I’m told that translators have some interesting challenges when it comes to marketing. Although companies regularly employ in-house translators to deal with localization, a big chunk of the market is handled by freelancers who own their own business. In many cases, the client doing the hiring cannot independently evaluate whether or not the work done is of a high quality, so it isn’t as easy as providing a portfolio of previous work. Often, clients don’t understand that translators have specific areas of expertise – much like marketing and technical writers – and that hiring someone isn’t as simple as finding someone who can read and write the languages in question.

So what works well? Having excellent references. Demonstrating your understanding of a particular market segment (think med tech, or legal, or software). Exhibiting superior communication skills – after all, a translator is hired to communicate on behalf of a client or company.

I hope my presentation can shed a little light on using today’s web tools. While this presentation has been tailored to the needs of freelance translators, I think many of the strategies and action items are relevant to professional service providers.

I’m using Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (fan page, group and my personal account) to promote our site and the content we post on our blog. We also use YouTube for video. When I post a new video to YouTube, should I share that video on the blog too? Should I post the link in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? We have a lot of overlap on the social networks and I’m afraid people will get sick of seeing the same content in three places.

Thanks for your excellent question! In short, my answer would be yes. But, we need to take a look at how content gets shared to understand the reasons why.

Let’s say you’re in charge of marketing, including social media, at a software company. You’ve decided to give it a shot and created a company blog. You blog regularly and get some good traffic, but you’re always looking to get more impact for the time you spend creating content. To gain a bit of exposure, you start sharing your content on three networks – Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. When you’ve got other content, you post it to a media-based site like YouTube, Flickr or SlideShare. So far, things are going well and you’re getting some success at engaging users, having posts go viral and converting a fair share of your new traffic into sales. In short, your social media is a success.

But you have this nagging worry that some of your geekier clients – stalkers, if you will – are getting the same barrage of content on multiple sites. You’re worried they’re going to get sick of you and stop sharing – or worse, stop using your software.

Not to worry – it’s not likely. While a user might connect to you on any multitude of formats (RSS from your blog, Twitter and Facebook, a fan of your YouTube channel), it’s unlikely they’re paying attention to you in each venue. Even though many of your users might be using all of the same social networks, they aren’t using all of them the same way.

Think about how you share content. When you see something you’re eager to share, do you run to Facebook or Twitter? Do you “favorite” things on YouTube and SlideShare or do you email the link to your friends (or share the link in another network entirely)? Are you active in social bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious? No matter your answer, the point is this: you probably aren’t doing every one of them for every story that catches your eye.

Now let’s get back to your users. Even when the same story hits RSS, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, your users are going to share and spread it a little differently depending on their particular way of sharing content. By leaving out one network, you take a chance that someone who prefers to share in Twitter is going to copy and paste your link from Facebook, if that’s their preference for sharing. While it may not sound like much, it’s added work for a user – and a chance you may not want to take.

There’s another factor when it comes to sharing the same content – something akin to six degrees of separation. Although you might be connecting directly with the same people in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, the people that they’re connecting with might be different. With the goal being that your network shares your content, the potential market you reach once you get a few steps removed from your original post might be dramatically different from network to network. Let’s look at a diagram to illustrate our point.

How networks share content

To be sure, there’s going to be some degree of overlap in each level of connections – this is especially true if you’re target market is B2B. That said, by the time my contacts have shared my content with their contacts, I’ve already reached a huge market I couldn’t touch directly. In this way, even a small but dedicated following within a social network can have a huge impact and reach well beyond their limited numbers with a valuable message.

Often skipped entirely or dismissed as unnecessary, drafting a social media strategy should be the cornerstone of every social media campaign – regardless of the company size. Whether you’re an individual looking to rebrand yourself before a job search or an international company trying to target a new market, you need to have a plan. Let’s take a look at what goes into a social media strategy in three steps.

One caveat: This three-step guide assumes that you’ve already spent some time online listening to your market and you’re able to make an educated guess at how to target them. Before you can build a strategy, you’ll need to have set reasonable goals for your social media campaign.

Step One: Resources: Social media isn’t free. Before jumping on the Facebook bandwagon, take a hard look at what resources you can allocate.

Will a new social media campaign replace existing aspects of your current marketing? If so, will it free up budget? What content are you going to contribute? Do you have a regularly updated blog that provides more than simple self promotion? Is your company in support of promoting themselves as thought leaders in their industry? How often can you add new content?

Who will search for relevant articles to post? Who will answer comments on your blog and moderate posts to your Facebook fan page? How many staffers can be dedicated to the initial setup and learning curve of various tools? Will each staffer specialize in a specific area or will you need to cross train your staff to function with multiple tools? What skills do your staff already have and what will need to be taught/learned? Will your outreach be limited to business hours only or is it possible to allocate manpower over a larger part of the 24-hour cycle?

How much budget can you allocate to purchasing support tools for your strategy? Can you foot the bill for Involver’s toolset to make your Facebook presence more powerful and easier to manage? Will you and your staff have smartphones capable of sharing content from anywhere with a 3G connection?

