Social Media Rules to Follow as a Freelancer

Social media is becoming a big part of our lives. More than 55% of us check Facebook, Twitter or Instagram when we wake up. And businesses use social media to engage with suppliers and customers. However, while social media is a global network, there are rules and laws to monitor how businesses, which includes freelancers, must behave.

In this article, we will look at these rules.

Rules About Labelling Posts

The first rule is about how social media users must label posts. When you want to earn a passive income from your blog, you might target sponsors for your content. If you generate a lot of interest, you can charge a significant amount for mentioning a brand in your posts.

However, laws in the US, UK and EU state that you must label any relationship between you and a sponsor. These relationships can include whether you’ve worked with a company before or whether they’ve offered you payment for a post on social media.

Rules About Images/Text

A big problem with social media is that users are encouraged to share third-party content. However, this isn’t as easy as it seems. If you share the content in the wrong way or take content without permission, then you can break copyright laws.

So, if you want to share content, be sure you’re using the ‘share’ functions on the social media channels.

Never download an image directly from a website and use that in a social media update, unless you have permission to use that image. Sites like Pixabay/Unsplash can help.

Contacting People

Another rule is about contacting people. While social media isn’t directly mentioned within laws, guidelines for contacting people on social media are the same as email marketing. These include the following:

• You can’t contact individuals without their prior permission.
• Must ensure that all communications are professional and include the following information:
  • Who you are.
  • That you are sending them a sales email.
  • What you offer.
  • The available special offers.
  • When special offers are no longer available.

The same rules are applied to email marketing. You cannot contact personal accounts without permission.

That is why social media is a part of your sales process. What you want to do is to get the customer to contact you or to sign up for a mailing list.

Final Word: Social Media Rules to Follow as a Freelancer

Social media is a popular tool. About 77% of freelancers and small businesses use social media to connect with audiences and potential clients. And therefore, there are significant rules that you must follow to be compliant. These are above.

Following these rules is not challenging. However, every post you publish online should consider these rules.