For many designers, especially freelance designers, an active social media presence is key to landing gigs and establishing their voice. From choosing the right platform to fostering engagement in your chosen community, we’ll walk you through some key tips for cultivating your social media presence.
Finding the Right Platform
In today’s world, there’s no one “right” platform — for the most part, you’ll want to maintain an active presence on a variety of social media platforms. But that doesn’t mean you can’t focus your energies. As a graphic designer, you’ll obviously want to spend more time on visual platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and even YouTube. Asking yourself where your content fits best and how you visualize your individual brand and clientele is also an important first step in figuring out where you should be posting the most.
Claim your Authority
Demonstrating your authority as a professional graphic designer should be the bedrock of your social media presence — after all, if you’re looking to snag clients based on your social media presence, they need to be able to trust in your work. Obviously, showing that you can create visually stunning and communicative work is critical. But what else can you do to nail down your authority?
Show that you’re engaged with the graphic design community by posting frequently and interacting constructively with other members of the community. Are there hot topics in graphic design that are being discussed? Don’t be afraid to drop your expert opinion in a thread, or create a standalone post. You can even create longform posts like blog posts to present yourself as the authority you are.
Research Your Competitors
We’re using the word “competitors” loosely because while you will technically be competing with other designers, it’s better to think of them as collaborators. Find designers whose work you enjoy and look into how they’ve established their own social media presence. How do they curate their content? How often do they post? Are they leveraging a mix of images and videos to engage their followers?
Don’t just focus on designers with a large social media presence — look for designers you respect who are also in the process of building their social media presence, and don’t be afraid to reach out to them. Building a community on social media is one of the best ways to ensure your content receives the engagement it deserves.
Expand your Idea of Content
Behind-the-scenes posts, which give users a look into your creative process, can be a great way to engage users and create a more personable environment that encourages them to keep coming back. Is there a recent project you worked on that it could be fun for you to walk your followers through? Just remember, the working process itself can be messy, but your presentation of it shouldn’t be.
On a similar note, don’t be afraid to get playful. If you have some spare time, you could create a quick, clever mockup of a hypothetical redesign of a famous logo. What might the Facebook logo look like if the company had been founded in the 80s, for instance? A quick video tracking the process of creating the reimagined logo could be great clickbait material — plus, it’ll still show off your killer design skills.