I don't usually start like this, but...

HELLO to 43 new subscribers.

You now have 191 fellow readers on this list. I've never written to so many people 😳.

Today, you're going to read about

• Why the size of this newsletter audience increased by about 30% in a week.
• A new design
• How it feels to have a more specific focus for this newsletter.
• How I manage social media as a freelancer.

43 New subscribers

Last week, I created a welcome series for this email and I tweeted this:

Kjell Vandevyvere @Kjellvdv Are you a new or aspiring freelance writer? How about a 5-day email series with the best free tools, guides and articles? » Where to find freelance writing jobs » Where to find free images » How to write better copy » Communities to join » ... Like/share if interested. April 15th 2022 12 Retweets 75 Likes

And in the next few 62 people signed up. 18 didn't confirm... And 1 unsubscribed immediately. So there's 43 left.

In this thread, I talk about it in more detail.

Kjell Vandevyvere @Kjellvdv I got 37 new email subscribers from one tweet and one hour of work. (+25%) Here's how... pic.twitter.com/puHSfzYul2 April 19th 2022 1 Retweets 16 Likes

I'm not so happy with how this performed, however. And I can see two mistakes:

1. 25% increase sounds way better than 37 followers. I should've led with that.
2. The image says 26 (best day) but the tweet says 37. Confusing, right?
3. The image proportions aren't Twitter optimised: 9x16

New design

Just quickly letting you know, I changed the design of this newsletter slightly. I loved the simpler one but absolutely hate how there's zero margin/padding on the left. Hope it's better now :)

More freelance focus

With the creation of this welcome series I made an implicit promise to you and myself. This newsletter can no longer be just about me. I need to help freelance writers like you in every edition.

This comes with a few benefits and with a few new challenges.

First, I immediately got lots of ideas I wanted to share. And in the past I usually shared everything that came to mind in a single newsletter. But if I do that now, this may become too long and I might not have anything left for coming weeks. Who knows?

Some things I want to talk about are

• Should you get a part-time job?
• Pricing
• Networking
• Different types of projects

But today I'll talk about social media.

Batching social media/networking

Social media for me consists of three platforms: Twitter, LinkedIn and Slack. These are the channels I use to network, find opportunities and apply for jobs.

For someone with little time, you can't engage everywhere without a plan.

So here are some things I do to make sure I create content and stay up to date.

Dedicated days

While I'll check Twitter, Slack and LinkedIn daily for "important" updates, I usually spend little time on two of the three platforms.

I focus on one platform per day:

• Monday: LinkedIn
• Tuesday: Twitter
• Wednesday: Slack
• Thursday: Linkedin
• Friday: Twitter

Batch content creation

I usually only create and consume content on the dedicated days.

For Twitter, this means I'll check my lists, try to connect with new people, and schedule at least 10-20 tweets for the coming days on Tuesdays. On Fridays, I review my bookmarks and try to connect with new followers. I also try to write a thread.

For LinkedIn, my goals on dedicated days are one non-promotional post, making 1-3 connections and engaging 10+ with others. Usually, I repurpose this LinkedIn post as a Twitter thread. And sometimes even as a Medium post. Like this one:

Automation

Especially on Twitter, I'd struggle without automation tools.

I use the free version of Hypefury to get some ideas and create "evergreen tweets" (tweets that get automatically retweeted every couple of weeks/months).

I have paid Typefully plan because it's cheaper (ha), allows me to schedule tweets and threads, and has analysis. I also love the clean writing environment.

Welcome series

Just a final word about the welcome series.

If you're an "older" subscriber and want to get the emails, click this button.

If you finished the series and have any feedback, please reply so I can make it better.