Are You Attracting the Wrong Audience on Social Media?
By Michele Peterson

Your vibe attracts your tribe. So, too, what you post on social media will attract a certain audience. If you’re using social media to market your web-writing business, it matters who you’re attracting with your social media content.

It matters quite a lot … because, if you’re attracting the wrong audience, the time and energy you’re spending on social media may not be accomplishing what you had hoped.

Hear me out, because I’ve made this mistake myself.

When I was a newbie freelance web copywriter, I was eager to showcase my expertise. Establish my authority and credibility. Persuade prospects I was the right writer for them and make them eager to work with me.

Sound familiar?

So, I started posting content on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I posted tips about voice and the writing process. I talked about the importance of showing benefits instead of talking just about features. I shared that good copy should sound like a conversation between two friends sitting down for a cup of coffee. I could go on, but you get the picture.

All good stuff. You’re probably nodding your head in agreement … right? This is stuff you, a fellow web writer, can totally relate to.

And, that was exactly the problem.

In posting content related to what I know about writing good copy — in the attempt to build credibility — I was resonating with and attracting other writers. Not business owners looking to hire a freelance copywriter.

See, I’ve come to realize most of my clients don’t really care about everything that goes into good writing. They simply want the results that good writing brings.

In my newbie eagerness to prove myself, I had forgotten to always be answering the most basic question all readers are silently asking: What’s in it for me?

Community of Peers or Clients?

Attracting a community of like-minded, web-writing peers isn’t a bad thing. The writing community is warm and generous. Diverse. Writing can be a solitary pursuit, so it’s good to be able to connect with others who “get” me.

But, as great as my online writing friends are, they don’t help me put gas in my car, put food in my refrigerator, or send my son to college.

I needed to attract paying clients. So, I had to change my approach. I had to start strategically posting content on social media that would attract the audience I wanted and needed to attract.

What about you?

Post About What They Care About

When I realized what I was doing and adjusted my social strategy, I started attracting and connecting with prospects instead of just peers.

Prospects and clients don’t care about the mechanics of good writing. They might find the psychology of persuasion mildly interesting, but they don’t really care about it, either.

I’ve found they do care about saving time, making money, and getting measurable results.

When I published social media content about these topics, prospects began noticing. They started engaging.

Here’s a list of content themes that have given me good results:

1. Save time by outsourcing to a copywriting specialist
2. Better writing gets better results
3. Good copywriting improves your return on marketing investment
4. Writing that gets people to take action is worth more than pretty prose
5. Tips for engaging emails that improve customer retention
6. Stop losing money by not following up
7. How to avoid the lead generation mistakes most small businesses make
8. Attract more of your ideal clients by telling great stories
9. Stop competing on price by showcasing the unique value you offer
10. Checklists (covering a variety of topics) to improve efficiency and effectiveness
11. Questions to ask when hiring a freelance copywriter to speed up the process
12. How a professional copywriter makes your life easier
13. Success stories and testimonials from clients

Do you notice the shift away from me and my writing expertise to focusing on them and what they care about?

As an AWAI-trained copywriter, I knew the importance of doing this in my writing for clients. Somehow, I had just forgotten to do it in my social media writing for myself.

The good news is becoming aware of the problem and deciding to fix it was all I needed to make the mental shift and correct the issue.

Is the Effort Worth It?

Most of my writing revenue has come from clients I met in person through networking or who were referred to me by a mutual friend or acquaintance. These personal connections and warm introductions are still hands-down my best lead sources.

However, a quick audit of my accounting revealed that, in the past five years, I’ve earned $23,765 from clients who found me through social media.

That’s one of our cars!

What does $23,765 mean in your life? To your family?

For me, the effort I put into social media marketing is worth it. While not my sole lead source, and certainly not my best, it has been lucrative. It’s shown a positive return on investment.

It also is an example I can use to show social media prospects what I can do for them. I am my own case study. And that has helped close the deal on more than one occasion.

In fact, I’ve done $137,330 of social media work for clients in the same five-year time frame … .

Definitely worth it.

And, while my community of fellow writers I first attracted with my “misguided” social media posts didn’t make me any money to deposit into my bank account, that was worth it, too.

It showed I could build an engaged community. It gave me social proof. It gave me the confidence to make the content adjustment and keep going.

I’d love to hear about your experience with social media marketing for your web-writing business. And, do you do social media work for clients, too? Leave a comment below and tell me about it!

This article, Are You Attracting the Wrong Audience on Social Media?, was originally published by Wealthy Web Writer.