Twitter has always been one of my favourite platforms for growing professionally, outside of LinkedIn. While it isn’t the most used social media platform, though does have over 192 million daily active users, it’s perfect for growing a targeted audience — particularly if your target audience is already using the platform.
The largest age demographic of Twitter users are 25-34-year-olds and 60% of the people who use Twitter regularly get their news from the platform meaning it’s a great way to promote yourself.
It’s particularly useful if you are in the B2B industry or in the arts industry as many editors, agents, and PR and marketing professionals regularly post calls for pitches, submissions, or requests.
How to make the most of your Twitter account and grow and audience
Here are my favourite ways to use Twitter to grow a relevant and niche audience to find new clients, work, and promote yourself.
1) Nail Your Bio and Pinned Tweet
Don’t waste your bio space, it’s one of the best ways to be found in both Twitter and Google searches. You want to add your role and what you specialise in. Don’t forget to add a link to your website, portfolio, blog or all three using a link tree-style tool.
You don’t have a lot of space so keep it short and sweet. For example, ‘Freelance B2B Fintech Copywriter’, or ‘Children’s Book Illustrator’.
Make sure to state how you would like to be contacted clearly. For example, include your email address or make sure your DMs are open.
Your pinned tweet can add any extra information that you would like someone to see first. This can be an example of a project you are proud of, some published work, or even a tweet explaining what you do or your rates. It’s the first thing people will see, so make it count.
2) Retweet Industry-Specific Content
This one is a simple way to start gaining the right kind of followers. You want to keep your Twitter profile as industry-specific as possible in your tweets and retweets so that you are seen as an expert in this area.
Note: That doesn’t mean you can’t infuse some of your own life and personality into your profile but keep it to a roughly 80/20 ratio in favour of relevant content.
This is ideal for two reasons: one you will come up in searches and two people will remember you and put your name forward when someone calls for your specific skills.
It also means that you, yourself, are keeping up with your industry which is key for finding work, potential prizes, and also keeping up to date with the latest news.
Read More: How to Sell Your Skills and Find Freelance Clients
3) Share Your Wins and Losses As Well As Your Content
Relating to infusing some life into your profile, let your followers see when you find a new client, or finished a project you are proud of or share some of the struggles of freelancing or working from home. Chances are it’s very relatable and people love to see it.
This is a great way to share industry-related content that is relevant and is a great way to engage with your audience and have a chat.
4) Create or Join Lists for Curated Feeds
One of the most overlooked tools on Twitter is the lists facility. You can find your lists underneath the profile button — this will take you to a new section where you can search lists of people that have already been made and follow that list, or you can make your own.
If you click on that list, then you will see a curated feed of just those people. So for example, I have one list that is just ‘travel editors’ and when I click on that then I can easily look for the latest tweets calling out for writers and pitches.
You can make a list for anything, so it can be a great way to keep up with niche information without it getting flooded by your main feed algorithm.
Tip: If your profile is specific enough then you will also find yourself being added to other people’s lists which is ideal for getting your tweet seen.
Read More: Best Newsletters for Freelancers and Remote Workers
5) Build Community — Interact With Relevant People Within Your Industry
This can take a little bit of time so make sure you do this as efficiently as possible but make sure you are ‘seen’ around twitter by interacting with relevant people or companies in your industry when they ask questions or you have something you want to weigh in on. Follow those people and build up a rapport.
This can also be a great move if you are hoping to work with that company or person in the future because it can turn a cold pitch into a warm pitch, meaning you can reference conversations you have had or they will, at least, recognize your name.
6) Use Hashtags To Find Work and Promote Yourself
Finding and noting down hashtags that are relevant to finding work in your industry and checking them frequently can be an ideal way to find work, and keep up with industry news. For example, a writer might follow hashtags like #pitchesneeded #journorequests.
Read More: 6 Easy Ways to Grow Your YouTube Channel
7) Use Hashtags to Join Industry Discussions
When it comes to promoting yourself, make sure to join discussions hosted under industry-specific hashtags and even host your own discussions — you can let your followers know what the hashtag will be and the specific time you will be discussing something under the hashtag. It’s a great way to be seen beyond your own followers and gain new followers!
8) Stay on Top of Trending Topics Within Your Field
Keeping up with the latest topics by retweeting industry-specific topics and following relevant people means you will always know what topics are trending in your field.
Admittedly, sometimes it’s best not to have an opinion if you don’t have anything to offer but if you do have thoughts on the latest trending topics then rather than just retweeting the information, take some time to weigh in!
it will help people get to know you and set you up as a thought leader in your area.
Read More: How to Create a Freelance Portfolio That Stands Out (+ 6 Great Examples!)
9) Put External Links in Replies
Unfortunately, on all social media platforms, you are at the mercy of the algorithm somewhat. While I don’t think anyone should waste too much time worrying about these things, it’s true that Twitter posts without external links do better and are pushed to more of your followers.
People get around this if they need to share a link, by putting the link in the tweet below but still keeping it connected to the original post.
10) Throw in Images to Gain Attention
Similarly, the algorithm favours posts with images, and so do people scrolling. So always try to add some kind of image if it’s relevant; the post will very likely go further, and you will attract new followers.
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