Many translators question the use of social media platforms when it comes to their worth as a professional tool. How much effort and time does it take, and is the return worth it? This question could be asked of any of the social media sites, like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Xing, and so on.

It’s a good question, and I’m sure there are many translators out there who would respond in different ways to this question; and in particular to which social media site they believe is the most useful to them.

Using Twitter to Your Advantage

Many translators like Twitter, because they believe it’s the quickest place to gather current information that’s relevant to them. Twitter is actually a really great way of getting your message out, and the beauty of Twitter is that your followers will read your tweets and then retweet it on to their followers. It’s also a great platform for forging relationships with colleagues, and of course potential clients and people of influence who are in the position of opening doors to interesting opportunities. Sometimes social media platforms are not necessarily about finding translation work, but finding the opportunities that lead to bigger and better things.

Strategies for Professional Translators

If you’re a translator and you’re wondering which of the social networks you should spend your time and effort on, below we’ve suggested some considerations as an overarching strategy for professional translators -

To start with, you need to determine what it is you’re trying to achieve on any or all of these social networks. If you’re trying to build relationships with colleagues, you might benefit from certain LinkedIn or Facebook groups. For interaction with the outside world consider using Twitter, with a slightly different strategy on Facebook, Google+ and/or LinkedIn.

The next question to ask yourself is how much available time do you have to spend each day. In general, your Twitter activities will probably take less time than (say) becoming involved in lengthy discussions on LinkedIn.

The final question is this: Are you determined to keep your professional and private lives separate? We can hear you saying now that having a private life is something you can only dream of! But it’s a good question, because do you really have time to discuss trivialities like other people’s dinner plans and so on? Of course this is a personal matter, and you may enjoy the break from your translation work.

Basically, you are the one who determines who will follow you by what you share and how you share it. You’ll probably find that your close translator friends will follow you wherever you are, but if you’re trying to create a social network as a professional translator, the idea is to ensure that your circle of followers becomes larger by having other people see what you have to say.

So how do you get started? Pay close attention to other people who are successfully using one or more of these social media platforms. See who is following them, what they have to say, and who it is that they’re following.