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What Is Social Media? Are You Participating?

More and more business these days are using social media as a means to attract clients.

What is social media exactly?

It refers to websites that use different social instruments to allow visitors to interact with the site and other visitors.

There are many different types of social media sites, but the most popular are:

1.Social Bookmarking sites such as stumbleupon delicious

2.Social News sites such as Digg

3.Social Networking sites such as Facebook LinkedIn Ning

4.Social Photo and Video Sharing such as Youtube

5.Blogs: blogger wordpress

6.Micro-blogs: Twitter

What is social media for translators? If you feel confused and overwhelmed, you are not alone.

Social media is NOT a magic bullet for translators. It requires a strategy and some attention to be productive.

Participating in online networking groups is a great way to increase your visibility among your target market, while reaching a whole new audience. You can build valuable connections with your potential clients or find critical information and new ideas for your freelance practice and earn extra income.

Where to start? From current trends and its multiple group and business opportunities, Facebook is the most popular right now. You can create your own page, join translator/interpreter groups and share stories and info and trade tips. It has more applications than just meeting friends – although that’s a terrific benefit, too.

LinkedIn can be a great source when exchanging business profiles and expanding your network.

So what is your social media strategy?

Here are some online networking tips to help cut through the confusion.

1- Don’t expect to know everything at once.

Take it slowly and steadily. Learn one thing at a time. Read your chosen site’s Help Centre guidelines or Q&A section carefully. Many of your questions probably have been answered by others.

Reading instructions is a great habit to hone and can prevent embarrassing missteps later on.

It also saves you time in the long run.

2- Set a clear goal as to what you want to achieve.

What is networking? Building relationships!

Social networking online or offline is all about building relationships, and it takes time. Don’t rush, but be clear with your direction.

Do you want to do mostly peer to peer networking and exchange important information?

Do you want to increase your visibility in front of future employers?

Do you want to promote your language expertise among your potential clients?

Are you looking to connect with graduates or members of a specific group or industry?

These are all possible utilizing social media.

What is social media offering? You can achieve the above goals with various tools provided on these sites. You can even find out what questions your potential clients are asking. Such information can be critical to your freelance practice.

3- Set a schedule every day to complete your tasks.

Whether it’s 30 minutes twice a day or 20 minutes three times a day, the important thing is to keep at it. Like a garden, the more regular work you put in the better the harvest.

4- It’s about the quality of your connections, not the number.

This is pretty self-explanatory. What is social media? It's NOT a magic wand! Ultimately it is the people who are interested in you and what you have to offer that counts. Ten quality leads are better than 100 looky-loos.

5- Ask for help, but don’t rely on any so called experts’ opinions.

The best advice I can give you is that there are few 'experts' out there in social media. Nothing trumps personal experience, however. To get the best out of it for your freelance business, you have to practice, learn and adjust.

6- Do not post anything you’ll regret later.

Your pictures and words on the world-wide-web will stay for a long time. So remember to only post things that you know won't come back to bite you.

What is social media? And what is social media offering that's so different from traditional media?

It encourages interaction and communication. Visitors don’t just receive information, they can respond and react. It helps you build relationships with your audience and reach out to them in different ways.

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