I’ve been reading the “The Wealthy Freelancer” for over a year and have learned some great tips to improve my business. Ed Gandia was one of the founders of this site and is a freelance copywriter, wanting to help others break free of the corporate world and become a freelancer. Definitely a thought leader in his field, Ed’s educated many writers and freelancers on how to market themselves in the new economy. I got the opportunity to ask him a few questions about how he uses social media and how it’s affect his businesses.

Please tell us about yourself and your business

I’m a full-time freelance copywriter based out of Marietta, Ga. In a nutshell, I was a successful corporate sales professional in the high-tech and industrial arenas. Even though I was earning a comfortable six-figure income, I had had enough of the sales treadmill. I was also tired of having someone else dictate my future and my compensation level. I was moonlighting as a copywriter for non-competing software companies, and I realized I could turn that passion into a full-time business. A little over two years later I quit my job and went completely on my own. That was June 2006. I haven’t looked back since!

Today, I work with enterprise software companies, helping them craft persuasive content to drive more leads and to speed up sales cycles. I write a lot of white papers, case studies, direct response pieces, web copy, press releases and other marketing materials. It’s a lot of fun. I love my clients, and I make a great living. I also love the fact that I have a flexible schedule and I make all of my own decisions, including what clients to take on, what type of work to pursue and where I’ll take my business.

How long have you been using social media tools to help promote your blogs, newsletters, etc.

I’ve mainly used social media to promote my blog and newsletter (TheWealthyFreelancer.com), which are both geared toward helping other freelancers—not potential copywriting clients—and which I publish with my two business partners, Pete Savage and Steve Slaunwhite.

Specifically, I’ve used Twitter and to a small extent, LinkedIn. Twitter has enabled me to develop relationships with key influencers in the freelancing community, as well as freelancers across all professions. These relationships have been instrumental in shaping our content and in giving us more exposure in freelance circles.

As far as my core copywriting business, within two months of opening a Twitter account, I was contacted by three potential clients (and I wasn’t really trying to solicit business!). Although none of them turned into clients (they weren’t quite the right fit), I quickly saw how a smart, concerted Twitter effort can pay off quickly. Plus, it’s a fun way to connect with others and develop what could turn out to be very profitable long-term relationships!

What are some of the more interesting results/feedback have you gotten, tell a story if you can

With Twitter, I’ve been able to connect with influential authors and thought leaders. These individuals have provided me with great ideas, invaluable feedback and great exposure. Also, as I co-wrote my book this summer (The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle), which will be published by Penguin this March, I was able to connect with dozens of  freelancers to get their success stories and tips for successful freelancing. Being able to tap into the ideas and insights of so many wonderful people has been a blast!

How do you feel social media is changing how business market themselves?

Over the last few years, consumers have clearly shifted much of their leisure time away from traditional media, such as TV and radio, and into social media. Email still works. And when done well, it’s still a critical part of a marketer’s promotional mix. But as these consumers flock to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and other social media platforms, you’ll HAVE to move promotional dollars into these tools if you want to compete. Or heck, if you want to SURVIVE!

It’s no longer hype. This is where consumers are “hanging out” now. That’s where you have to meet them. And because these platforms are still emerging, they have a “newness” to them that makes consumers pay more attention and be more receptive to marketing messages. It’s like email marketing was back in the mid and late 1990’s…but better!

What are you excited to see change in the future of marketing online?

That for the first time in quite a while, marketers are having to get very creative. They’re having to reinvent themselves—to experiment like they haven’t done so in a long time. Better yet, their brands and messages are no longer under their control. The consumer is in the driver’s seat now. As a marketer, that’s a bit scary…but it’s also exciting, because it means that the most innovative and transparent marketers will do better than ever.

It’s a great time to be in marketing!

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In 2006, I began folding cranes for world peace. Learning to fold origami cranes is challenging so I put an ad on LiveJournal. A nice lady offered to teach me in exchange for coffee and a scone and so we spent an hour folding cranes until I got the hang of it. I continued to fold cranes while watching TV or chilling out and found it meditative and was able to fold about 30-40 in about an hour. I getting close to around 500 and wasn’t sure if I continue in my quest, I began feeling burned out. I was telling a friend about my project earlier in February about how I wanted to finish and send 1,000 cranes to the Japanese Hiroshima Peace Park and she said, why not ask for help.

At the time, I was learning how to use Facebook and Twitter to communicate with friends and colleagues and saw this project as a great way to use social media. I also had a blog that I could use as a vehicle to explain my project and start asking people to send me their address and I would send them 10 origami crane papers to make 10 cranes. I believed if I got 50 folks to make 10 cranes, I could reach my goal.

