Making Money With Social Media Ghostwriting [Complete Guide]

Of all the routes you can take as a professional writer, ghostwriting services are some of the least saturated and most profitable.

In today's article, I'll map out the journey to becoming a social media ghostwriter.

What is social media ghostwriting?

Social media ghostwriting is a specialized service where a freelance writer authors and publishes social media content for another person or brand. They adopt their client's personality and writing style, so it appears on their profile as if they had written it themselves.

As a social media ghostwriter, you'll create content for your clients (duh). But, like any other type of freelance writing, there's a lot more to it than writing skills.

The real value-add is that you'll...

• learn their goals, experiences, and writing voice (and execute it flawlessly)
• develop a growth and content marketing strategy
• curate a content mix based on the platform's audience and interface
• publish their content on a schedule
• engage their audience authentically
• use your wizardry (the algorithm) to grow your clients' profiles over time

...all in a done-for-you ghostwriting service.

The two best places to start as a social media ghostwriter:

Social media ghostwriters normally prioritize one of two platforms: LinkedIn or Twitter (X).

• Twitter is kind of like college — short, snappy, and sometimes mean. It's casual, conversational, and full of young entrepreneurs and business owners.
• LinkedIn is your first job out of college — everyone's bigger than you, but still nice enough to give you a shot. It's full of corporate-y, B2B nerds. But there's also quite a bit of overlap with the laid-back Twitter crowd.

Both have tons of different types of creators, so there are plenty of niches to crack into. The reason I say they're the best is simple: they're text-based.

So, your writing has a direct impact.

Who on Earth hires social media ghostwriters?

Any entrepreneur, online personality, or business professional who's too busy to spend hours on social media will hire a professional ghostwriter. Think of it this way:

When you're at your job, do you constantly update your status?

Probably not.

Anyone who's doing anything productive has zero time to shitpost on social media platforms, let alone build on them. Unless they're Elon Musk.

So, there are thousands of freelance writing jobs for ghostwriters. And thousands more clients you can find on your own.

Social media ghostwriting vs. ghostwriting a book

When you hear the word "ghostwriting," you probably think about the people who write biographies or memoirs for celebrities.

These are multi-six-figure writing projects that take years (plus a team) to complete. And you (presumably) aren't bumping shoulders with Oprah or Kim K.

Social media writing services are about more than just communicating a narrative. As a ghostwriter, you'll:

• know the algorithm and how to grow on the platform
• create frameworks for viral and engaging posts
• build a consistent personal brand for the client
• grow their followers, leads, and sales
• do it efficiently enough to take on enough clients to make a living

But the most significant difference is in your role. Ghostwriting a book puts you as the "book engineer." You make the book happen. It's a collaborative process where your name eventually goes on the cover with "with" or "as told to."

Social media ghostwriting, though? You're pretty much invisible (which is how most of us like it). Your focus is on growing your client's brand and following, not yours.

The best part is, normal people hire ghostwriters for social media. Online coaches, marketing agency owners, therapists, real estate agents, lawyers.

Basically, your ICP isn't a Kardashian.

Growing your clients' profiles on social media

Everything's an algorithm that needs to be hacked. Just like a blogger needs to know search engine optimization, your service entails knowing all the technical secrets your clients don't:

• How often to post
• What time of day is best
• The types of content most likely to go viral on each platform
• How to increase engagement

This varies from one platform to the next. Let's break it down.

How to grow on Twitter:

Twitter is all about reach. There are a lot of ways to achieve this, but the most valuable is through reposts.

A repost is when someone shares your content with their audience. It used to be called a retweet.

Each time someone reposts you, your reach increases exponentially.

Your clients' content also needs virality potential. I have a 4-step formula for writing viral tweets and threads (I use it for all my clients).

I'll dissect one of my tweets to break it down for you.

1. Make the benefit huge.

Learning how to make money is a huge benefit. Everyone knows newsletters print.

Right there, that's a scroll-stopper.

2. Make the perceived effort low.

If your solution is too hard, readers will think, "NEXT."

A "5-step process" is easy to digest in a minute or two.

Save the meat and potatoes for once you've already gotten them hooked.

3. Keep it relevant to your audience.

My audience is copywriters and online business owners, so social media posts like these are right up their alley.

Since you're writing for reach, not everyone who sees your post will know they're part of your audience. That's why I add stats, numbers, and background info to prove I've done what I'm teaching about.

Plus, social platforms are filled with text. Numbers and $'s are pattern disruption.

4. Have good reach/distribution.

There are tons of ways to get more eyes on your content (DM giveaways are a favorite).

But to really grow, you need to treat reposts like paid ads — pay other accounts to repost your content and leverage their audience.

For that investment to be worthwhile, though, you need two things:

• Great content
• Reposts from the right accounts

I break the entire concept of paid engagement in my podcast with Futur:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K2j_lN6PdjU?si=oOqFgwYtg95Plr6G&amp;start=1255" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

How to grow on Linkedin:

LinkedIn is all about networking. Its algorithms start working immediately — as soon as people like your post, their entire network sees it.

This is why a great post can go viral even if you only have 500 connections.

There are two things to focus on when growing on LinkedIn:

• Content that educates and entertains your audience
• Comments that add value to others' content

The virality concept is still alive and well. Posts like these always perform:

But you need to comment and build a real network for clients to benefit from your LinkedIn ghostwriting service.

Don't be a bot, here. "Thanks for sharing" is useless.

Add to the conversation, like Ed did on one of my posts.

When he comments things like this, my audience and his will see it. If you do this hundreds of times, you'll attract people.

How to grow on Instagram:

Shoutouts are where it's at on Instagram. Get others to post your clients' content, and their following will grow.

Stuff like this:

Reels are also a great way to grow client accounts because they get shown to users outside your following.

As an Instagram ghostwriter, you'll also have to script high-quality video content and write good headlines (though the bonus to that is you can repurpose it for TikTok).

Comments are a lesser-known way to get engagement for your ghostwriting clients. If you've ever seen a real company comment on a meme, you know what I'm talking about.

It makes it more funny, and humanizes the brand.

How to grow on YouTube:

On a YouTube channel, you need the best content. There's no way around it.

The algorithm rewards videos with high watch time. So you have to write a banger script.

Here's the truth, though:

Your clients are unlikely to hire you solely for their YouTube accounts. They'll likely bundle it with other social media services.

So, if you're a ghostwriter who can write scripts, shoot videos, and repurpose them for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok? That's golden.

Finding your first social media ghostwriting clients

I already have a whole article on how to find copywriting clients (this applies to all freelance writers).

To find ghostwriting work specifically, I strongly advise you to stick to your platform. If you're a LinkedIn ghostwriter, DM people on LinkedIn.

That's where your target audience is. Plus, they can click right onto your profile and see what you're all about. No switching screens to search for you.

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