To build a successful strategy using social media, you’ll need to take a hard look at three resources:

• Time: How much time can you or your company dedicate to these efforts on an ongoing basis?
• Talent: What skills can you leverage that allow you to reach out online in a new format?
• Technology: Both hardware and know-how – can your current hardware get the job done and are your tech skills up to the task (or do you have a geek in waiting that could help you out)?

Step Two: Content: Before you create that corporate account at Digg.com, take a step back and consider what content you’ve got to share with the world.

The first part of content brainstorming should be a raid of your archives. Have you got good informational articles that can be repurposed as blog posts with a facelift? Do you have some PowerPoint presentations explaining your product or service that can be shared at SlideShare.net? Videos teaching someone some tips and tricks that you can add to YouTube? Audio files that teach – can they be made into a regular podcast? Content is king in any social media campaign, so consider first what you’ve got to use. In many cases, generating new content is also the most time consuming (and therefore resource consuming) aspect of your strategy, so make sure you use what you’ve already got.

But your own content is less than half of the equation. In order for your outreach effort to be a success, you need to become a valuable resource to your target market. And that means sharing a wealth of top-notch content that extends well beyond your own self-promotion efforts. If you’ve done a good job of building a successful listening system and know what content is relevant to your target market and where they can find those resources, you’re well on your way to sharing great links.

Instead of trying to steer your market to your content only, serve as an aggregator of relevant information on the Web in a variety of platforms. Become the go-to site for news and information, tips and tricks.

Instead of the staid model of solely diseminating information to your target market, become part of the discussion and encourage a focus group atmosphere.

Step Three: Tools: Finally, we reach the aspect of social media with which folks are most familiar. Once you’ve got the content, how are you going to reach your target market?

If you’re lucky, the most powerful tool in your social media toolbox might be your own Web site. If you’re unlucky, and your Web site doesn’t meet the needs of your target market, you’re going to have a hard time with any Web-based marketing campaign – despite your best efforts. Your own site is home base for your presence on the Web. If your ultimate goal is to sell a product, be contacted by a prospective client or be hired to perform a service, your own site is the most likely gateway for new business. Make sure you have your ducks in a row at home before spending resources trying to promote a weak site.

Whenever possible, your use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter should be a means of getting people back to your own Web site. Don’t let your networks serve as an end point. While it’s useful when someone shares your Facebook fan page, you’ll have a lot more leverage if the link they share is to your blog or Web site. Train your target market to come back to you as a destination for useful content. Any links to your site that are shared will improve your search engine optimization – this technique is known as inbound marketing.

Which networks are the best fit for your target market? Will you reach the same market on two different networks, such as Twitter and Facebook? What sites for rich media fit your content the best? Does your Web site have tracking software in place to determine from which sites people click through to you? Which networks are best suited to your specific goals?

In summary: Evaluate your resources, raid your archives for content and target your market on the networks that are most conducive to achieving your goals.

We’d love your feedback on our new series – Social Media 1-2-3 – here on the blog at Pixel/Point Press. To read more articles in this series, please bookmark this category.

While I strive in our classes to provide a wealth of knowledge in a very short time span, hoping to keep our students busy for several months after the classes end, I’m beginning to realize something: There’s a market for brevity.

To meet that growing need, I’m hoping to create a series of blog posts explaining how to get started in the wide worlds of social media networking and marketing. Topics will include:

• Blogging
• WordPress
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Third-Party Twitter apps: Seesmic, TweetDeck, Bit.ly and others
• Making the most of RSS feeds

And more. I’m also hoping my regular readers will help me generate some more topics. My goal is to provide a new post every Tuesday until I’m stumped for topics.

In another new addition to the blog, I’m asking readers for questions about how to use social media, drafting a strategy, etc. With your permission, I’ll reply to these questions and more every Wednesday on the blog so that others can learn from your questions. To send me a question, please email at kelli@pixelpointpress.com.

As always, thanks for reading, commenting, subscribing and sharing our content with others!

While I think every brand has to draw their own conclusions, I think the following video by Erik Qualman has some startling statistics that need to be given consideration.

Back by popular demand is our Social Media Marketing class. Our first class will be held in Jerusalem starting on September 3.

This is a popular class so please reserve your spot as soon as possible. This time we are meeting at the beautiful JBS Business Class Center in Talpiot, Jerusalem. For anyone who missed a session from a previous class, please note that on your RSVP.

• Date: Thursdays,  September 3, September 10, and September 17

• Time: from 9 am until 12 noon

• Location: JBS Business Class; http://www.jbsbusinessclass.co.il/

• Address: Hataasiya 8; 4th Floor; Talpiot; Jerusalem

Directions: The office is at Hataasiya 8. Hataasiya Street is the extension of Yad Harutzim after the Achim Yisrael mall. The building has an electrical appliance store on the ground floor called Traklin and an Orange office. The entrance to the office part of the building is on the right side – look for a big statue of a lion in a glass case. Go down the path, into the building and take the elevator to the 4th floor. Make a left and then a right when you get off the elevator.

