Three Ways Social Shares Can Mean More Money For Writers

Three Ways Social Shares Can Mean More Money For Writers The statistical value of your work published online (social shares) matters more than ever. Pay attention to how your articles are socially redistributed, shared, and liked. Shivani Sharma, CEO of Firefly Creative Inc. stated in a  Software Advice  article for tech-savvy marketers and business owners  that businesses should look for  freelance writers who know how to write content  that engages the target audience. What does this mean for you as a freelancer? It means its time you leveraged those social shares, or the impact, of your articles to increase your future income. To get started, learn how to collect your social shares data: 1. Use spreadsheets Excel or Google Docs should work fine. In your spreadsheet, list your published articles in the first column, then assign a column for each social media share option, i.e. Facebook shares, likes, Twitter shares, LinkedIn likes, blog comments, Google + shares, and other platforms that show on the share buttons of the site youve published on. Update this document at least monthly. 2. Use Contently.com This free platform for writers can help you showcase a collection of your Now that you have your data, use the data to increase your income: 1. Ask for a raise from current clients Asking for a rate increase carries the risk of losing a client, but now that you have data to back up your demand, you can prove how your articles helped their site and more importantly, their business. For this particular purpose, you could track the articles youve written for that clients site alone and show how your influence becomes theirs. 2. Justify (or negotiate) your rates with potential clients Potential clients will haggle for lower rates. Next time you negotiate your rate, use your social shares data to show the impact of your work on websites and businesses youve already written for. You have the numbers to show your value, proof of what you accomplished for other websites which reflects on what you can do for the potential client. Show them youre a business investment instead of just a writing expense. 3. Attract better paying clients Lastly, use data to analyze which articles did well and why. Review the ones receiving the most engagement. What words did you use in your headline? Did you share personal stories or interview experts? Was the topic unique or controversial? Then pitch a guest post to medium or big sites, writing the post with the same style and tone you used in your most engaging articles. Just remember to follow the guidelines of the site youre guest posting on. The types of post that receive the most shares are almost the same as reported With social sharing we see the effect our words have on readers and use it to improve our craft. But it can also be our means to earning more income.