Freelance promotion in a post fact-check world
The social media train is leaving the station. And many of us want off. The question is, can we really afford to leave?
I have a confession to make. I love social media. Not this guided and algorithm girdled stuff we now wade through. I mean the real stuff – the stuff where we are actually social. The places and spaces we inhabit before the salespeople and the showboats arrive. Before the first carousel or video on how to make your carousel or video go viral appeared. Before groups and forums become just a poorly disguised sales funnel.
But the familiar social media we know might be dying. This is not hyperbole.
Now that we’ve gotten used to it, addicted to it, shaped by it, can we really leave?
Should we leave?
What else is out there?
Feeding the addiction
We cling to social media like a smoker clings to their before-work cigarette.
It is a ritual. It fills the gaps. It helps us switch mental gears.
That’s what makes social media so appealing. It is a demarcation point. A full stop on the moments in our day. It is convenient junk we prop the door open with when our brain is full, and we need to take a break.
We’ve argued with it, built on it, and defined ourselves with it.
Like a cigarette, we might miss it, but it won’t miss us.
We think the goal is satisfaction. Social media knows it is the data we leave.
The platforms spin that data into money.
Money we could be spending on better things.
We gasp now at the lack of fact checkers and state enough is enough!
But we’ve already stepped over scandals, emotional manipulation, data issues, political manipulation, staff exploitation, and a lack of safety.
What’s one more thing in the scheme of it?
We talk of replacing one platform with the next, of quitting in a huff, or quietly escaping.
And yet, for all the talk, back we come. Like flies to flypapered misery.
What we fail to talk about why we’re really here.
The real relief
If we truly want to understand why we find social media so interesting, we need to walk it back to the beginning.
We’re here for community.
Social media helps us:
· Feel connected and less alone
· Get over the lack of watercooler
· Gives us a place to play to relieve stress
· Elevates us in a way other marketing cannot
· Gives us some of our best business friends
· Encourages us to ask questions
· Lets us get out of our head for a bit
As this recent thread in the Freelance Jungle shows, we feel good about connecting, being useful, hearing people out, being heard, helping, socialising, playing, creating. There is a challenge in doing what needs to be done to have an impact. And there is a beauty in finding people who make you feel welcome.
Why we don’t gel with the platforms is largely because they’ve lost sight of this.
The drawcard was never about new features, levelling up and learning how to be popular. It’s about belonging, sharing, and appreciating.
It wasn’t about proving you had a posse. Or wiping the noses of billionaires and their algorithms. It was finding the right people to love what you do, who care enough to hire you, who acted like your watercooler, and who made you feel good about yourself.
The Freelance Jungle is there to end isolation, remind you stress has a productivity cost, raise the knowledge bar, and advocate.
I’m tired of the platforms distracting us away from that.
Image: a corkboard I call my gratitude wall. It is full of reminders of freelancers and ideas, concepts and creativity that come from community. Features many thank you cards and presents from Freelance Jungle members.
If the platforms want to be painful, let them
This is an opportunity, not a crisis. It is a chance to really think about where you want to be spending your time and what you want to say.
Ask yourself as a freelancer who wants community:
· Can you shift platform to interact with the same culture?
· Are you OK with losing convenience if it means increasing quality?
· Do you need massive audiences to gain the same kind of fulfilment?
Me personally, I don’t need Facebook. What I need is a safe place to connect with my peers. And I’ll follow that where it needs to happen to give that to me.
People say to me, “this is about the only group I use” or “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Freelance Jungle”.
So, this is what I am offering you more community options:
You can subscribe to Substack to match your appetite:
Monthly newsletter content (with essay plus event reminders and links)
Deeper thinking essays called plumbing the depths (released as they happen, usually fortnightly)
Short shot-in-the-arm freelance content with jungle leaf litter (think Seth Godin, maybe three short posts a week)
Patreon offers help, news, and resources for freelancers (free and paid options).
Join the Freelance Jungle group on LinkedIn. And/or follow me personally.
Discord offers a forum-based community with free and Patreon supporter sections that offers old school forum experiences free from privacy and data concerns.
The Freelance Jungle has a Bluesky account as of this week.
And if you just feel like reading, there’s the Freelance Jungle blog.
There’s something lovely about the defragmentation because it feels more intimate. And personally, I get to be less internet Mum and a little more me.
When grappling with social media questions
Ask yourself, do I have the stomach for another social media platform?
Plus, what you might have to do to revive your social media relationship.
And take a deep dive into Instagram’s algorithms. And see if any of that excites you.
As for lead generation, think about social media in these terms:
· What social media platforms are currently paying off for you? Why is that?
· Would you like those people to follow you elsewhere or is it just about the numbers?
· If you genuinely want their company, how can you help them make the switch?
· Look at your leads in the last 12 to 24 months. Where did they come from?
· How can you use the social media platforms you are on more effectively?
· Forget all that fancy stuff people told you about social media marketing. What do you think the reason is?
· What are the principles and values behind that success?
· Can you replicate that anywhere online, offline, or in campaign form?
· What’s something that looks like it is fun to try to get clients, but you’ve never had the courage to do?
· What would make time, space, and energy to try it now?
My point isn’t to drive you off social media. Or for you to run towards it.
I want you to question your relationship with it.
And I want you to think about your business, your creativity, and your personal life, and ask yourself:
· How do these things benefit from my social media usage?
· What else can I do to build community around what I create?
Never forget that we grew these places and spaces. We made the connections, the clients, and the friendships. And we can choose to be manipulated once again by convenience and fear of starting again. Or we can do something about it. We can build the communities we want, where we want, how we want.
And that, my freelancing friend, is very bloody powerful.
It even got me restarting the events
Sunshine Coast, meet Amy at Marcoola beach on March 7th.
Sydney, grab a coffee with Rah at Everleigh on March 14th.
Wollongong, let’s hang at Lake Illawarra and talk to pelicans on Feb 28th.
(Other cities and places are coming… oh, and if you want to host a meet in your town, LMK and let’s see what we can organise!)
Outside social media, this is where you can catch me
Virtual coworking is back on the last Friday of the month from 9:30am to 11:30am Sydney time for Patreon supporters.
Office Hours returns on Feb 26th! Get 15 minutes of advice with me on any topic you want as a thank you for your Patreon support.
Grab an early bird ticket to see yours truly speak on self-care for creatives at Creative Summit 2025 in Kiama! It’s the best damn excuse for a seaside staycation.
Hire me for coaching to dig deep and pull together a 2025 to remember with the Creative Change Program. Or one hour of coaching you need to solve an immediate problem. Or gab about the social media stuff you want to tackle this year.
Thank you so much for being that warm presence that I love talking to. I cannot explain how good your presence as a community is for me. I hope I am giving the same back!
If you have any ideas on what you’d like me to dig into this year, feel free to drop me a note. I look forward to seeing you somewhere soon.
Love and other reasons why we need to feel apart of things,
Rebekah