The fact is, for most internet users, social media is the main reason they get online. Chances are that many of those same users are also your clients and potential clients. If your freelancing business is not on social media yet, you’re falling behind. Whether you’re new to freelancing and want to set up an online social media presence ASAP, or you’re a seasoned freelancing veteran who is just now taking the social media plunge, you’re sure to find a platform that appeals to you. Social media marketing will not only put you directly in touch with existing and new clients, it will make you more personable, trustworthy and approachable. It will also improve links to your website, boost your SEO, help you to raise your own profile and establish new networks while attracting more business.

Ten Social Media Platforms for Freelancers:

Facebook:
You may know Facebook as the network to use to contact your out-of-state cousin or long-last high school friend. But did you know that you can also create a Facebook Fan page just for your freelancing business? In the last couple of years, Facebook has gone from a college photo-sharing site to a burgeoning business- networking platform for self-promotion, advertising and multimedia interaction. With new apps and add-ons, Facebook users can send each other a virtual drink, create and host events, advertise their businesses through social ads, and more.

LinkedIn:
This social media platform is another ideal site to market your online career as a freelancer. Whatever expertise you have at the moment, whether you are into writing, blogging, web designing, programming and a lot more, LinkedIn will be a good source of prospective employers who might need your service. Increase your network of friends for their referrals. So, better come up with an impressive profile and sign-up for a LinkedIn account.

Twitter:
twitter offer you the opportunity to develop and enhance the level of communication between you and the client in many useful ways. Firstly, if you’re a freelancer that deals with an international list of clients, then encouraging your clients to contact you via twitter with queries means that you can operate set business hours during your working day. The nature of twitter means that even if you are tweeted during your office hours you can reply to a customer’s query almost instantly. Lastly, by encouraging your clients to reach you through a variety of means including twitter, this improves communication and will make the transfer of ideas and feedback between you and the client much more fluid.

Quora:
If you are a freelancer working in a highly specialised area or with in-depth knowledge of a particular subject, another social network worth checking out might be Quora. Quora is a modern, social take on the Q&A sites of old. Users pose questions on any and all topics, and can invite fellow users to answer them. Other users can then vote for the best answer. Having the top rated answer on a popular Quora question can be a big profile-booster.

Pinterest:
his is an up and coming social media site that has shown fast growth and popularity. Basically, it works like this. Users “pin” images of things that they are interested in to their “bulletin boards” on the site so that other users can view and comment on the images. Some freelancers have experimented with using affiliate links or using the images that they share to draw traffic to their website. If you sell a product or need to drive traffic, it’s worth looking into.

Google+:
Google+ is one fo the best platform that has a lot of potential for finding new connections to turn into clients. Google is putting a lot of time and energy into building Google + into the very best social media platform. As such, they are giving a lot of weight to Google + from an SEO perspective. If you are looking to help your brand (whatever that is) than jump on board to Google +.

MySpace:
MySpace was the first of the “mega” social media sites. It was originally founded in 2003 and was once the most visited social networking site in the world. MySpace still gets millions of visitors each month. This social media tool is known for its active music and entertainment industry communities, but there are other communities as well.

Tumblr:
Tumblr is a multimedia rich microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their short form blog. It is all about ease of use. Tumblr isn’t quite as hipster as it used to be, but it’s still very cool. It’s full of young, affluent, fashionable people with lots of disposable income. That makes it a perfect place to  promote your brand — if it’s already
fashionable, you’re already playing to a captive audience. If you’re looking to become more fashionable, tumblr  is the definitive social media platform with “fashionable” street cred.

StumbleUpon:
StumbleUpon is a very good platform for gaining traffic. It also brings in targeted visitors that may end up becoming future clients. Implementing StumbleUpon into your social media campaign works best if you are constantly adding fresh and interesting content to your website.

Use Multimedia:
Websites like Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube are a great way to add more personality to your business. If you’re a designer and you want to showcase your work, you can easily produce a video gallery of your work and post it onto YouTube. If you’re a photographer you can upload your work onto Flickr, a photo sharing site that also has groups, forums and online communities.