Best Social Media Platforms for Creatives

Social Media is the New Marketing

Social media is the new marketing, the new sales… the new PR… basically, the new everything. In fact it has significantly moved in on the territory of PR and traditional press releases, as well as the newest, most successful advertising platform. But which are the best social media platforms for creators?

The average salary for social media managers today is $50,000.
~Source: (average calculated from SproutSocial article) ^[1]https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-manager-salary/

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Social Media is the New Marketing
  • New Marketing = New Jobs
  • Social Media is Here to Stay
• Top Social Media Sites
• Which Social Platform is Best?
• Start with What You Know

New Marketing = New Jobs

Before we get into the best social media platforms for creators, let’s talk about opportunities for creators. Social media isn’t just a nice place to connect with your audience and prospective customers… it’s the best and most essential because it is omnipresent.

Not only is social media the best place to grow your brand, it’s also a hub of latent opportunities for paid gigs and customers for creators. From freelance work to collaborations and opportunities for prospective clients and commissions to find you, social media is the creator’s mecca.

The New Media – Your Access to the World Stage

The “new media” and age of influencers has created an entire industry of new opportunities for creators to make money from your art and creativity that you may never have considered. Most of these opportunities come with a great deal of freedom and the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world.

Get Paid to Create and Chat

Yes… people get paid to manage social media accounts. In fact, that’s an earning option for creators, and that market is only growing.

That further underscores that it’s clear that social media marketing is not just a Facebook thing or a passing fad. And it’s vastly more than just a social platform for connecting with kindred spirits.

This is probably clear to all of us by now. However, what many people may not realize are the opportunities for earning good money through social media.

Many people enjoy spending time connecting, sharing and engaging on social media. If that’s you and you’re looking for work, social media management is to basically do for others what you’re enjoying doing for free anyway: surf social media, post, comment and share.

So all that posting, commenting, liking and sharing that you’re doing on social media for fun…? There are increasing numbers of businesses willing and able to pay you to do this for them. There are increasing opportunities for writers and artists as well.

So if you’d like to earn money doing what you’re naturally inclined to be doing on social media, you can be up and running with that fairly quickly.

Steps to Becoming a Social Media Manager

First

First, to begin, start surfing how-to articles and YouTube, (we’ve listed some resources at the end).

Certification is optional but recommended over time, if you decide to continue to grow in this profession.

If you really want to do this and you have a hundred dollars more or less, you can sign up for a course and end up with a certificate. We recommend first learning the platform you’re on the most. Chances are you’re on it because it’s your favorite platform, plus you’re already familiar with it.

Second

Set up a freelancer profile on one of the available platforms. For more on this, you may enjoy How to Make Money as an Artist.

Sampling of Miscellaneous Openings as of 5/27/20 on UpWork

ARTISTS

NOTE: If these jobs have expired, just go to the job opening section of UpWork and generate your own search using your area of expertise or interest as the search term keyword.

• Logo designer for new brand – $30-$60/hr
• Professional Cartoonist Position – $15-$50/hr

SOCIAL MEDIA POSITIONS

• Social Media Marketing Expert – $45-$55/hr
• Virtual Assistant – customer support via email and WordPress memberships – $12-$18/hr

WRITERS

• Seeking writers with experience In the motherhood/parenting/birth space – $50 per 600-1000 word article, at a preferred rate of 1 article per week
• Top Article Writer with Research (SEO Focus) – $20-$45/hr
• Writer needed to describe well some products for website and catalogue $3,000 (one time project)
• Ghostwriter / Editor – Children’s Book – $375

Now that third position looks like a fairly easy and interesting $3k for creating herbal product blurbs.

If, when you’re reading this, these positions are no longer available, then just search on UpWork, (or whatever other freelancer platform you plan to use). ‘Social Media Positions’ is the search term we used for these examples, so use that or whatever search term represents the kinds of work you’re interested in finding, and you’ll see lots of varied opportunities. New jobs are posted throughout each day, so be proactive and you’ll be successful.

And of course the more experienced, the more you can earn. But if you’re just getting established, take lower pay, and even be willing to offer to do the job for free if there’s a job you really want and they didn’t hire you.

That will be your “tuition” into a good review and more work in future. Once you’re established with a good review, you’re on your way to more work for pay!

If you feel that you’re not qualified, chances are that you’re only one skill away. Acquisition of that skill could be a matter of hours, days or a few weeks before you could actually be knowledgeable enough to start earning from that skill.

Opportunities abound for those who seek them out and take decisive action.

If you love posting, commenting and sharing on Social Media, you can get paid to serve clients doing what you already enjoy doing.
~iCreateDaily.com®

Social Media is Here to Stay

And here in 2019, it’s no longer new. But soon all the mega corporations will be pouring their billions of advertising dollars into Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest, instead of ABC, NBC and Fox. Many already are.

The times they are a-changing. In fact, it could be said that this era is defined by rapid change.

If you want to grow your work in the world, you need to build a following and the very best way to do that is through the social media channels. But which social channels are best for you?

