Do you find that you waste time posting on Twitter and keeping track of your followers? Social media is an unavoidable part of marketing a freelance business, but there are tools available that can help freelancers to avoid wasting time and energy on their Twitter tasks. In this podcast episode, I talk you through a series of tools that can help you to streamline your Twitter marketing and make it a far more efficient process.
Spreadsheet email (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)
Last night, on Twitter (follow me @PhilippaWrites), I got into an interesting conversation with @thewritesprite. She followed me, and I told her that I liked her username. She joked about how difficult it had been to choose one, and we started to talk about how, despite writing for other people for a living, writing for ourselves can sometimes be hard.
There are, of course, other times when another writer’s input can be very valuable – for instance it is nigh on impossible to proofread your own work. You are too involved with the text and it often takes a fresh pair of eyes to spot mistakes. And sometimes a writer can craft a catchier Twitter bio about somebody else than they can about themselves.
We talked about how great it would be if there was a way for writers to help each other out in these circumstances. My imagination took flight and now the Writers Helping Writers Collective exists.
If a writer needs help with something, they fill in 4 columns of simple information in the spreadsheet.
They then post about this to the google group (by email or on the site).
Another writer, who wants to help out, goes to the spreadsheet and fills in 4 more columns of simple information.
They then email the original poster directly, and the help happens.
It’s that simple. Members are asked to help out another member before asking for help themselves, although while the collective is establishing itself this won’t be enforced too strongly, because most members will be new. Overall, members are asked to help one or two people for every help request they submit.
Are you a writer who wants to join a new, exciting community? Are you aware that there are some tasks that you struggle to do on your own website? Do you want to offer help to fellow writers on small, manageable tasks?
Excellent work, delivered in time! Thank you for your help! I will definitely come back to you.
Cristina Popov
When I went to Woodstock, the last thing I cared about was taking care of business. [Philippa] apparently represents the new incarnation of the now-quaint Woodstock subculture: meticulous, professional, driven to reach for perfection. Many thanks.
MG
Just wanted to say, you proofread my CV a couple of weeks ago and the following week I got called for an interview! Thanks so much! Really appreciate the work you did on it.
HLMLondon
It’s always a pleasure working with you — you turn in such clean copy.
SSUSA
Working with Phillipa has been a great experience. The work is well done and i feel more balanced after the proof reading is complete. Thank you for the fantastic work. look forward to working with you again.
KLSingapore
Delighted with the end product. Thank you.
BPBradford
Great quality and quick turnaround. Appreciate the bonus!
WebDesignSEO
Hi Philippa,
I love it. It’s exactly what we need. I could not have come up with this at all, so thanks a million.
C.C.Ireland
Amazing work, as always. Extremely high quality and extremely quick.
Guy Teton
Fabulous review of my resume. I have had at least six people review and proofread my resume and she was able to find about ten more imperfections! Will use again in the future.
