marketing/social media people: i'm applying for a social media fellowship at a newspaper - do you have any tips for promoting things non-spammily on social media, or any professional social media advice that might help me get it?

freelance journos: how did you get started with paid freelance work? again, any advice? have any of you managed to sell multiple articles on trivial niche topics which you're an expert on/have unique insight into (i guess what i really want to know is if you can do that in a short space of time or have to spread multiple articles on the same topic out over time)? how do you ask about their going rates, or do you offer them a price (and if so, how much)?

cheers x