Social networking websites are becoming a crucial arrow in a freelance translator’s quiver of marketing tools, and it’s important to decide how to use these tools wisely. When I entered the social networking world, I decided (somewhat arbitrarily) to use Facebook for friends and family and LinkedIn for business contacts. Lately, I’ve noticed some changes in how people are using Facebook; I’ve been receiving more requests to sign on to my friends’ business-related Facebook pages, and I’ve been receiving more Facebook friend requests from business contacts. Colorado Translators Association now has a Facebook page and we’ve gotten a good response to it. I’ve also started posting some business-related items on Facebook because my network there is much wider than my LinkedIn network, and the response has convinced me that Facebook is a worthwhile business tool.
Still, even if your life is about as far from sordid as it gets, there are some things that you might not want your business contacts to see (I swear, that’s not me lip-synching to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” in the high school talent show, it’s my secret twin…). In addition, you have little control over what your Facebook friends post on your page, so you may fall prey to someone else’s offbeat sense of humor through no fault of your own. Or, you might inadvertently post something (“Great freelancing strategy session last night; can’t wait until you give notice!”) to someone else’s page, not realizing that you’ve just “outed” that person to his or her boss and co-workers on Facebook.
The answer (sent courtesy of a friend of mine who’s a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Brazil) is Facebook friend lists. Here’s a great article on how to use them. Basically, you can set up different categories of Facebook friends and give them access to different parts of your Facebook profile so that some people can see everything that’s there and some people can see almost nothing. Once you set up your friend lists, you can go into your Privacy settings and set up customized permissions for each friend list by excluding some of the friend lists from seeing certain elements of your profile (i.e. Photos of You, Videos of You, Status Updates, etc.). It seems to me that judicious use of friend lists can really help translators make effective business use of Facebook.
Does anyone out there have positive/negative stories about using Facebook for business?
I have my regular FB account, which I opened back in 2005 or so, and last year I made one for work purposes. It’s too confusing–and risky–otherwise. And I didn’t want my ex-boss or even students to see me in a bikini.
With this approach, though, I have ended up with almost 500 contacts on my regular FB account and about 60 on my work account. But that’s the way it’s going to be. I can always work on nurturing my work account, which I sporadically do.
Lately, alas, I’ve lacked the time to work on my Twitter, LinkedIn, and work FB.
I too have always used Facebook for friends and family and LinkedIn for business and, like you, Corinne, I’ve always been a bit wary about mixing business and pleasure on Facebook. I quite like the idea of having two separate Facebook accounts or two different friend lists but I’m not sure how effective it would be for my own business contacts. Personally, I find LinkedIn more useful at present. It would be interesting to hear about your experiences as your business Facebook activities develop – in a follow-up post in a few months, perhaps?
I am still trying to decide exactly what to do with Facebook. I have many friends on FB, dating back to elementary school in Mexico, and it’s been fun. I do post a lot of status messages, and usually it’s about stuff I am working on. My Twitter account, which feeds into FB and my blog, is mainly used for business updates and interesting resources for fellow linguists. I don’t really have anything controversial to post, but of course, as you point out, you can’t control what people write on your wall (no negative experiences thus far). I like the idea of friend lists — thanks! I also have LinkedIn, Xing, MiGente, etc., which are quite useful. I do think a rule of thumb is to not every put anything out in the Wild Wild West that you might possibly not be comfortable with someone knowing.
Social media is a powerful thing – to be used wisely. I still have to report on any direct business that came to me from social media, but it’s all long-term and not necessarily direct response.
You raise a very good point here regarding FB, one relevant to more than just business contacts. I, for example, face the perplexing problem of an old friend living off a trust fund trying his best to emulate Hunter S. Thompson in his mountain cabin, and some of the stuff he posts on FB is simply bizarre. Amusing on occasion, but perhaps difficult to explain to some others who don’t know the source. Is it possible to put individual filters (call them “muzzles” if you will) on FB friends to make any of their posts unavailable to others (as opposed to restricting a particular person’s access)? This is a topic I will surely have to research in detail some day….
I made a decision a few months ago to restrict Facebook to family and friends, but to include translators who I considered personal friends rather than simply colleagues. I post very little about my work and am very careful what I do write, as you never know who your “friends” know. If I do get requests from colleagues, I point them to my (admittedly rudimentary) LinkedIn profile. That being said, I did indirectly land a project through Facebook at the end of last year. I reconnected with someone who I studied translation with and he recommended me to a friend of his who worked at a large German waste management company.
I, too, am for using FB for friends and family and LinkedIn for work. Although I am quite new to both, I am grateful for this post, since I knew about friends lists, but not that you could set restrictions for a whole group.
I am trying to start in this, and up to now I only have one work contact in my FB, but I have set a list for work contacts as you suggest. It’s simply more comfortable than worrying about things all the time, specially if your work contacts come from a totally different cultural background.
By the way, it`s the first time I leave a comment, although I have been reading you for quite some time. Thank you for so many interesting posts, and keep up the good work! ^.^
I was just discussing this earlier today with a colleague and now read this post! I use the FB/personal and LinkedIn/professional approach. All this social media is kind of confusing. FB lists is a good idea, but might be too much work for me. If professional contacts can’t see anything, why are the on my list at all? Not sure how it will all shake out as we all figure out the developing social etiquette. Interesting post.
I have spent the last three weeks going through the learning curve of internet marketing and how to incorporate social media. My head is feeling pretty saturated!
I have a Linkedin account, but I have a gut feeling that Facebook is going to overshadow Linkedin. I also have a personal Facebook account with a business fan page that I run from it. I added a blog to my website and opened a Twitter account. Except for my personal Facebook page, everything else is intertwined with links.
I decided that Twitter will only be for my translation business themes, and it gathers my feeds at the end of the day and submits them to my blog as an entry. In addition I make occasional blog entries.
As far as Facebook and those (potentially) embarrassing photos – I agree with the idea of limiting the friends list to current friends and family. You can always untag yourself from photos that you don’t like no matter who posts the picture.