Social media, especially Twitter (sorry, I can’t bring myself to call it X), is an often underutilized way for freelance writers to find work and make connections. I know this because I spend most of my time on Twitter/X, completely underutilizing it.
Until recently.
I’ve seen some of the power that comes with making the right connections and using X to find freelance writing jobs. And that includes work you’re not going to find posted on job boards.
If you’re relatively new to X, or at least new to the idea of using X to find freelance writing gigs, it can help. I wanted to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the past few years.
Do you want to become a freelance writer this year? Check out this post. Or, if you prefer to watch, here’s a video:
Ready to learn how to find freelance writing jobs on X? Let’s look at ten tips that can help make it happen.
Let’s do this.
First, Get on X
Yea, this one might be obvious. If you don’t already have an account, get one set up.
Follow these steps to get started.
And if nothing else, Sean claims Twitter/X changed his life:
Now, let’s get something out of the way first real quick. The goal of this post isn’t to tell you how to use X. It’s totally cool if you aren’t interested in keeping a professional profile and want to keep it light on social media.
But, if you want to tap into some potential, connect with other freelancers, and find writing jobs and clients, just know it’s possible with X.
So, let’s dig in.
10 Tips to Get Freelance Writing Work on Twitter (or, sigh X)
What I’ve listed below has worked, thus far, for me. Not all may work for you, or you may have a much better approach than me. It’s all good.
The goal here is to find as many ways as we can to get more freelance writing clients.
#1). Make Lists
I don’t think people pay enough attention to X lists. Instead, it’s all about the follow count. I try to keep the number of people/brands I follow relatively low.
Where I do put all those extra people/brands I’m sort of interested in and want to engage with for purely work-related tasks is in a X list.
X gives you options for creating lists of people. And you can create a ton of them.
Here are a few X lists I’d suggest making:
- Other freelancers to follow. Include editors of sites you’d like to write for eventually.
- Brands and writers in your niche. If you’re in personal finance, for example, there are a ton of accounts in that space.
- Freelance job accounts. There are a bunch of accounts on X that frequently Tweet out freelance jobs.
- Brands and writers in niches you want to break into. This is a great way to get on someone’s radar.
#2). Learn How to Save Keywords and Hashtags
How do you find gigs when people you aren’t following Tweet about them? Get a list of keywords relevant to your niche or area of interest and save them.
Here’s how.
Go to X. In the search bar at the top, type in your keyword. Then click the three little dots to the right.
You’ll get this:
Select save search.
From then on, when you click in the search box to type, you’ll find a list of your saved searches.
Here’s an example of some of mine:
Rinse and repeat for as many searches as you want.
Then, when I want to do a quick search to find jobs, I open my saved searches and bang through them.
#3). Here’s a List of Keywords and Hashtags to Save
Your list may vary, especially if you have a good niche or industry you’re targeting.
Expand off this as it works for you. But at the start, here’s a big list of terms I’d save as searches.
- Freelance writer
- “your niche” writer
- Hiring “your niche”
- Looking for “your niche” writers
- Call for pitches
- Looking for writers
- Looking for pitches
- Send me your pitches
- Writing gigs
- Writing opportunities
After you’ve saved these, plus a few of your own, go to the search bar, pull them up from your saved search list, and click ‘latest.’ Sometimes, you’ll also get people who use your keyword in their name, so you’ll have to weed them out.
Once you have the most recent Tweets using those keywords, you can start sorting through them.
#4). Learn the Language People Use
Once you start following more people on X (or adding them to your lists), pay close attention to the terms people use when talking about jobs.
You might have zero luck with “call for pitches” but a ton of luck with “need a writer.”
Everyone phrases these things differently, mainly depending on their needs.
If you want to write for more popular sites and magazines that take a ton of open pitches from freelancers, then you’re going to want to look for terms like “call for pitches” or “pitch me.”
On the other hand, if you are trying to snag a B2B writing gig with a SaaS company, they are probably going to say something like, “We’re hiring a writer,” “looking for writers,” “need a writer,” or “send writer recommendations.”
Learning the language also helps when you start posting and want to attract a specific audience. If you’re trying to connect with editors of commercial real estate sites, then talk about that topic and use their language when talking about it.
It’s a great way to help you establish some expertise.
#5). Learn the Secrets of X Search
I came across this amazing thread from Dickie Bush, where he goes into all sorts of really cool tips for X searches. It was from years ago, but is still just as relevant today:
If you use it right, Twitter is the most powerful platform in the world.
But Twitter does a horrible job of showing you its advanced features.
Here are 10 of them you probably know nothing about:
— Dickie Bush 🚢 (@dickiebush) March 30, 2021
Make sure you read all the tweets in the thread.
After I read it and started playing around with search myself, I saw the value in saving searches and paying more attention to lists.
I’d read his thread since he does a better job explaining than I do. Then, I’d set aside a few hours over the upcoming week and play around with X search.
It usually doesn’t take long to find some killer hidden features that no one ever talks about.
Another cool tool for X is Twemex. It’s a Chrome extension. Install it, and you’ll get a little sidebar on your X page that pulls up a random follower.
You can search through that person’s Tweets (or search for a new person). It’s a great way to see their all-time most popular Tweets.
