Update to this post: Make sure to read the comments for some excellent tips on how to use LinkedIn effectively.
This is just a brief request for input: is LinkedIn useful for translators? I set up a LinkedIn profile last year, around the time I started expanding my base of direct clients. Since then I’ve fleshed out my profile to include this blog, and it’s been fun and interesting to connect with other translators through the site and its groups that I’ve joined. However, I’ve never received a contact from a prospective client via LinkedIn, nor have I seen any translation jobs (regardless of the language) posted on LinkedIn’s job boards. This makes me wonder if I need to use the site in a different way, or if LinkedIn is not the right online gathering place for translators?
I am pondering that, too. I have been on LinkedIn for years, and I have gotten one or two inquiries, but no actual business. It’s not very time-consuming to maintain it, so I just continue on LinkedIn, but I don’t really think there’s a lot of projects to be found on the site. However, I have reconnected with old friends, so it’s worth it on the personal side.
Hi Corinne,
LinkedIn – like most marketing activities – needs to be actively “worked”. Don’t expect the phone to start ringing off the hook but in my experience, LinkedIn can be a good piece of your marketing effort.
After looking at your LinkedIn profile, I have some specific suggestions:
1. By being more specific about what you do – subject-matter expertise, types of documents you specialize in, big clients you support – you will show up in more search results.
2. List your blog under “Websites”. I know that you have it included earlier but not everybody realizes that you can click on a topic to get to your blog page.
3. Go beyond translation – Join groups that relate to the areas you specialize in.
4. Give before you receive – Answer other people’s questions and join group discussions.
5. Ask and you will receive – Start discussions and ask questions of your own.
6. Be visible – Updating your profile or updating your status gets you included in other people’s weekly LinkedIn update emails.
7. Connect – You have a good number of connections but I suspect you could have more. Make it a habit to connect with new clients, social contacts, and folks you meet at conferences.
This won’t take a lot of time. If you dedicated 30 minutes a day, I think you would find after a bit that you’re getting more inquiries and quote requests than you do today.
Good luck!
Andres
http://blog.fxtrans.com
I second what Judy says. I haven’t gotten a job from LinkedIn either, but I have connected with some old coworkers and found out Amelia and I have a mutual friend in one of my former coworkers in Germany. I would have never known that without LinkedIn – or gotten back in touch with him.
I am looking at LinkedIn more as a place to make and keep connections, where I have contacts I can get in touch with when I have project in planning and where I stay visible so that I get the odd referral now and then. I don’t see it so much a marketplace for (translation) jobs. But perhaps I am not looking at it right.
That said, the basic law of all referral-based networks applies, I think: What you get out of it is directly proportional of how much you put into it. It actually takes a lot of work to “train” members of your network to work on your behalf and bring you referrals – and you have to “give” before you get anything back.
I could do a lot better myself with my LinkedIn presence. I need to work on it.
My opinion is, it can’t hurt, and it’s not all that much work. 🙂
I joined LinkedIn a few months ago, and even started a group[1] for Japanese-English translation, which now has around 250 members. I’ve had a couple of inquiries, mostly for in-house positions which I didn’t consider. Maybe some more work on my part would make it more useful.
[1] http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=112690&trk=anet_ug_hm
I think Andres Heuberger makes some excellent points.
Linked In needs to be a proactive initiative to get the greatest benefit. A passive presence is unlikely to lead to much. Also people are much more multidimensional than a resume can convey and present and so getting people to see a bigger professional picture of you is the possibility that a proactive strategy can help with.
While having a blog is great, you also have to try and get people to come there and make sure it is noticed. A blog that has a lot of traffic has real marketing value and leverage.
I have found that since I have started some a group (Automated Translation Group) and joined several others the level of engagement has increased dramatically. As the dialogue increases in the forum many people watching passively, will realize unique qualities that you may possess and thus you become a persona that is bigger and richer than the resume summary.
Robert Scoble on how important this is becoming:
Blog on what to do if you are laid off: http://tinyurl.com/8pg2ab and commenting in Linked In and Twitter counts as blogging.
These social networking tools d require investment for real results and Andre’s recommendations are an excellent start. I think we can increase the possibility of being “discovered” by making serious and professional imput in these forums.
