How to Get The Most Out of Facebook Marketing

Do facebook marketing really work for translators in terms of finding more work? This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions by the visitors to my site.

It’s true that with over 300 million users on the facebook, the potential of reaching out to a much larger client base is what’s driving most businesses all over the world to participate.

However, if you treat Facebook marketing as another type of traditional advertising – trying to sell your service, you’ll most likely be disappointed with the results.

Why? That’s because the large majority of people on facebook are there to interact with their friends and social network.

They are not there looking to buy from you or anyone. They are on facebook either to participate in discussions, to know what their friends are up to or to know what’s going on in their social circles.

That doesn’t mean you have to give up on the idea of facebook marketing. You just have to shift your focus and adjust your strategy accordingly. Here are couple facebook tips you might find helpful:

1- Know what to expect

I’ve personally joined a few translator groups on facebook. Too many times I’ve seen translators leaving messages such as,

“I’m a professional translator who is fluent in this and that languages, contact me if you need my service.”

My first reaction is, “what a waste of time writing posts like that!” I would be extremely surprised if such a message results in any job leads.

I’m not casting any doubt on this person’s capability to perform translation work here. I don’t know anything about these people. Nor am I saying that you can’t promote yourself on facebook. All I’m saying is that he or she is barking at the wrong tree.

As facebook being an interactive medium, the best way to gear your facebook marketing is to build your brand recognition.

Make your target audience aware of your existence. Build your reputation and credibility through interacting with your social network and engaging them in all sorts of interesting or even controversial discussions.

As a result, they’ll be curious about you and will want to know more about you and your business.

They may end up buying your service or product because they really like you and trust you. But that’s not going to happen if people hardly know you.

As for that message mentioned earlier? Most people just ignore it. But the worst thing is that you appear desperate and clients are not generally attracted to desperate service providers.

2- Use facebook as one of the marketing tools

Facebook marketing is not meant to replace all other marketing strategies. You still have to do all the other things you need to do such as email marketing, in-person meetings, phone calls and so on. Facebook is just another way to reach out to your potential clients.

So instead of trying to sell to people you hardly know, you need to craft a dynamic environment to educate people about your expertise. Get them curious about what you have to offer.

On the other hand, facebook is also a perfect place for you to learn about your target market. What do you really need? What are their hot buttons issues?

Once you get all the answers, you can then tailor your service or product to their needs. You can do so much with your language talent if only you are willing to add a little twist to your existing service. That's the facebook fun part!

Unfortunately people will only start talking when they feel interested in the topic of your discussion. So your time involvement and your creativity is a critical piece of this puzzle.

Facebook is a perfect play field to get your potential clients excited about what you have to offer. They will be tempted to visit your website and check out your offers.

That’s why it’s also important to have a website in place. This is the place where you can tell your target audience all about your products and services.

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