Do you want to learn how to make the most of your presence online? Need help starting (or customizing – or promoting) a blog or Web site?
Consider joining us for three sessions to build your Web profile, reach new clients, and market yourself using free tools.

Cost for all three sessions is NIS 350. We’ll meet once a week a for three weeks.

Session 1: An Introduction to Social Media

• Starting a blog
• Using Facebook and LinkedIn for professional networking
• Using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for marketing
• Tips and tricks to get started quickly and effectively
• hree ideas you (and your competition) haven’t tried yet
• What not to do – common mistakes and how to avoid them

Session 2: Promoting your Social Media Efforts

• How to promote a blog
• RSS/Social bookmarking
• SEO – Crafting effective headlines and tags, using XML sitemaps
• Facebook groups and fan pages, LinkedIn user groups, Twitter tweets, FriendFeed

Session 3: Advanced Social Media Techniques

• Creating custom blog templates
• Developing Facebook apps
• Plugins and more – bringing it all together
• What’s next? Staying ahead of the curve
• What to do when that’s not enough to beat your competition

I will be teaching the classes and am happy to answer any questions. I have several years of experience using open source tools for Web design and development, SMM and SEO.

After our social media marketing course comes to a close, we’d like to fulfill requests for two other classes: Using WordPress as a CMS and Creating Custom WordPress Templates. If you’re interested in these classes (or others), please let us know by dropping us a note at kelli@pixelpointpress.com or filling out the contact form below.
[contact-form 2 "Classes"]

We’re pleased to announce that Commtouch will be hosting us for three classes at their offices in Netanya. Class will be held on June 9, 16 and 23 from 10 a.m. to noon.

Our regular three-session course will be condensed into two classes in Haifa. Class will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on June 11 and 18.

Session 1: An Introduction to Social Media

• Starting a blog
• Using Facebook and LinkedIn for professional networking
• Using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for marketing
• Tips and tricks to get started quickly and effectively
• Three ideas you (and your competition) haven’t tried yet
• What not to do – common mistakes and how to avoid them

Session 2: Promoting your Social Media Efforts

• How to promote a blog
• Lifecycle of your social media content
• SEO – Crafting effective headlines and tags, using XML sitemaps
• Facebook groups and fan pages, LinkedIn user groups, Twitter tweets

Session 3: Advanced Social Media Techniques

• Creating custom blog templates
• Developing Facebook apps
• Plugins and more – bringing it all together
• What’s next? Staying ahead of the curve
• What to do when that’s not enough to beat your competition

Details:

• Classes are taught in English
• You do not need a laptop to attend
• You will receive a cheshbonit mas

Cost:

• NIS 250 for all three sessions
• NIS 100 for a single session

To register for classes, please send your contact information and preferred course location to kelli@pixelpointpress.com.

From one participant:

I would just like to post a review on Kelli Brown’s Social Media Course that was originally advertised on Digital Eve.

So – what can I say?  So far – So EXCELLENT.

Kelli held her first lesson in my lounge in Tel Aviv last Thursday and I would like to say that she more than exceeded my personal expectations. She had certainly done her homework and came very well prepared (projector and all) and delivered a very well thought out, professional presentation covering everything that she said she would in her original email.

I also would like to add that on a personal note, I found her unpretentious, down to earth manner to be nothing short of a breath of fresh air.

So, there you go – if any of you are interested in this course –  in light of the first lesson that we received – I WARMLY recommend it and would even go as far to say it’s a MUST do for those that don’t want to get lost in the social media shuffle.

Best,
Jodie Clements
Marketing Communication Services

• HERZLIYA: May 7, 14, 21 from 10 a.m. to noon
• TEL AVIV: April 16, 23, 30 from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.
• MODIIN: April 19, 26, May 3 from 1-3 p.m.
• MODIIN: April 21, 29 and May 5 from 8-10 p.m.
• Classes are also forming in Haifa, Jerusalem, Raanana, Beit Shemesh, Netanya and Beer Sheva

For more information or to register, e-mail us or call at 054-225-7879.

Class outline:

Session 1: An Introduction to Social Media

• Starting a blog
• Using Facebook and LinkedIn for professional networking
• Using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for marketing
• Tips and tricks to get started quickly and effectively
• Three ideas you (and your competition) haven’t tried yet
• What not to do – common mistakes and how to avoid them

Session 2: Promoting your Social Media Efforts

• How to promote a blog
• RSS/Social bookmarking
• SEO – Crafting effective headlines and tags, using XML sitemaps
• Facebook groups and fan pages, LinkedIn user groups, Twitter tweets, FriendFeed

Session 3: Advanced Social Media Techniques

• Creating custom blog templates
• Developing Facebook apps
• Plugins and more – bringing it all together
• What’s next? Staying ahead of the curve
• What to do when that’s not enough to beat your competition

Details:

• Classes are taught in English
• You do not need a laptop to attend
• You will receive a cheshbonit mas

Cost:

• NIS 250 for all three sessions
• NIS 100 for a single session