If you’re interested in learning how to start building your own social community, this course will help.

“Community is the new currency.”
~Michael Reese, author, speaker, entrepreneur

Top Social Media Sites

We love this wonderfully illustrative graphic depiction of the top social media platforms published by DreamGrow.com. They have a fantastic article on this topic, so if you want to geek out on this, you’ll find more good stuff there.

Which are the Best Social Media Platforms?

But which social platform is best for you? Obviously, you can’t do them all and stay sane. At least not at first when you’re just getting started and you are the creator, tech, social, bookkeeper, and everything in between in your business.

So how do you decide which social media platform is best for you? Is it Facebook because it’s the largest? Maybe, but there are PLENTY of people who could be interested in your work on every platform. So how to decide where to start?

Which is the best social media platform?
The best social platforms for you to start with are the ones you use the most.
~LeAura Alderson, Cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Start with What You Know

Consider, where do you spend your time socializing online? What social groups do you belong to and where are they? That’s most likely your best place to start building your own brand, because you’re comfortable there. If that’s the place you hang out, chances are your future fans are there too.

So good news! You most likely don’t need to learn a new platform yet. Start with what you know, do more of what you’re doing anyway — posting, commenting, sharing and caring — and enjoy!

After getting regular with that platform, such as by posting at least one post per day, you may decide to then set up a consistent rhythm with another one.

Except When That’s not True

So while you’re going to be better at posting and enjoying the platform you’re most comfortable with, there is another argument to that advice. Next, we get into when and why your current favorite may not be the best for your business goals.

Best Social Media Platforms for Your Genre

After focusing on the social platform you enjoy the most, you can then look at whether that’s also where you’re most likely customer hangs out. Let’s say you’re an artist and prefer Instagram (IG). You check your followers and discover that many of them are also artists, because visual artists love IG.

But Here’s the Problem: Peers Aren’t Usually Customers

If you’re a writer and hangout in writer’s groups, that’s great for connection, contribution, learning, and support. However, other writers probably aren’t your best prospective customers. Writers need to connect with readers too. Artists can enjoy belonging to art groups, but they need to connect with art lovers and connoisseurs.

Most peers aren’t going to buy your art because they’re too busy creating and selling their own.

Where do Your Prospective Customers Hang Out?

If you’re selling art and prefer Instagram (IG), but art buyers with discretionary income are more likely to be on Facebook, you’ll want to also have a Facebook presence. But since Facebook now owns IG, it’s really easy to create promotions on Facebook that synchronize and interact with both audiences.
NOTE: This is just a “what if”, for art buyers may also frequent IG.

If you’re a business coach, your best customers are probably on LinkedIn. If you’re a life coach, it may be Facebook first and then LinkedIn, but likely both. So again, ask yourself, and do some research on your customer “avatar”.

Who are they, where they hang out, what’s the average age, profession and interests? What kind of groups do they belong to? Join some of those and participate to help and share… (not to sell and post your links, unless by invitation of the hosts).

Get to know your prospective customers by getting to know your existing ones, and that will help find how and where to better serve them. Consider that your peers may be your fans but they’re not likely your paying customers. So for your business to thrive you’ll need to get to know what your buyers like, want and need.

Your friends and fans may like and follow you, but they may not buy from you. Find where your best customers hangout and join those places.

Summary of Social Correlations of Social Media Platforms

• Twitter – like a cocktail party – brief interactions and fast pace
• Facebook – like a block party or town square gathering place
• Instagram – a showcase or “magazine” of talent and creativity
• Pinterest – for window shopping and idea gathering
• LinkedIn – like a business networking gathering
• YouTube – for entertainment, instruction and information

Here’s more on social media etiquette and managing groups and pages.

Great Social Media Infographic

For the transcript of this infographic in cool outline form, you can visit the source of this cool Social Media infographic, LeverageSTL.com.

The Social Media Revolution

Enjoy this amazing video portrayal of the Social Media Revolution by Erik Qualman based on his #1 Bestseller Socialnomics.

How to Become a Social Media Manager in 2020

If you’d like to learn more about the social media manager profession, here’s a jump start into learning from someone who’s doing it well.

Learn, Adapt, Change and Grow

One of our thought leader heroes is Seth Godin. Seth is all about being agile and open to changing and adapting yourself to the expanding opportunities of the market, while also holding true to you.

Seth encourages us to put our work out in the world, consistently, adaptively, over time. And… he doesn’t mince words.

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”
~Seth Godin, author, thought leader, founder-AltMBA

Lifelong Learning is Essential to a Happy and Productive Life

And it doesn’t have to be a college education. In fact, there are many reasons not to go to college.

See more inspiration toward discovering yourself, consider alternative education ideas, and earning-while-learning opportunities for making money as a creator.

Also… here’s a great Guide to Social Media, which you can read online or download as a PDF.

Now… Creator, go be the remarkable and amazing YOU, and put yourself and your work out there!!!

iCreateDaily Store on Shopify

A movement for creators serious about their work.

The Day is the Way.

iCreateDaily® on Amazon