I am sure that the people that learn to do this well will reap the rewards over time after they become a known and recognized presence in somebody’s experience of the web.
One of my aims for 2009 is to make a better use of several tools, including LinkedIn. I’m not expecting direct work from it, however. For me, it’s part of a more general “visibility” strategy: I try and be active on several platform (twitter, blogs, other networking sites and offline grooups) in the hope that if someone ever needs an English to French translator, they might think of me because they may have come across me at some point.
@Judy, I feel better knowing that you are the translation marketing guru and you’ve had a similar experience to mine! And I agree that it’s fun to reconnect with old friends too.
@Andres, thank you *so* much for the suggestions, those are a big help and I’ve blocked out some time today to spruce up my profile and make some new connections. I think you’re right that LinkedIn needs to be actively worked; I definitely don’t make a habit of adding connections with people I meet at conferences and social events, and I really need to do that. Another great tip about joining groups that are not specifically for translation; I give people this advice all the time about in-person networking but for some reason I need to be told to do that on line! Big thank you for all of your advice!
@Jill, thanks for your comment, and you never know where those connections with former co-workers might go, especially if they’re in Germany!
@Michael, I agree that I have not seen many (any?) translation jobs on LinkedIn, but I also agree that most of us probably are not putting in the required amount of time to develop an active network. As I mentioned above, I accept other people’s invitations, but I don’t put much time into adding my own contacts; let me know how your efforts go!
@Ryan, thanks for always looking on the bright side 🙂 As you said, it’s not that much work, and for those of us whose travel ability is limited by family responsibilities, I think it’s a good way to reach out of our local area. That’s amazing that you have 250 people in your group, good going!!
@Kirti, thanks a lot for reporting your experiences with groups; I can definitely see that this is an area where a lot of translators (including me!) need to improve.
@Celine, I think you’re exactly right; I think that all of these tools fit together by creating greater visibility for us, our services, and the profession in general. Someone at the ATA conference commented, and I agreed, that it’s easier to think of 5 ways to find 1 client than to think of 1 way to find 5 clients. Good luck to you!
Corinne,
My experience with LinkedIn has only been positive. I’ve been approached by Microsoft to work in-house (but wasn’t really keen on moving to Redmond) and a few other job offers that never quite materialized. My 2 cents:
* It does seem that the LinkedIn profile and the Google ranking kinda complement each other.
* Did you know you can upload your PowerPoint presentations there as well?
* I’ve incorporated the LinkedIn signature at my email signature, because I want to network with colleagues.
* I think Andres is right about cultivating more the whole LinkedIn pasture. And I’m trying to get smarter about the wording. Apparently, if you’re say a Portuguese translator, like me, it would like to see Portuguese all over my profile. So, I’m learning how to be creative about putting a lot of the tags it’d like to see.
* Ever since I went to that CTA-sponsored Social Networking with Beth, I’ve made a conscious effort to polish my profile, but putting a picture and asking for a few recs. I think that in this virtual world, it helps to establish a personal and tangible presence.
That’s all for now, folks!
Cris
Andres offers some very useful suggestions. We have gotten a client through LinkedIn and also clients from Twitter by searching the sites for questions or tweets about translation services. Maybe it was just luck but the minimum time that we’ve invested has paid off so far. LinkedIn can be a useful marketing tool.
LinkedIn groups also allow you to share news stories (with a one sentence opinion) and start very specific discussions around subjects that are of interest to you.
All this helps you create a broader professional image.
These can also over time be gathering places for discussion. One does need to keep the focus on genuine questions that the community or group would find interesting. e.g.
The best online dictionaries
TM and other tool feedback
Customer management in a translation project etc…
If you start off discussions that elicit responses, people will come back and read these on a regular basis. It can provide much more exposure than a blog as many like minded professionals will start to follow you and possibly also start reading your blog more closely.
You should engage with care and attention as you will be visible to many professional peers and people looking to hire people or people looking for work and maintaining and building professional networks.
But again I agree with the approach that Andres has outlined.
Hi Corinne,
Heard a LinkedIn employee speak in December and some tidbits:
Join a few relevant groups and answer questions that are posed in your groups – you will eventually show up as an ‘expert’ if you are statistically seen to be ‘helpful’.