In addition, I set up a Facebook group, explaining my project, linking it to my blog, and sending it out to my friends, letting me know what I’m doing and that I would have a meet up where I would teach people to make cranes. I was amazed who signed up to my group. In less than a month, I had around 80 folks that were members. Some were really excited and shared their experience at different memorials in Seattle and Japan and how powerful the symbol of the crane can be.

Through Facebook, I set up 2 events where members of the group were given a notification that there was an event where they could come and learn to make cranes. The turn outs were awesome, the first one was 14 people and the 2nd was 15 people. Using Facebook as a tool to bring people together for a great cause is powerful.

In addition to using Facebook and my blog, I also made little announcements on Twitter. I just used my profile that’s mainly for my business, but let everyone know how many cranes there (status updates) as well as let folks know about the meet ups and link the tweets to my blog or to the Facebook group.

Not all of the folks in the group were Facebook friends, at least 1/4 were people that I didn’t know and during the meetups, folks I didn’t know very well came to support it.

I was able to reach my goal of 1,000 cranes on August 2009 and have sent the package to the Peace Memorial Park. I trully believe that the social media tools we have now really improve our lives and bring us closer together. It’s very moving and powerful. I challenge you to spread a positive message through email, Facebook, your blog, or Twitter over the next week. I bet you’ll be amazed at the results. I sure was!

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I recently spoke with Bo, from KOifusion about his successful use of Twitter to promote his food cart.

KOifusion is a food cart that produces a mashup of Korean BBQ along with Mexican, American,  and Italian flavors. Bo’s cart travels to different locations across the city to feed cart lovers alike. Their company is only 2 months old, but they have driven their marketing through Twitter, using it to share promotions, their cart locations, as well as what’s going on day to day.

Bo can’t believe the connections he’s made in such little time, he doesn’t just talk about the cart, Bo said he tweeted about his car breaking down and had 5 different folks come to him with lunches and a willingness to help.

He mentioned that Twitter allows folks to give suggestions while feeling safe and easy to reach out. Bo really likes Twitter because he can update from his iPhone, it’s fast and is the best way to spread news. He can’t wait till there’s a way to sync with other media tools to make updating even easier and looks forward to the ease of use of social media in the months to come.

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• Being authentic & sharing through Twitter

I’ve been researching different tools to analyze my links through twitter. Bit.ly was ok, but just didn’t have enough data and not easy to use. Tweetburner had potential, but its personal stats page was broken. Hootsuite fits just right. For a more extensive review of similar tools: http://networksboise.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/test-drive-hootsuite-ping-fm-twitterfeed-bit-ly/

My favorite reasons to use it:

-Tracking my URLS, I want to make sure and see if folks are following what I post and by golly, they are. I can see at what times were the most clicks, etc.

-Hootlet , the easy to use plugin for Firefox works smoothly, I pop in and shrink my URLs -scheduling tweets, here’s another review that focuses on that: http://www.twitip.com/twitip-reader-review-hootsuite/

-you can use Hootsuite to check several different accounts

-the latest 2.0 version is even better with columns separately different messages and get tabs to help you stay organized and get the data you want!

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• Promoting tourism through the social media and mobile

Having brick and mortar stores can have their challenges and advantages. It’s great to have a place where customers can physically come inside and shop, but you are limited to a regional space where customers can reach you.

Mabel and Zora is a clothing boutique, having two stores in the Portland Metro area.  They offer ladies’ clothing, jewelry, luggage, art and accessories from new and established designers, including local Portland designers. I got a chance to interview them about their use of social media and how it’s affected their business:

Do you use different social media tools to promote your business?
We have started using Twitter and Facebook lately, we have been on myspace for a few years, I like the twitter and facebook, I’m not a big fan of myspace, it’s a little hard for me to navigate around and is slow.

What has worked for you?
Twitter and Facebook have both been very successful for us and we know we still have a lot to learn about it! But so far, so good! I don’t know if people are seeing our blog or not but we keep writing just in case. We redid our website last August and spent a lot on it and nothing really sells on it, so we are trying to get more people to it, so far no luck, but they are coming to our stores! I know I need to do more with the website, but just haven’t got the patience for it!

What hasn’t?
Like I said above, the web sales haven’t really worked out, but the website does drive people to the store, which is great, I would just like it to pay for itself!

What do you hope to achieve with these tools in the next 6 months?
I guess I’d like to just keep learning, and figure out how to simplify. I’d also like to get the website selling more. I’ve read lots of things in magazines about things I can download to simplify the twittering and facebooking, I just need to take the time to put them into action!

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