to the Eastern Cape and Free State branch of the Southern African Freelancers' Association (SAFREA) have expressed deep concern over and condemned the attack on the media and to burn down The Herald's offices by Nelson Mandela Bay ANC regional chairperson Nceba Faku.
The Southern African Freelancers’ Association (Safrea) applauds President Jacob Zuma’s undertaking to do “whatever is possible” to assist in getting information on the whereabouts of slain freelance journalist Anton Hammerl’s remains.
The Southern African Freelancers’ Association (Safrea) is extremely concerned about the possibility of the passing of the Protection of Information Bill, which will threaten mdia freedom and jeopardize freelance jobs.
The Southern African Freelancers’Association (SAFREA) in the Western Cape has been watching with great concernrecent reports about renewed intentions of government to forge ahead with its proposed Information Protection Bill despite widespread opposition by various professional and civil society groupings in South Africa and abroad.
The worldwide recession has forced more people to start a freelance career. Safreans Georgi Guedes, Jonno Cohen and Helen Ueckermann commented on freelancing and social media in Sake24. http://www.sake24.com/Maatskap?pye/Reklame/Facebook-kan-vrysk?utters-vlerke-gee-20110808
Government’s actions re Info Bill a continued threat to a healthy media industry
The Southern African Freelancers Association (Safrea) finds it incomprehensible that the National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Protection of State Information Bill today despite an uproar in opposition of the act in the past week.
Safrea applauds revisions to the POIB; warns that government has yet missed another opportunity to protect truth seekers
Social marketing is fast becoming the easiest way to promote your business online and for freelancers who run micro businesses from home it is an affordable way to market themselves and create brand awareness, says Georgina Guedes, chairperson of the Southern African Freelancers Association (Safrea).
“What’s great about it is that you do not need a website. Whether you are a photographer, a writer or run a website design business from the spare bedroom in your own home, social media will be the quickest and most affordable way for you to communicate and promote specials to your customers,” she says.
Dale Maxwell, owner of social Networking Media (www.socialnetworkingmedia.co.za), a Cape Town company that helps its clients tap into the power of social media marketing, says in the last few years social media has taken the world by storm, boasting more page impressions than any of the search engines. It is a huge source of traffic.
“One needs to understand that social media is not about online sales, but about brand awareness and engaging with your customers. Essentially you give your business a voice, but a voice that differs distinctly from other marketing avenues in that you are sharing and communicating with your customers,” says Maxwell, who addressed Gauteng members of Safrea at a monthly meeting about monetising the power or social media.
Facebook is the second busiest site in South Africa and currently has an active user base of just over 3.5million people who are over the age of 18. “Globally there are over 500 million users of which 50% log in daily. The average user has 150 friends, and of the 500 million users 250 million use Facebook from their mobile phones. It is a very active audience,” says Maxwell.
He provides the following hints for micro business owners:
* Why you should have a Facebook page: Facebook is a very powerful business tool. It has become the best place to launch a new product or service at the click of a button, while it is at the same time the perfect platform for to communicate with your customers.
* How does Facebook help your Business: The main purpose of a Facebook page is to create brand awareness while communicating with your customers.
* The Viral Element: This is what makes Facebook such a valuable marketing tool. People have an average of 150 friends on Facebook, which effectively translates in an audience of 150 000 people if you have a thousand fans following you. Clearly not everybody is going to be interested in what you have to say, but this does show the kind of possibilities.
* Challenges – attracting fans and communicating: The first thing most business owners do is to share their new page with friends. Apart from getting a few people to like your page, there is really no merit in this. The next logical step is to advertise on Facebook. This can be expensive, because cost per click starts at around $1.20 to $ 1.80, but it is very effective because Facebook has a huge demographics system which will allow you to target people by gender, age, country or interests and likes. This makes it possible to build a targeted fan base very quickly, and although it will cost you around R25-R30 per fan if you decide to do this on your own, it is still the cheapest form of marketing currently available on the internet.
* Develop a communication strategy: Remember that people are on Facebook to chat, not to buy your products or services. The most effective way to make them aware of your presence is to ask them questions, run polls, have a give-away of some kind. Make it about them and not about your business.
* Posting too much: This will upset your audience and increase your un-likes. Once a week is enough.
Maxwell says Twitter is a very simple communication tool, which, if used correctly, can do wonders for your business. “Twitter is a micro-blogging platform and a social media network all in one. In a nutshell one could refer to it as a text messaging service that is made public. It works just like any other blog, but the messages can’t be longer than 140 characters. You need to follow the messages of others and you need to get them to follow you back,” he says.
* Setting up your profile: Make sure it’s unique and branded properly. Take your time to design an eye-catching page.
* Using twitter correctly: Connect with sites and blogs that relate to your industry. You should only be tweeting when you have something valuable to share, like the launch of a new product or service, and it shouldn’t be used for driving sales.
TIPS
* Use Direct Messages (DM) to communicate one on one, it’s great way to network with people in your industry.
* Shorten the links in you tweets with http://tinyurl.com/ as it will allow you to say more.
* Promote Your Twitter Page on your website with Twitter Buttons or widgets
Jonno Cohen, owner of design practice Kreativation (www.kreativation.co.za) and exco member of Safrea, says more traditional ways of branding and marketing are not to be forgotten.
“Branding is about how others feel, connect and associate with you. It is the mental picture they have about you and the story they would tell about you if you weren’t there.
“It is about seeing that the right words come to mind when others engage with you, be it answering your phone, or not answering your phone, the way your cards are designed, your writing style, your tone of voice, the quality of your product. Marketing can be summed up as identifying your market, finding where they are and being there,” he says. Cohen highlighted three general points:
LOOKS COUNT:
* Be prepared to pay for something that looks good, like your business card, your online identity, and other marketing tools that communicate silently.
* Emails: forget the smiley faces, multiple exclamation marks and weird fonts in bright colours. Make sure that the personal information you supply in your email is relevant to what your clients want to know about you.
* Website: Have one, and get a professional person to set it up. If you are not online, you might as well not exist in today’s business environment.
* Have a professional photo taken to use on your website and for social marketing.
YOUR ARE A PROFESSIONAL:
* You may operate from home, but never forget that you are running a business. You work from an office and never tell clients that you “will be home in half an hour”.
* Align your office hours with those of your clients; don’t get up at 10h00 because you can.
* Know what is expected of you, even if clients work slowly and you have to refer back to emails that were sent weeks ago. Go read them again.
* Have a marketing plan and budget in place. Be ready. If you don’t, you will be constantly reacting to external stimuli. Be pro-active.
BE CONSISTENT:
* Every piece of content that you put out in the form of phone messages, the tone of your emails and blogs, products, even your invoices – they al work together to build your image.
* Consistency refers to your availability, returning messages, when you are prepared to answer the phone after hours. People need to know what to expect from you.
Guedes adds that freelancers who want to expand their businesses don’t have to pay an arm and a leg anymore. “It is now more affordable than ever before to get your name and product or service out there. You just have to be sure that you're doing it right."
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