I can wrap up this whole post with two words. However, that wouldn’t make much of a post and you would leave without having a clue where to begin your social media marketing strategy for your freelance business.

Of course, those two words could be anything from be friendly to be clear. That still doesn’t give you the information you need to know if you are making mistakes. What it really comes down to is whether you are getting attention and the right response from your social media marketing strategy.

1. Informing the world and that’s it. I’ve seen it too many times on Twitter. Small businesses post informative tweets with a link to an article. That’s it!

Is that really it? That’s like showing up to a conference and making an entrance shouting, “Did you hear about the company who hired a second vice president?” and then leaving. Oh and you left a link, how convenient of you.

What’s wrong with this picture? What do you really do when you enter a conference or a room of people? If you are David Wygant, you start talking to the person immediately to your right or closest to you.

Same principles apply for your social media marketing strategy. When on social media, interact with what other people are doing and saying.

2. Staying at home. You love your home. You love your blog. Your blog is like your home. You stay there all the time. Get out! You can’t gain readers by staying on your own blog so much. Find other blogs to comment on and get to know their readers and owners. This social media marketing strategy can even lead to a blog alliance, where you can get comments on your own blog and have friends visit your home, err blog.

3. Listening to radio all the time. This is another reason why I became a freelancer. At my previous job, we listened to the same station over and over and over and over again. I knew their playlist by heart because they played the same one everyday. Now that I work from home, I can mix it up. Try learning something new by listening to audiobooks or telesummits that have MP3 files you can download and play any time. You gain social media marketing strategy skills while learning about social media during work.

4. Skipping the forums. Even if you don’t feel like registering and going through the wait to get approved, forums are a great marketing strategy. So many people go to forums to find out information about something. They usually need help. Get yourself over to a forum in your niche and post some answers. Make sure you include a link back to your site in your profile.

5. Talking to people you know. Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to talk to strangers? Break that rule! Get to know the popular bloggers and even celebrities. Talk to anyone and everyone as part of your social media marketing strategy. Who knows? Getting a contact to add to Twitter or Facebook could open up possibilities for your freelance business.

6. Avoiding a popular social media site because you don’t understand it. Why? You were once curious enough to figure out the social media site you reign on, right? You delved into the problem and figured it out. You then went to the next social media site thinking you could use what you learned from one and have success. Wrong! It’s different on each social media site, but not by much. One principle always applies. Be friendly. Oops, there’s those two words again.

With any social media marketing strategy, making connections is the best way to market your freelance business. How can you get started making connections today?

photo credit: JavierPsilocybin