In the ‘is working on’ section use keywords that fit what you want people to find out about you.
Get at least 25 connections (fewer and you not will be high in many search results)
Haven’t had any contacts from clients yet. I’m starting to try to ask intelligent questions in my non-translation groups-all the ones that might be sources of direct clients.
@Cris, it sounds like you’re the star student from the CTA social networking session! Those are really helpful tips, and if you’ve already been offered a job at Microsoft, they’re obviously working 🙂
@Janine, great suggestion about specifically searching for translation-related questions. So far I’ve contributed to a few discussions in the ATA group on LinkedIn, but that’s obviously not where clients are hanging out!
@Kirti, thanks for pointing out the staying power of responses to questions on LinkedIn and about using LinkedIn to bring traffic to your blog.
@Karen, that’s really interesting that you heard LinkedIn employee talk about all of this! The ‘working on’ line is something I’ve avoided because it reminds me too much of the Facebook “status line,” but it seems like it’s crucial to raising your LinkedIn search rankings. Thanks!
Thanks, Corinne, for a timely and relevant post, as usual. The insight from your readers is so useful; I have just updated my LinkedIn profile and hope to make more use of this site’s potential.
Best,
Holly
So today I posted a question for the first time to a chemical group, and I already got an invitation to consider speaking at an upcoming conference!
So there’s hope for LinkedIn!
Karen
@Holly, glad you enjoyed it! After reading everyone else’s tips, I agree that LinkedIn is a useful tool if you put some time into cultivating it. Good luck to you!
@Karen, wow! Talk about instant rewards! Are you going to accept the invitation?
Interesting advice here regarding LinkedIn. In contrast to some of my other web presences, I haven’t invested a great deal of time there, and the results reflect that. I have used LI and a similar tool (XING) mostly to keep track of former colleagues. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!
These are all pretty amazing tips – thanks for sharing these (and thank you Corinne for gathering such a rich community)!
I’ve been re-working my LinkedIn profile recently away from my previous line of work (training and facilitation) into my current life (translation by day, community arts by night :-)). Between the comments posted here and the Scobleizer link I’ve got a few days work cut out for me! 🙂
I have to think about what I could present, but yes, it would be great to present at a chemists’ conference. There’s one coming up in spring 2010 San Francisco so that would suit me geographically. It was a small business division rep who contacted me. I bet if I wrote to the ‘women in chemistry’ group they’d want to hear about chemists who can work from home!
Yesterday I said I’d asked a question and had a good response – now from teh same question I’ve had a potential direct client link to me so he has my contact info. Pretty good return on investment.
@Karen, you are officially the star student of LinkedIn! Definitely keep us updated on how it goes, but a potential direct client is a pretty good reward for a couple of days of stepping up your efforts!
Wow, I’m just putting a toe in this water, but it’s very encouraging to see the positive experiences people are having. Like Celine, one of my 2009 goals is to raise my visibility in a more technologically proficient way and to explore the social networking tools — I am glad to be in such wise company!
Here are some other links that provide guidance on how to maximize your LinkedIn presence
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-marketing/linkedin-22-ways-to-dominate/
http://linkedin.alltop.com
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2009/02/10-ways-to-use.html
Hope you find it helpful – also recommend that you join several of the Translation & Localization related groups and join the discussion forums, comment on things people have posted and initiate new discussions.
Share the best of your knowledge there and you will start earning a reputation as a reliable and knowledgeable resource.
Hi, Corinne. One of my network colleagues pointed out this conversation to our little group, and of course it contains lots of good pointers, still pertinent for all that it is a few years’ old.
I would like to know, though, whether what you learnt from the comments did any good! Were you able to build Linked In presence-building time into your normal work timetable? That is one of my main challenges, I find. I do join in with discussions etc. when I can – and visibility brings people to view my profile, it’s all good. I have even got one lady who provides regular work who contacted me through Linked In. But it still feels like I would have to spend most of my life there, Tweeting, on FB, blogging, in order to get all this work that I would no longer have time to do because I would be too busy keeping my networking up to date!!
How do you find it now? Thanks!