Search through people in your niche, and you’ll start finding some topics to start talking about.
#6) Join Scheduled Chats and Spaces
Chats were one of the first old-school ways people connected on X. Then, they fell by the wayside. But now they are back.
Look for scheduled chats you can join and connect with others.
These are usually great spacews to learn some tips and tricks from other freelancers and connect with them. Anyone is welcome to join. Participate in them regularly, and it’s easy to add to your follower count and get on the radar of other freelancers.
Also, look for chats in your niche. If you’re in finance, Experian’s #CreditChat is a good example if you’re in the personal finance niche.
A ton of brands run them every week. It’s an awesome way to share your insights, get on a brand’s radar, and look like an expert.
A similar tool people are using more is Spaces. That’s when people schedule a conversation, and you can join in or listen to the recording later. It’s almost like an audio webinar.
One thing to note with Spaces is not all the chats are recorded. So just keep an eye on that if it’s something you might be really into. If it is, you’ll be able to listen to it later.
If not, you may want to fire up a tool like Otter to record and transcribe the chat so you can reference it later.
#7). Make Friends
Tons of freelancers are on X, and most of them spend a lot of time giving out great advice, sharing job postings, and gossiping about red-flag clients.
Despite what you might think, other writers aren’t your competition. You want to do everything you can to learn from them and get on their radars.
I know a ton of freelancers who get piles of work they don’t have the bandwidth to do. So, instead of telling the client they’re busy, they pass the work off to people they know.
There are well-connected freelancers out there who barely need to do much promotion because they get so much work via the referrals of other freelancers.
Notice how nearly half of the freelancers in this survey get high-paying freelance writing jobs from referrals and word of mouth?
It’s true.
I know freelancers who barely ever do outreach because they get a few referrals a month from other freelancers. Here’s one area where having a niche and being known as the go-to person for that type of job can be a big benefit.
This part can feel awkward, and I get it. I don’t like to jump into conversations, either. But you need to get into the right mindset and start putting yourself out there.
Try some of the following:
- Target a handful of freelancers to follow and engage with, ideally in or around your niche. If you aren’t sure who, just pick a few popular ones (or do an X search).
- Retweeting and commenting on their posts (a good comment, not like “Great read!” — you’ll stand out more by being thoughtful).
- Independently sharing their content and tagging them in it.
- Go full brown noser and share X lessons learned from reading a freelancer’s blog and do an X thread. Those styles of posts get a lot of traction.
#8). Spy on Your New Friends
Now that you’ve got your X Lists and your friends (or soon-to-be friends), it’s time to start spying on them.
This is a little hack to help your freelance writing career, but we’re not doing this in a nefarious way. Other freelancers share a ton of great information. You won’t know that unless you pay attention.
Here’s what you want to look for:
- Other freelancers they follow so you can add more to your list.
- The brands they follow and have written for now or in the past, which means this brand works with freelancers.
- The type of content they write. It can help you see what brands may really like or be looking for from freelancers, especially those in your niche.
- Any tips and advice they share about freelancing and clients.
- If they tend to pass work along to other freelancers or re-tweet job postings.
See, some pretty simple stuff.
But I do think you can glean a lot about where you may be able to find work from some of your fellow freelancer’s past clients.
I’ve found clients I had no idea accepted freelancers simply because another writer friend happened to tag me in a tweet or passed along the info.
#9). Find Content Ideas
Feeling stuck with writer’s block or having trouble coming up with ideas? Use X to get unstuck and come up with ideas, which you can pitch to sites or guest posts.
If you have a niche, say commercial real estate, make an X List that’s just brands, reporters, and writers in that niche. Follow the hot topics, and see what they are talking about. A lot of the bigger sites want to be able to publish multiple articles a day on a topic.
Chances are, if you are keeping on top of trends and can fire off a couple of story ideas that are super relevant and can get it done quickly, you may find yourself some work.
Even if you don’t want to worry about banging out some story quickly by chasing a trending topic, the rest applies. I’ve come up with all sorts of ideas just because I’ve seen some Tweet float down my feed. It can sometimes be a killer spark of inspiration.
#10). Don’t Be Afraid to Raise Your Hand
At least once a week, I see some other freelancer Tweeting or re-tweeting someone about finding other freelancers to connect with and call on if they have too much work.
As a newer freelancer, it can feel intimidating to add your name to the list.
But I say go for it. You are not going to get very far using X if you stay silent. If you want to use it to its full potential, you need to push yourself to get out there more often.
So when you see people asking for writers, toss your name in there. Introduce yourself to others.
Don’t lurk.
Be proactive.
Do that, and you’re going to start getting a lot more connections and landing work.
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Go Forth and Tweet
But seriously, X is a great tool that can help you connect with others and find work. If you want to cast as wide a net as possible in your search, it can be a huge help.
So consider jumping in!
This post has been updated for accuracy in September 2024.
Liz Froment
Liz Froment is a full-time freelance writer and the one who keeps Location Rebel running like a well-oiled machine. If she's not writing something informative or witty for her clients, she can most likely be found reading a good book.Join over 40,000 people who have taken our 6 part freelance writing course. Sign up below and let’s do this together.
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