Internet freelancing is an ever-growing field, with new members jumping into the pool every day – and as they learn to swim, experienced freelancers continue to learn new strokes. Demands in these areas change all the time as new technologies develop, existing platforms become more popular, or as a type of business evolves. Today may be ruled by social media and video content, while yesterday, today and tomorrow are quietly governed by email marketing.
If you’re a freelance specialist or virtual assistant, you’ll probably appreciate some guidance on the hottest fields emerging in 2018. Luckily, I’ve got just that information for you! I’ve put together a list of 7 in-demand freelance areas you’ll want to focus on – expand your services offering, generate more customers, find more gigs, and increase your rates!
Video assistant
As you may have noticed if you visited any news or lifestyle sites recently, video is the king of growing trends. You can see pop-out microsegments from news hosts on the latest breaking news demonstrating how to create Pinterest-worthy food and crafts in short, bright videos. As more companies and even individuals (like bloggers!) hop into video, they’ll need someone experienced in video production to make sure their own content is presented professionally and attractively. This is a great skill set to brush up on or add to your 2018 freelance offerings.
You won’t necessarily be filming live as a remote video assistant, but there are plenty of other parts of the job that can be done online. You can help your client source stock video and do post-production with video editing software. You may communicate, coordinate and contract with actors or interviewers on behalf of your client. You can even write any necessary scripts, provide captions, overlay text, source sound effects, or any number of other small parts that go into creating video content. And let’s not forget to upload videos to YouTube and make them SEO-friendly.
Where to learn more:
Project Manager
Project management is one of those big, sexy freelance gigs that can pay you a big, sexy fee. If you have great organizational skills to work with a variety of people in a coordinating or leadership role, you should definitely try to become a project manager. Projects can range from organizing an open house event (and advertising for it) to helping a blogger launch a webinar to creating a marketing campaign. To be successful in this role you will need to multitask efficiently, communicate effectively, negotiate well and be familiar with the project industry.
As a project manager, you can expect to nurture a goal from infancy to completion, so be bold! Services you can offer include project conceptualization (defining both the project and timeline), setting deadlines and deadlines for deliverables, assigning and negotiating fees with separate subcontractors (graphics design, event catering, prototyping, etc.), ensuring deadlines and quality requirements are met and maintaining detailed and accurate project records and books. There is a lot of advice for managing a project successfully, but one of the most important is this: to be successful, don’t bite off more than you can chew or let clients bully you with opportunities. Clearly define a project in writing at the outset, and set a reasonable timeline for completion.
Where to learn more:
Social media manager
Social media management is one of those easy-to-do remote positions that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! It’s also a fantastic focus for freelancers, and I’ll tell you why: Small businesses and entrepreneurs need the exposure of a well-executed social media presence, but many don’t have the time to learn the language and quirks and best practices for every major social media platform. You can make it your business to know which industries should be active on which social media outlets – like jewelry-makers might benefit from being on Instagram, while an artisan should absolutely be on Pinterest. Individual-based brands should have a vibrant Twitter account, while any small brick-and-mortar store should use Facebook in their advertising. If you have a penchant for social media, you know what I’m talking about!
When it comes to the types of services you can offer as a social media manager, it mostly comes down to copywriting, formatting, and scheduling. You’ll be able to write compelling copy that translates into brand interactions (likes on Facebook, RTs on Twitter), use the most relevant and on-trend hashtags for different industries, create well-sized and attractively designed images or videos, learn how to most efficiently create a To spend the advertising budget, and so announced. One of the great things about this job is that your personal social media accounts – if they are successful and professional – can be part of your portfolio!
Where to learn more:
Facebook Ad Manager
When it comes to in-demand social media skills, Facebook ads are hot right now Every business owner wants them, and few know how to run one profitably. Meg Brunson was working at Facebook and was confident that he had the skills to meet the demand he saw day in and day out, and his family could sure use some extra cash. Couldn’t we all? He set up a small online store on the side and the rest is history.
Within 12 months, Meg’s Facebook ad business was making more than her day job. Not only that, she was able to support her family of six when her husband unexpectedly lost his job in August. The main part? Meg was able to start with very little investment. He used his knowledge and experience. His only initial investment was a domain and hosting for a website. That’s a decent enough cost to make this freelance gig a viable option for most!
bookkeeper
About half a million businesses are started in the United States each year—and many of these are small businesses founded by entrepreneurs who may have a lot of enthusiasm but not all the skills necessary to run a business. Like keeping a book! Although accounting software can make bookkeeping fairly easy today, many people still need simple help with numbers. Especially if the thought of math makes them sick. This is great news for all you freelancers with mad math skills or accounting certifications!
This area is great for offering different packages to clients, for items such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, creating P&L statements, reconciling accounts, arranging payments, filing taxes, financial analysis and more. Be prepared to quadruple check every freelance financial job you do and consider bookkeeper insurance.
Where to learn more:
Content writer
Have you ever noticed how much of a content-centric society we are? Once you start looking, you’ll find content writing jobs everywhere. Corporations require written employee handbooks and training materials. Small businesses need website copy to put their best retail face forward online. Brands need compelling copy for all their social media accounts, while small businesses from attorney offices and CPA firms to microbreweries and professional painters need SEO-seeded posts for their blogs. There is content around you and, if you can write, why not create something yourself?
While you can easily find content matches to offer your services to, I don’t recommend them: getting into content writing as a virtual assistant or polished freelancer is usually a well-paying business. You can advertise your subject specialty and have a curated collection of your best clippings to attract work. In general, plan to offer services such as: blog posts, how-to articles, white papers, SEO-optimized content, metadata for content, ghostwriting, social media updates to link to content, and anything else your writer-brain can dream up. . In the market.
Where to learn more:
Email Marketing
Email may not be the flashiest kid on the Internet block, but it’s still the best method for engaging with customers (or followers) and making sales. This is because email is an active process – a person must be interested enough in what you’re doing to subscribe to your mailing list. Every time you send an email, you are communicating with a curated collection of people who are already engaged with you They want to be entertained or informed by you; They want what you’re selling whether it’s information or a product. And sending emails? This is the most cost- and time-efficient method of reaching your audience/market.
Of course, creating emails that people won’t just ignore in the Promotions tab of their Gmail account (or let them sink into spam filters, unnoticed) is a specialty in itself. You need a good strategy and good presentation skills to put together a successful email marketing campaign – and, if you’re good at these things, offer your services to others! Become the queen of Constant Contact or Mailchimp, write and edit newsletters, create and implement drip campaigns, consult on sales funnels, implement automation features – build a business around email marketing in 2018. May it grow!
Where to learn more:
I hope your brain is now buzzing with all your skills to market and the value you can bring to clients in 2018! With all the legitimate work offered remotely these days, it’s an exciting time to have your own freelance or VA business – you just need to stay focused on demand, sharpen your skills, and pursue what you want.
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